审计独立性 会计信息质量与市场反应

会计盈余信息有用性的研究都是以无差别的审计服务和盈余作为现金流的替代指标为前提的。本文放宽了这些假设,通过模型建立、实证研究,经验地研究了审计独立性与市场反应的关系。研究结果发现,除非预期盈余具有信息含量外,审计意见具有增量的信息含量,尤其是非标审计意见的影响。     

The concept of an accounting regime

This paper develops and illustrates the concept of an accounting regime. The concept is mobilized in order to explore the nature and power of accounting in totality and to identify its dimensions. Drawing on the work of Anthony Giddens, we portray an accounting regime as a set of social practices constructed through the disembedding and reembedding of accounting as an abstract system that interrelates institutions of modernity and modern forms of reflexivity. The regime simultaneously generates trust and scepticism, and displays recursive cycles of dissolution and reconstruction. Its power—although temporary, partial and fragile—depends on its ability to provide guarantees of expertise in the face of risk. We conclude that the concept of an accounting regime offers a useful framework for the study accounting as a totality, and thus to detect its power in the modern world.     

Auditing standards,increased accounting disclosure,and information asymmetry: Evidence from an emerging market

The interest in accounting disclosure and audit quality by academics, practitioners, and regulators heightened following the various financial reporting scandals, and subsequent legislative and professional response to these scandals. An important question is whether the implementation of stricter auditing standards such as those mandated by the US Sarbanes-Oxley Act would improve the information environment of firms whose shares are publicly traded. In this paper, I investigate the link between information asymmetry, measured by bid-ask spread, and increased accounting disclosures following the adoption of new auditing standards in China—an environment in which disclosure hitherto was relatively low. I report the following primary results of the statistical analyses. First, information asymmetry cost is substantial in the Chinese order-driven emerging markets. Second, the firms in the sample experienced significant reductions in their bid-ask spreads subsequent to the adoption of the new auditing standards. Third, the reductions in the bid-ask spreads were abrupt and permanent. However, no significant result is found for firms in the control group with foreign ownership, whose financial statements were prepared in accordance with international accounting standards and were audited with international auditing standards. The results have implications for policy makers and regulators in general, and those in emerging markets in particular.     

Value-at-risk in a market subject to regime switching

Many empirical researches report that value-at-risk (VaR) measures understate the actual 1% quantile, while for Inui, K., Kijima, M. and Kitano, A., VaR is subject to a significant positive bias. Stat. Probab. Lett., 2005, 72, 299–311. proved that VaR measures overstate significantly when historical simulation VaR is applied to fat-tail distributions. This paper resolves the puzzle by developing a regime switching model to estimate portfolio VaR. It is shown that our model is able to correct the underestimation problem of risk.     

Expected earnings growth and the cost of capital: an analysis of accounting regime change in the European financial market

This study focuses on the relation between the cost of equity capital and earnings expectations when the properties of accounting that determine earnings vary across different regulatory regimes. More particularly, it addresses the European setting where different types of GAAP regime have continued to function in the presence of the gradual harmonization of the underlying legal framework, and where the adoption of internationally recognized accounting standards by certain firms has anticipated the requirement for International Financial Reporting Standards. On the basis of estimates of the cost of equity that are implied by analysts' earnings forecasts, the article provides evidence that financial market integration may have already contributed to mitigating the economic consequences of accounting diversity, and that switching to IFRS could have a short lived impact on capital markets. Moreover, based on firm level transparency and disclosure rankings provided by Standard and Poor's, it is shown how the quality of financial reporting conditions the implied cost of equity under different GAAP.     

The frequency of regime switching in financial market volatility

The mechanism of risk responses to market shocks is considered as stagnant in recent financial literature, whether during normal or stress periods. Since the returns are heteroskedastic, a little consideration was given to volatility structural breaks and diverse states. In this study, we conduct extensive simulations to prove that the switching regime GARCH model, under the highly flexible skewed generalized t (SGT) distribution, is remarkably efficient in detecting different volatility states. Next, we examine the switching regime in the S&P 500 volatility for weekly, daily, 10-minute and 1-minute returns. Results show that the volatility switches regimes frequently, and differences between the distributions of the high and low volatility states become more accentuated as the frequency increases. Moreover, the SGT is highly preferable to the usually employed skewed t distribution.     

Accounting decoupled: A case study of accounting regime change in a Malaysian company

Using a case study of accounting regime change in a Malaysian company, this paper analyses how an accounting regime was changed to overcome an instance of decoupling that management of the case company perceived to be problematic and, despite certain technological and managerial improvements, why the accounting regime yet remained decoupled from the control of core operations. Through an eclectic use of ANT, neo-institutionalism and political economy, it demonstrates that accounting remains decoupled from operational processes because of the particular manner in which accounting is constructed and enabled; the ostensive characteristics of accounting objects around which performativity of accounting is defined; and the organisational context, which involves certain ‘political imperfections’ that cannot be narrated within organisational apparatus of modernity. Accounting, being an apparatus of modernity, finds it difficult to codify such ‘imperfections’ and to offer an operational doctrine to govern the real business processes that are embedded within these ‘imperfections’. Hence, it remains decoupled from core operational activities but performs an important role of insulating ‘political imperfections’ with which business operates.     

Manufacturing shareholder value: The role of accounting in organizational transformation

This paper explores the role of accounting calculations in constructing shareholder value within the context of organizational transformation in work organization. Using an intensive longitudinal case study (Conglom, a pseudonym), the paper relates innovation and experimentation in new forms of work organization to a drive for shareholder value creation. The priority given to shareholder value creation was articulated through a proliferation of accounting metrics and calculations that intermediated between the strategic preoccupation with securing financial profitability, as demonstrated by the share price, and the operational challenge of squeezing costs and improving margins to boost short-term performance through outsourcing, programme management and divestment. We interpret the discourse of shareholder value creation and the development of related accounting metrics as a hegemonic move which is central to the reassertion of capital – a development that, we contend, is symptomatic of a shift towards a more ‘despotic’ mode of capitalist reproduction [Burawoy, M., (1985). The politics of production. London: Verso], where the whip of the market, allied to notions of possessive individualism, free choice and self-determination, progressively replaces the velvet glove of the corporatist state.     

Changes in the value relevance of accounting information over time: Evidence from the emerging market of China

We investigate the changes in the value relevance of accounting information among Chinese firms over the past two decades, during which accounting reforms are launched to provide decision makers with increased disclosure and higher quality financial information. We also investigate the factors that differentiate firms showing significant value relevance improvement from firms showing little improvement. We find increases in the value relevance of some financial variables and decreases in others, which suggests that accounting numbers help to explain the pricing process of stock shares although at different levels. In addition, we find that value relevance improvements are more pronounced for smaller firms, firms with lower growth rates, and those with greater asset tangibility. We also document that value relevance improvements are generally lower in an exuberant stock market. These results have implications for a variety of information users and policy makers in emerging countries which are reforming their accounting systems.     

The options market response to accounting earnings announcements

We examine the reaction of the equity options market to accounting earnings announcements over the period 1996–2008 using changes in implied volatility to measure the options market response to earnings news. We find that positive earnings surprises and positive profit announcements produce a larger uncertainty resolution than negative earnings surprises and loss announcements. We demonstrate an inverse relation between the change in implied volatility and earnings news in a three-day window immediately after an earnings announcement. We refer to the magnitude of this relation as the ‘options market earnings response coefficient’. This ‘options market earnings response coefficient’ is stronger for both bad news announcements and positive profit announcements. We do not find any significant relation between changes in implied volatility and earnings news in the pre- or post-announcement periods. We conclude that the options market efficiently absorbs earnings information.     

The accounting and market consequences of accelerated share repurchases

We evaluate the representational faithfulness of the accounting treatment of a recent and well-established type of structured transaction—accelerated share repurchases (ASRs). ASRs are popular because accretive earnings per share benefits are recognized immediately, while any gains or losses on the forward contract used to execute an ASR bypass income, and are reported directly in equity. We document lower value relevance for the liabilities of ASR companies compared with a size- and industry-matched sample. ERC tests also indicate a market discount for the earnings of ASR companies compared with the control sample. Finally, we document significant abnormal returns to a trading strategy based on unrealized gains or losses on ASR transactions. Our results indicate that the current accounting for ASRs does not result in representative reporting of these transactions. As a result, financial statement users might benefit from recognition of ASR elements in financial statements.     

A comparison of value relevance of accounting information in different segments of the Chinese stock market

This paper investigates the difference in the value relevance between the accounting information prepared and audited under the Chinese GAAP for A-share investors and under the international accounting standards (IAS) for B-share investors in the Chinese stock market. The study reports three primary findings. First, accounting information influences the pricing process in both the A-share market and the B-share market. Second, the accounting information in the B-share market is more value relevant than that in the A-share market, as expected. Finally, the value relevance level of accounting information in the A-share market was low in earlier years, peaked in 1996, and then decreased due to changes in the disclosure environment. However, the value-relevance level of accounting information in the B-share market had no substantial changes. Using a constant sample, control variables on firm features, and measures of traders' behavior, we obtain robust results. These findings have implications for policymakers on recent moves toward replacing local GAAP with the IAS.     

The association between legal regime and the value-relevance of accounting information: a Japan-U.K. comparison

Prior research has shown that there is an association between the legal regime of a firm’s country of domicile and the value-relevance of its accounting information. However, it is still unclear whether it is the difference in the properties of accounting information (“the supply effect”), or alternatively, if it is the difference in the way the investors in certain jurisdictions interpret and apply that information (“the demand effect”) that is mainly driving this phenomenon. Since the observed pattern in value-relevance is less likely to be observed in a particular capital market that belongs to a single legal regime (where the demand effect is assumed to be constant) in case the demand effect is mainly driving the association, I test for a marginal impact of the supply effect in a single capital market setting. Using U.S. stock price data, I find that the accounting numbers of U.K. firms, prepared under U.K. GAAP, are more value-relevant than those of Japanese firms, reported under Japanese GAAP. This result lends support to the supply hypothesis and suggests that the legal regime does have a marginal impact on the value-relevance of the accounting information.     

Cross-listing as a Global Depository Receipt: The influence of emerging markets,regulation, and accounting regime

This paper examines factors influencing international firms’ decisions to cross-list as Global Depository Receipts (GDRs). We focus on differences in regulatory and accounting requirements between exchanges and the economic clustering that has arisen with increasing globalization. An important economic influence on this decision is the home country, reflecting trade ties. Higher US regulation and governance requirements influence firms from emerging markets to issue GDRs rather than ADRs on a US exchange. Using local GAAP or IFRS also tends to deter firms from listing as an ADR, suggesting that the cost of US GAAP reconciliation is an important consideration in the decision to list as a GDR or an ADR.     

Pension plan solvency and extreme market movements: a regime switching approach

We develop and test a new approach to assess defined benefit (DB) pension plan solvency risk in the presence of extreme market movements. Our method captures both the ‘fat-tailed’ nature of asset returns and their correlation with discount rate changes. We show that the standard assumption of constant discount rates leads to dramatic underestimation of future projections of pension plan solvency risk. Failing to incorporate leptokurtosis into asset returns also leads to downward biased estimates of risk, but this is less pronounced than the time-varying discount rate effect. Further modifying the model to capture the correlation between asset returns and the discount rate provides additional improvements in the projection of future pension plan solvency. This reduces the perceived future risk of underfunding because of the negative correlation between interest rate changes and asset returns. These results have important implications for those with responsibility for balancing risk against expected return when seeking to improve the current poor funding positions of DB pension schemes.     

The market for public accounting services: Demand,supply and regulation

An analysis of the market for public accounting services is derived from agency theory. The theory shows that owners and their agents (employees) benefit from monitoring. Furthermore, the owners and managers of enterprises bear the cost when potential investors and users of financial statements (outsiders) fear that those in control operate the enterprise contrary to the interests of the outsiders. The demand for public accounting services is derived from these concerns. The public accountants' comparative advantages in providing this service, the structure of the market supplying the service, and the nature of the demand for its regulation follow from the initial analysis. In the last part of the paper the staff reports of the 1972 U.S. House of Representative (Moss) and Senate (Metcalf) committees are examined and compared with the available evidence.     

管理会计的核心价值:信息变成利润

在银行业务处理实现了信息化的今天，各家银行日益感觉到管理信息化的落后严重制约了银行的发展。过去，银行通过不断更新自己的金融产品来扩大市场份额；今天，在经济全球化的大环境下，很少有哪家银行拥有别人没有的产品。尽管金融机构的规模和资产不断扩大，但其盈利能力逐渐下降，竞争也变得愈加激烈。随着对新经济模式认识的深入，银行逐渐认识到，