上市公司盈利预测信息自愿披露悖论:提出与解读

本文提出了一个关于上市公司盈利预测信息自愿性披露的悖论。该悖论的发现和解读表明,上市公司自愿披露盈利预测信息对减少信息不对称、增加财务信息的有用性具有重要意义。同时,自愿披露盈利预测信息对改善与投资者关系、降低上市公司的融资成本有着正面效应。然而,披露成本的存在使得公司管理层不得不在自愿披露的收益与成本之间反复斟酌,并且盈利预测信息的供求结构、资本市场的竞争强度以及经理人市场发展水平等对上市公司披露盈利预测信息的意愿程度也会产生重要影响。     

企业社会责任信息披露与股票价格关系研究——沪市民营企业的经验证据

文章以2009年沪市A股222家民营上市公司为研究样本实证检验了民营企业社会责任信息披露与股票价格的关系,结果表明,民营企业社会责任信息披露与股票价格负相关。结合企业社会责任实践及其信息披露现状、投资者基于企业社会责任的投资理念以及资本市场有效性,从作用机制视角分析了形成民营企业社会责任信息披露与股票价格关系的深层原因,并由此就改进企业社会责任及信息披露实践和促进资本市场健康发展为上市民营企业、资本市场投资者和监管者带来启示。     

黑龙江省上市公司财务报告透明度现状研究

通过对黑龙江省27家上市公司2004年-2012年期间的241个公司-年度样本进行研究,发现黑龙江省上市公司的财务报告透明度较低,呈逐年下降趋势,多数样本公司存在着较为明显的利用应计项目平滑上市公司会计盈余的行为,导致投资者无法充分了解黑龙江省上市公司真实的财务状况和经营成果,这对提升黑龙江省上市公司的形象极为不利。黑龙江省应完善上市公司的信息披露制度,提高财务报告透明度,以吸引更多投资者。     

Disclosure of Corporate Environmental Policies in Annual Reports: Further Evidence Incorporating a National Ideology–An Australian Study

ABSTRACT

During the last decade, there has been a growing awareness at a community level and, more recently, at a business level of a changing emphasis on the disclosure of environmental performance by Australian public companies. Over the last few years, many studies have been undertaken which have examined the disclosure of environmental information by analyzing public company Annual Reports in Australia. Previously, public companies preferred to prepare Corporate Environmental Policy (CEP) statements for internal use only rather than for external reporting (Tilt, 1997, 2001). However, now these reports appear in the annual reports of Australian public companies. Using content analysis, this study examines a sample of public companies listed on the ASX (Australian Stock Exchange) in 2000 and the reporting nexus between these companies' CEPs and their Annual Reports. The results show that environmentally sensitive companies are disclosing more environmental information than other companies. Emerging from these results, our study shows that companies involved in the survey adopted some disclosure on environmental issues based on the ideological belief in such environmental issues. There are currently only limited requirements for any formal identification or reporting with regard to environmental assets, liabilities or contingencies in Australia. Our research has shown that environmentally sensitive companies provided a significantly greater amount of voluntary positive environmental disclosures than the non-sensitive companies. Based on the results of our research it is fair to say that there is an ideological belief within the Australian public companies and the Accounting profession on environmental reporting issues.     

Social Reporting by Companies Listed on the Alternative Investment Market

While the existing literature focuses on the disclosure of social information mainly by large companies, this paper concentrates on the disclosure of social information by small- and medium-sized companies (SME) listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in the U.K. The paper investigates the prevalent view that SMEs are unlikely to report social information due to their financial constraints and the perception that they have very little social conduct on which to report. Our overall evidence illustrates that, contrary to this view, SMEs report social information regardless of their financial constraints, most likely in the same manner as large companies do, because they realise the significance of social reporting in establishing and retaining their corporate reputation.     

我国上市公司财务重述的动因研究

财务报告重新表述是对存在错误或误导性信息的历史财务报告进行事后补救的公告行为.财务报告重新表述,表明前财务报告的低质量和不可信,会造成严重的经济后果.上市公司财务重述的内因是资本市场带来的压力和高管薪酬契约的不正当激动;其外因是信息不对称和造价成本低廉.但深层次原因是公司治理机制存在缺陷.要注重在上市公司信息披露与监管的框架下对上市公司的财务重述进行考察,并分析财务重述现象频发的原因,并针对其动因找出对策,尽量避免上市公司发生财务重述.     

内部控制、财务报告质量与投资者保护——来自沪市上市公司的经验证据

本文以我国2006--2009年自愿披露内部控制自我评估报告的856家沪市上市公司为研究样本,通过检验自愿披露内部控制信息的公司与未自愿披露内部控制信息的公司在当年及在此之前5年财务报告质量的差异,以及自愿性内部控制信息披露对资本市场的影响,考察了内部控制对财务报告质量和投资者保护的影响。我们发现,自愿披露内部控制信息公司的财务报告质量在当年及在此之前5年均显著高于其未自愿披露内部控制信息的公司;从长期来看,投资者能据此对盈余进行区别定价。这表明,自愿性内部控制信息披露具有明显的信号发送作用,内部控制能够在一定程度上改善财务报告的质量,并强化对投资者利益的保护。     

The Role of the Global Reporting Initiative's Sustainability Reporting Guidelines in the Social Screening of Investments

Social screening of investments calls not only for investment policy and criteria, but also for information about companies, their policies, practices and performance. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and its June 2000 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines have the potential to significantly improve the usefulness and quality of information reported by companies about their environmental, social and economic impacts and performance. The GRI aims to develop a voluntary reporting framework that will elevate sustainability reporting practices to a level equivalent to that of financial reporting in rigour, comparability, auditability and general acceptance. This will be a welcome and efficient supplement to the questionnaires, interviews, press releases, media reports and other sources of information traditionally used for screening in investment decision making – social/ethical and mainstream. The Dow Jones Sustainability Group Index, the Jantzi Social Index and the Innovest EcoValue'21 analytical platform, together with the SRI community, are all likely to benefit from GRI-style sustainability reports. One of the GRI's key challenges is to accommodate the broad variety of disclosure needs and expectations of a wide range of report users and company stakeholders. To maximize the usefulness of the GRI Guidelines, report users, including the SRI community, need to be engaged in the process of developing and refining the Guidelines over time. The GRI Guidelines are emerging as an important instrument in enabling companies to communicate with their stakeholders about performance and accountability beyond just the financial bottom line.     

会计信息披露实际与内幕交易——基于年报首季披露时差与异常超额交易量的实证研究

Considering the cost of capital, systematic risk and the probability of being monitored and punished, informed traders are most likely to conduct informed trading at the small time gap between the disclosure of annual report of year t and 1^st quarter reports of year t+1 because the gap is the best and safest time for informed trading. Meanwhile, due to the high cost and risks of informed trading, traders need huge trading volumes to gain abnormal returns. Based on these characteristics of informed trading, a research sample and a control sample are found for this paper. The former refers to companies with loss annual report in year t and profit-making 1^st quarter financial report in year t+1 in tandem. The latter refers to companies announced loss in the previous year and and profit-making 1^st quarter financial report in year t+1 simultaneously or companies with loss annual report in the year t and loss 1^st quarter financial report in year t+1 in tandem. Results confirm the existence of informed trading by measuring “extra abnormal trading volume”. Therefore, authors suggest that a good disclosure policy should not only consider the timeliness and accuracy of the financial reports, but also the overall information disclosure process to prevent potential informed trading. Translated and revise from Zhongguo Kuaiji Pinglun 中国会计评论 (China Accounting Review), 2008, 6(2): 207–222     

Environmental disclosure quality: Evidence on environmental performance,corporate governance and value relevance

This study focuses on common-law Malaysia, which is classified as an advanced emerging market. It assesses the association between environmental disclosure and environmental performance and examines the financial attributes of companies with different environmental disclosure scores. It investigates the relation between environmental disclosure quality and corporate governance, and also examines the extent to which effective environmental disclosures are value relevant and how they influence investor perceptions. The findings of the study show that environmental disclosure is positively linked to environmental performance. Company attributes, such as large size, the need for capital, profitability and capital spending, are positively associated with environmental disclosure quality. High quality environmental disclosers display effective corporate governance and would tend to face less difficulties in accessing capital markets. They generally are audited by a big 4 auditor or cross-listed on foreign stock exchanges and display significant levels of managerial and institutional ownership. High quality environmental disclosures are value relevant and improve investor perceptions. High quality disclosers overall belong to beverages, chemicals, food producers, forestry and paper, and industrial metals and mining.     

现行财务报告的局限性及其改革

财务报告从诞生到今天,已经有70年的历史。自21世纪,随着科学技术的飞速发展,电子技术突飞猛进,财务报告日益成为连接金融信息提供商,接受者,监管机构和审计师之间的纽带。然而,传统的财务报告逐渐显示出了其局限性,无法满足财务报告使用者的需求。本文从财务报告的发展历程入手,阐述社会经济的发展决定财务报告的发展变化。也就是说,社会经济的发展是财务报告发展的根本动力。接着,文章通过分析现行财务报告存在的缺陷,以及造成的重大事项,论述改进现行财务报告的重要意义。然后,文章详细指出了我国现行财务报告存在的种种局限性：财务报告的内容不够完整,财务报告的信息披露方式不够完善等。据此,文章进一步对现行财务报告在信息的披露内容、披露模式等方面提出了具体的改进建议。     

长三角地区石化塑胶行业上市公司环境绩效信息披露研究——基于社会责任报告

在长三角地区石化塑胶行业76家上市公司中,搜集到17家公司2008-2010年度社会责任报告40份,总披露率22.37%。对社会责任报告中环境绩效信息采用内容分析法进一步研究发现,时序看环境绩效信息披露形式和内容方面均显示数量和质量的提高,但地区间、市场间和公司间差异显著,30项环境绩效指标中每份报告平均披露仅9.1项,定量环境绩效指标披露率仅为15.83%,样本公司的环境绩效信息披露数量和质量尚有很大提升空间。     

Sustainability assurance and cost of capital: Does assurance impact on credibility of corporate social responsibility information?

This paper aims to examine the credibility value of sustainability assurance and the type of assurance provider on cost of capital. A large sample of international companies from the period 2007–2014 was used to develop our models of analysis. We find a greater decrease in cost of capital for companies that publish and assure their social and environmental reports. Thus, voluntary sustainability disclosures decrease the cost of capital. However, companies also have the opportunity to reinforce this decrease by providing an assurance statement, so increasing the credibility of corporate social responsibility information. In addition, the decrease in the cost of capital is significantly higher when such assurance is provided by a top‐tier accountancy firm instead of by engineering or consultancy firms; this result supports also the reputational capital of accountancy firms.     

浅析财务报告局限性及改进建议

现行的财务报告体系己滞后于经济发展的要求,不能全面客观地进行价值反映,在一定程度上误导了报表使用者的决策行为.应从这些局限性入手,改变财务报告的报告模式,构造多元化的财务报告体系,实时呈报财务报告;加强预测性信息的披露,增加现行财务报告对社会责任信息的披露;应重视对衍生金融工具所产生的收益和风险信息的披露;增加对人力资源的反映;提高财务报告的质量,加强注册会计师审计监督等,使之适应经济发展的要求.     

Ethical Leadership as a Balance Between Opposing Neural Networks

This paper examines the impact of integrated reporting (IR) on the integration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues into the business model and the related economic and ESG performance changes. To investigate these internal and external transformational effects of IR, important differences between IR and alternative ESG reporting strategies are worked out. Using three matched samples of companies from around the world for the sample period 2002–2011, IR companies are matched with companies applying (a) no ESG reporting, (b) stand-alone ESG reporting, or (c) ESG reporting in the annual report. The results suggest that IR is a superior mechanism only for the integration of ESG issues into the core business model when comparing IR with the ESG reporting strategies of (a) no ESG reporting and (c) ESG reporting in annual reports. In comparison with (b), stand-alone ESG reporting, the results indicate that IR is negatively associated with the ESG integration level and with the economic and ESG performance. Moreover, this negative impact is lower for companies that have already implemented ESG management tools prior to the initiation of IR and is stronger for companies residing in countries with legal requirements for the disclosure of ESG information. A separate change analysis reveals that companies do not benefit from a switch from stand-alone ESG reporting to IR. Thus, this paper provides empirical evidence that contradicts the general notion of IR as a superior reporting mechanism, as the benefits of IR are driven by several factors.     

Assessing mission drift at venture capital impact investors

In this article, we consider a recent trend whereby private equity available from venture capital (VC) firms is being deployed toward mission‐driven initiatives in the form of impact investing. Acting as hybrid organizations, these impact investors aim to achieve financial results while also targeting companies and funds to achieve social impact. However, potential mission drift in these VCs, which we define as a decoupling between the investments made (means) and intended aims (ends), might become detrimental to the simultaneous financial and social goals of such firms. Based on a content analysis of mission statements, we assess mission drift and the hybridization level of VC impact investors by examining their missions (ends/goals) and their investment practices (means) through the criteria of social and financial logic. After examining eight impact‐oriented VC investors and their investments in 164 companies, we find mission drift manifest as a disparity between the means and ends in half of the VC impact investors in our sample. We discuss these findings and make suggestions for further studies.     

Financial profiles and the disclosure of expenditures for socially responsible purposes

Recently the relationship between “socially responsible” activities and the financial performance of corporations has received attention in the business literature. Most studies have focused on the market reaction of shareholders to the disclosure of both monetary and nonmonetary corporate contributions relating to pollution control, employee welfare, affirmative action, and other activities deemed to be in the public interest. Results of this research have been mixed, with some authors finding favorable market response to socially responsible actions, and others finding no difference between the market performance of more and less responsible firms. The purpose of this paper is to examine financial performance and socially responsible activities from a different perspective. Specifically, it examines the relationship between the disclosure of monetary expenditures for various social initiatives and composite financial accounting profiles of disclosing and nondisclosing firms. Using two-group discriminant analysis, the authors conclude that management tends to disclose monetary expenditures for these generally nonproductive purposes at times when the financial statements of the firm otherwise look favorable to shareholders. Such disclosure in a sample of Fortune 500 firms in 1976 and 1977 was clearly not unrelated to financial performance, and neither did it appear to occur in order to explain relatively poor financial statements.     

浅析我国企业会计信息披露的成本效益问题

随着市场经济的发展和信息时代的到来,信息市场在整个市场体系中的地位日益突出,而会计信息市场更是信息市场的重要组成部分.会计信息披露是联系经营者、投资者和债权人关系的纽带,合理有效的对会计信息进行披露对于改善经营者与投资者之间的关系、发展和完善资本市场,实现资源配置有重要的意义.而会计信息披露的成本效益作为影响信息质量的重要因素己经渗透到新企业会计准则的制定过程,成本效益原则已经日益在会计信息的披露中受到重视.     

环境信息披露对上市公司企业价值的影响——“组织可见度”是否起到中介作用

我国现行企业环境信息披露政策下,企业对于信息披露的方式、时间等有很大的自由裁量权力。因此,企业这一社会责任的自觉履行需要企业价值最大化等动机支撑,但其作用机理是否有效,投资者的关注度及解读尤为重要,亦即“组织可见度”在环境信息披露对企业价值的影响中扮演重要角色。本文以我国化工行业上市公司2013-2017年样本,实证检验环境信息披露对企业价值的影响,并依次从分析师关注水平和媒体关注水平两个角度衡量组织可见度,检验其是否具有中介效应,并分析所有权性质差异下的不同结果。结果表明:环境信息披露能提升企业价值,组织可见度在环境信息披露对企业价值的影响过程中发挥了部分中介效应。进一步研究发现,当使用分析师关注水平衡量组织可见度时,该中介作用只体现在国有企业中;当使用媒体关注度衡量组织可见度时候,该中介作用在两种类型的企业中均只得到了部分体现。企业环境信息披露政策本意是通过其影响企业的市值表现促进企业更好地履行其环境社会责任,本文通过揭示其中组织可见度的中介作用,有助于启示企业对其市值管理、有关管理部门对企业履行环境社会责任引导时的操作思路。