The effect of corporate governance on credit ratings: Evidence from China's bond market

This paper examines the association between firms’ corporate governance and credit ratings (both bond ratings and issuer ratings) in China. In addition to considering the financial attributes of bond issuers, we ask to what extent do credit rating agencies consider the corporate governance attributes of issuers? In concept, bondholders are concerned with the financial effects of how corporate governance resolves the agency conflicts between bondholders and managers, majority and minority shareholders, and shareholders and bondholders. We find that corporate governance affects bond issuer credit ratings in China. After controlling for firms’ financial attributes, we find that issuer ratings are positively related to dual‐listing, whether the firm is a state‐owned enterprise, the ownership of the second to the tenth largest shareholder; and negatively related to the relative scale of audit fees. We attribute the positive association between dual‐listing and credit rating to higher quality and transparency of information reported by the dual‐listed firm. The value to bondholders of the implicit government guarantee of debt payments more than offsets the negative association between firm value and being an SOE. Bond rating agencies expect that the change in agency costs with a reduction in the ownership of the largest shareholder benefits bondholders. To credit rating agencies, the scale of audit fees (relative to total assets of the accounting firm) signals interest binding between the client firm and the accounting firm that threatens the independence of auditing and the quality of financial reporting. We also find that bond‐specific attributes: collateral and issue size, are positively related to bond credit ratings.     

外部审计能促进企业技术创新吗?——来自中国企业的经验证据

外部审计可软化融资约束、缓解委托代理问题,进而正向影响企业技术创新。基于世界银行的调查数据，考察了外部审计对企业技术创新的作用方向、强度和中介效应。经验研究结果显示：(1)外部审计显著正向影响企业技术创新,给定条件下，有外部审计的企业比其他企业从事技术创新的概率增加13.2%；(2)融资约束和代理成本的中介效应均在统计水平上显著，且为部分中介效应；(3)在异质性的创新活动中，外部审计均有显著的促进作用。从中介机制看，外部审计通过软化融资约束促进企业开发产品或流程改善型的新技术、推出新的质量控制程序和增加产品新特色；通过降低代理成本促进企业开展提升生产柔性的创新活动。研究结果延展了外部审计对企业行为的影响分析，为强化外部审计监督机制以促进企业技术创新提供事实依据。     

股权代理问题与高质量审计需求研究综述

本文对股权代理问题与高质量审计需求的研究进行了综述,结果表明,国外研究发现股权代理问题影响了审计需求,股权代理问题越高的公司,更倾向于聘请高质量审计师,而我国的研究刚刚起步并存在不足。本文认为,未来的研究重点在于研究高质量审计师的替代变量;控股股东的掏空行为是否影响其审计师的选择等方面。     

The effect of CEO compensation structure on the early internationalization of newly public firms

This study suggests the incentive perspective as an antecedent of early internationalization. We argue that early internationalization is a risky strategy for a CEO in a relatively young firm and that a potential agency problem arises between a CEO and shareholders in such a context. By drawing on agency theory, we theorize that the CEO compensation structure plays a critical role in the early internationalization decision. In a sample of 145 newly public U.S. firms, we find that the likelihood of early internationalization is negatively associated with the CEO’s secured cash pay and positively associated with the CEO’s equity-based compensation. In addition, we find that the positive association between equity-based compensation and the likelihood of early internationalization becomes stronger as the CEO’s tenure increases. These findings show that the interest alignment between a CEO and shareholders affects the strategic decision of early internationalization. Our study contributes to the literature on corporate governance and international business by underscoring the importance of the compensation structure as a significant driver of value-creating strategic initiatives and by identifying incentive factors that spur firms to internationalize early.     

The future international tax environment and European tax harmonization: a personal view

This study examines whether the decision to voluntarily (i.e. without a statutory obligation) employ two audit firms to conduct a joint audit is related to audit quality. We use separate samples and empirical designs for public and privately held companies in Sweden, where a sufficient number of companies have a joint audit on a voluntary basis. Our empirical findings suggest that companies opting to employ joint audits have a higher degree of earnings conservatism, lower abnormal accruals, better credit ratings and lower perceived risk of becoming insolvent within the next year than other firms. These findings are robust to the use of a propensity score matching technique to control for the differences in client characteristics between firms that employ joint audits and those that use single Big 4 auditors (i.e. auditor self-selection). We also find evidence that the choice of a joint audit is associated with substantial increases in the fees paid by the client firm, suggesting a higher perceived level of quality. Collectively, our analyses support the view that voluntary joint audits are positively associated with audit quality in a relatively low litigious setting both for public and private firms.     

异常审计费用、审计质量与IPO定价——基于A股市场的分析

以A股市场2006—2012年IPO公司为研究对象,探讨异常审计费用与审计质量的相关性及其在IPO定价中的作用。结果发现：对全样本,异常审计费用与IPO抑价水平显著负相关,与可操纵性应计利润的绝对值和股票上市后的长期市场表现不相关;当考虑异常审计费用的方向时,正的异常审计费用与IPO抑价水平、可操纵性应计利润的绝对值显著负相关,与股票上市后的长期市场表现显著正相关,而负的异常审计费用与三者的相关性均不显著。这表明作为会计师事务所努力程度的体现,正的异常审计费用不会损害审计质量,相反在一定程度上能提升审计质量。因此,监管部门应更多地关注审计收费不足所存在的风险。     

Non-audit Services and Audit Quality: Evidence from Private Firms

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between audit quality in private firms and the provision of non-audit services (NAS) – an issue that has rarely been considered in prior research. The threats to auditor independence are different in private firms compared to public firms. The same is true of the opportunities to use the same knowledge for audit and for NAS. Therefore, the effect of the provision of NAS on audit quality is also likely to be different. In this study, audit quality is measured by discretionary accruals, as well as by managers' perceptions of the extent to which the audit improves accounting quality. The regression analysis is based on 420 surveyed private firms in Sweden and suggests that audit quality is positively associated with NAS in general and accounting services in particular. The findings indicate that the joint provision of audit and NAS do not necessarily result in impaired auditor independence, but rather support the existence of knowledge spillover between the services.     

董事会断裂带、内部控制与审计质量——基于制造业上市公司的数据

断裂带的存在极容易使董事会形成不同的子群体,而子群体间的相互作用又会反向牵制和干扰董事会的监督能力,进而影响审计质量。以2013—2021年中国沪深A股制造业上市公司为样本,探究董事会断裂带对审计质量的影响。研究发现：首先,董事会断裂带与审计质量呈倒U形关系,断裂带异常会干扰公司董事会监督职能的正常发挥,从而影响审计质量;其次,董事会断裂带与审计质量的倒U形关系主要源于任务导向断裂带的作用,在企业成熟期更为显著;最后,内部控制能够削弱董事会断裂带对审计质量的影响,而良好的内部控制有助于缓解股东与管理层的代理成本,弥补董事会子群体间冲突带来的负面影响,在合理范围内有效地提升审计质量。     

论我国独立审计的发展战略

随着我国会计审计国际化趋同的实现,我国独立审计服务业将面临严峻的竞争压力。在新形势下如何发展我国独立审计服务业,提高我国独立审计的国际竞争力显得尤为重要。本文分析了我国目前独立审计行业面临的各种具体问题,旨在通过建立适合我国国情的独立审计监管模式,改善独立审计市场激励机制,加强风险管理,提高审计质量,建立一套有中国特色的独立审计发展战略。     

审计职业声誉损害、独立性与市场反应

独立审计是降低信息不对称程度和缓解委托代理成本的有效机制,其作用的发挥取决于审计质量,而职业声誉是市场衡量审计质量的便捷标准,注册会计师职业声誉的损害是否会削弱社会公众对审计质量的评价,进而影响市场对公司价值的判断?文章以2002年3月中国注册会计师协会发布的未通过年检的五家会计师事务所作为切入点,研究声誉受损对其主审上市公司累计异常回报率的影响,结果发现异常回报率显著为负,而且这种负面反应的程度与上市公司的委托代理成本相关,但与独立性不存在显著关系。     

会计师事务所外部治理效用探究——基于创业板上市公司IPO审计的面板数据分析

基于2009--2012年257家创业板上市公司的432个IPO审计样本，检验审计质量与企业长期资本市场回报、投资回报率的关系，实证结果表明：应计利润和审计收费显著地表明了审计质量的高低，同时有微弱证据表明行业专长代表了较高的审计质量；事务所声誉与企业经营业绩呈正相关，但是与企业长期资本市场回报呈现显著负相关，该结果源于中国资本市场的非效率性。总体上说，会计师事务所在IPO审计市场上起到了一定的外部治理效用，但仍然有待加强。     

家族企业国际化对审计收费的影响研究

以我国2010—2020年沪深A股上市家族企业为研究样本,实证检验家族企业国际化与审计收费之间的关系。研究结果发现,家族企业国际化程度的加深会使得审计收费提高。代际传承和家族董事席位分别在两者之间发挥正向和负向调节作用。机制检验表明,家族企业开展国际化经营增加了企业的经营风险,提高了审计师对于风险的评估,从而导致审计收费的提高。进一步研究发现,家族企业国际化与审计收费之间的正向影响在不具有海外背景高管的企业以及不存在国有持股的企业中更为突出。研究结论为从审计师视角加强对家族企业国际化的监管提供理论依据和经验证据。     

Examining the extent of and determinants for sustainability assurance quality: The role of audit committees

This study examines the extent of and determinants for sustainability assurance quality. Data comprise sustainability assurance statements published by the top 100 listed companies in Australia and New Zealand from 2017 to 2019. The findings indicate that Australian companies lead their New Zealand counterparts in sustainability assurance. Although sustainability reporting has risen, assurance rates remain significantly low. Accountants dominate the market, and companies prefer to use their own auditors for sustainability assurance work. Sustainability assurance quality is poor and does not vary significantly among Australian and New Zealand companies. Low-quality sustainability assurance plays a limited role in mitigating potential stakeholder–agency conflicts. The regression analysis indicates that audit committee characteristics such as members' independence, industry/market expertise, and attending meetings enhance sustainability assurance quality, whereas audit committee size has no affect. These findings suggest that audit committee characteristics such as independence, industry expertise, and regular meeting attendance have the potential to reduce stakeholder–agency conflicts by improving the quality of sustainability statement assurance. Our findings build on the sustainability assurance literature by exploring current trends in sustainability assurance practices in Australia and New Zealand where corporate governance codes have been recently revised. Further, these findings are timely given recent changes in standards (International Standard on Assurance Engagements [ISAE] 3000 and Global Reporting Initiative [GRI]). Our study contributes to the audit committee literature and sheds light on the role played by audit committee characteristics on sustainability assurance statement quality. The study findings potentially offer useful insights for practitioners, standard setters, and regulators.     

Turning Agents into Psychological Principals: Aligning Interests of Non‐Owners through Psychological Ownership

Principals who delegate tasks to agents face the perennial challenge of overcoming agency problems. We investigate whether feelings of ownership among senior managers in the absence of formal ownership can align agents' interests with those of principals, thus turning agents into psychological principals. Using a moderated mediation model, we find that psychological ownership is positively related to company performance through the mediating effect of individual‐level entrepreneurial behaviour. We also find that the effect of psychological ownership on individual‐level entrepreneurial behaviour and, ultimately, company performance is weaker for high levels of monitoring compared to low levels. These findings offer important contributions to agency, psychological ownership, and entrepreneurship literatures.     

CFO变更与企业财务报告质量

在现代风险导向审计模式下,审计师会关注CFO变更这一信号以识别和评估财务报表重大错报风险,但鲜有文献探究财务报告质量是否因此而下降。以2010—2020年沪深两市A股上市公司为对象,研究CFO变更对企业财务报告质量的影响。研究表明,CFO变更提高了企业应计盈余管理的程度,增加了企业报告小额盈余、进行财务重述以及被出具非标审计意见的可能性,进而导致财务报告质量显著下降;当CFO未兼任内部董事、发生外部继任或非正常变更、任职于非央企时,上述负向作用更加明显。进一步研究表明,CFO变更通过提高企业的代理成本与信息不对称程度从而降低财务报告质量,并最终使企业面临更大的融资约束。     

会计师事务所转制对审计质量的影响研究——来自上市公司的经验证据

通过分析2008—2012年A股上市公司相关数据,研究会计师事务所转制对于审计质量的影响,结果显示：特殊普通合伙制会计师事务所的审计质量高于有限责任制会计师事务所的审计质量;转制后会计师事务所的审计质量高于转制前会计师事务所的审计质量,但是转制对审计质量的提高有一定的不同步性。研究结论为转制政策的合理性提供了证据支撑,也为其他中小型会计师事务所改制提供了必要性方面的经验依据。     

Corporate Governance,Integrated Reporting and the Use of Credibility-enhancing Mechanisms on Integrated Reports

The International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) and the South African King III Report on Governance emphasize the role of corporate governance in preparing a high-quality integrated report and establishing an appropriate credibility-enhancing process. This paper examines the significance of corporate governance mechanisms in explaining variations in the quality of integrated reports and the extent and quality of credibility-enhancing mechanisms (CEMs) for integrated reports. Using a sample of integrated reports published between 2012 and 2015 by listed companies on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, this study finds that traditional governance mechanisms such as the board and the audit committee are positively related to the reporting quality of <IR> and use of CEMs. In addition, sustainability-oriented corporate governance mechanisms (i.e. sustainability committee and the use of non-financial performance measures in executives’ compensation contracts) have an incremental positive effect on both the quality of <IR> and the extent and quality of CEMs on integrated reports. Additional analyses attribute the positive effect of these corporate governance mechanisms on <IR> quality and the use of CEMs mainly to the diligence and expertise of the board of directors and audit committee and the independence and expertise of a sustainability committee.     

审计行业专门化与审计质量相关性分析——基于内生性视角的实证研究

研究结果发现:审计行业专门化越高,审计质量也会越高,审计行业专门化变化量和审计质量变化量也显著正相关;进一步考虑审计行业专门化的内生性后,对审计行业专门化与审计质量之间的关系予以检验,结果仍然表明审计行业专门化具有显著地提高审计质量的作用。     

审计质量对资本市场定价偏差抑制效应研究

以2007—2017年A股上市公司为样本,探讨审计质量与资本市场定价偏差的关系。研究发现：审计质量对资本市场定价偏差有显著的抑制作用,审计质量越高,资本市场定价偏差越小;其作用机制为降低盈余管理和增加投资者关注。进一步研究表明,该抑制效应主要体现在股票价格高估和流动性较差的公司中。研究结果从资本市场定价效率的角度丰富了审计质量价值的文献,并对资本市场监管具有一定的意义。     

Audit committee effectiveness and the audit fee

The UK is the only major country within the European Union the majority of whose listed companies have formed audit committees composed of non-executive directors to monitor financial reporting, the external auditors, and internal control strength. The adoption of audit committees in contrast to the approach in Europe has arisen despite the lack of evidence on their effectiveness even in the USA and Canada, where they have been mandatory since the 1970s. This paper seeks to establish whether audit committees are effective in ensuring audit quality by protecting the auditors from fee cuts which might affect audit quality, and signal tighter internal controls which help to reduce audit time and hence audit fees. The problem is that the audit committee may be expected to exert a two-way pressure on audit fees. To the extent that audit committees should enhance audit quality, partly by ensuring that audit hours are not reduced, an audit committee may be expected to increase total audit fees. At the same time, an audit committee may reasonably be thought to be a proxy for internal control strength. Ceteris paribus, companies with strong internal controls may be expected to pay lower audit fees than those with weak internal controls. Our paper argues that the ‘quality’ aspect of the audit can be captured through a dummy firm size variable, whilst the internal control aspects can be captured through dummy risk and complexity variables. The hypotheses examined are that size related audit fees are higher in companies with an audit committee; and that risk- and complexity-related audit fees are lower in companies with audit committees. The hypotheses are tested by developing a regression model for audit fees of a sample of the companies which comprise the FT-SE 500, with variables being included for the presence or absence of an audit committee. The results show that the relationship between size-related audit fees and the presence of an audit committee is positive and statistically significant, but that although there is a negative relationship between risk- and complexity-related audit fees and the presence of an audit committee, the relationships are not conclusively significant. The findings provide support for the contention that audit committees are at least partially effective in preventing reductions in the audit fee to levels where the quality of the audit may be compromised.