会计稳健性与公司融资约束——基于两类稳健性视角的研究

作为会计信息质量特征之一的会计稳健性在公司融资活动中的经济后果,近来受到学者们的关注。本文基于四种计量模型度量样本公司的会计稳健性水平,实证发现稳健性的提高总体上有助于缓解公司的融资约束;更进一步,将会计稳健性区分为事前的非条件稳健和事后的条件稳健,对比回归后发现——内生于会计制度的非条件稳健性的提高,比条件稳健性这种事后稳健能更好地缓解公司的融资约束,其效果在2008年金融危机后尤为显著。此外,本文采用Granger因果检验方法,首次得到了条件稳健性是对公司融资约束的事后反应的实证依据。以上结论对于我国上市公司提高会计信息质量、降低融资约束具有很好的启示作用。     

会计盈余的稳健性:发现与启示

在西方 ,稳健原则长期以来就是会计确认与计量的一个重要原则。在我国 ,1992年的会计准则首次提出了稳健性的要求 (或称谨慎原则 ) ,以后的会计制度 (准则 )越来越强调稳健原则。但我国证券市场上频频发生的会计造假行为似乎表明上市公司会计盈余普遍缺乏稳健性。针对这种矛盾 ,本文分析我国上市公司会计盈余的稳健性。我们的分析表明 ,会计盈余对“坏消息”的反应程度比对“好消息”的反应程度大 ,这种不对称性表明会计盈余在总体上是稳健的 ,同时 ,会计盈余变化也呈现不对称性 ,即负的会计盈余变化比正的会计盈余变化具有更大的反转率。我们认为 ,以上结论对我国证券市场的财务分析和盈利预测具有重要意义     

Unexpected Accruals and Conditional Accounting Conservatism

Abstract:  This paper examines the impact of management discretion over accruals on conditional accounting conservatism, defined as the tendency of accountants to recognize bad news on a timelier basis than good news. Prior research suggests that conditional accounting conservatism reflected in earnings is mainly due to the accrual component of earnings, not the cash flow component of earnings. After decomposing total accruals into expected and unexpected accruals, I find that (1) conditional accounting conservatism reflected in accruals is mainly due to unexpected accruals; (2) the negative association between unconditional and conditional accounting conservatism is mainly attributable to unexpected accruals; and (3) firms with higher leverage exhibit conditionally more conservative accounting primarily through unexpected accruals. These results are robust to accrual models that take into account the systematic association between accruals and cash flows and their non-linearity and to the asymmetric persistence of earnings changes specification of conditional accounting conservatism. Taken together, these results suggest that managers exercise their discretion over accruals to expedite the recognition of bad news rather than good news.     

资产减值:稳健性还是盈余管理

本文研究了我国上市公司资产减值的计提动机。很多研究已发现减值准备的两种计提动机:经济因素和盈余管理因素,但本文发现,稳健性因素也能影响资产减值准备的计提。在同样的毁损情况下,"坏消息"公司将比"好消息"公司计提更多的减值准备。此外,本文还发现,在利用减值准备进行利润操纵时,盈余管理动机的不同会影响减值类型的选择。扭亏和大清洗公司会采取各种类型减值准备进行盈余管理,而平滑和管理层变更公司只使用长期资产减值准备,而且是不影响营业利润的减值准备。     

审计师选择与IPO公司盈余稳健性

以2002~2012年我国1337家 A 股 IPO 公司为样本,实证检验了审计师选择与 IPO 公司盈余稳健性的关系。研究发现：国际四大审计的 IPO 公司的营业利润、利润总额、净利润和综合收益的稳健性均显著低于非四大审计的 IPO 公司的盈余稳健性,但本土十大与非十大审计的 IPO 公司之间的盈余稳健性不存在显著差异。     

公司治理与会计稳健性——基于上市公司的实证研究

会计稳健性是财务报告的一个重要特征和惯例，已成为会计盈余的重要质量特征之一。本文运用basu（1997）模型，将会计稳健性定义为会计报告对坏消息的确认比好消息更及时，探讨了有关公司治理的几个重要因素对会计稳健性的影响。研究发现：在影响会计稳健性的治理因素中，银行借款比例与会计稳健性正相关，国家股比例与会计稳健性负相关，在国家股比例低的分组，会计稳健性较高。发行有B股的企业，会计稳健性与只有A股的企业没有显著差异。研究表明，会计稳健性作为会计报告质量的一种量度，随着会计制度和准则的国际接轨与完善，证券市场监管的加强，取得了一定成效，但是会计准则和会计制度不能保证会计报告的质量，尚需改革国内相关的制度背景，如公司治理、法律实施环境等。     

A Wealth-Based Explanation for Earnings Conservatism

This study extends research on earnings conservatism – the degree to which the accounting system recognizes bad news regarding future cash flows in a more timely manner than good news – by arguing that heterogeneous executives' risk attitudes will influence the degree of conservatism. Prior research has demonstrated that differences in earnings conservatism are mainly the result of differences in institutional factors (Basu (1997) and Ball et al. (2000a)). We hypothesize that more risk-averse managers, who demand a risk premium that offsets the effects of the variance in their compensation, will report more conservative earnings. Earnings conservatism will temper expectations among stakeholders about the future cash flows to be distributed thereby diminishing the likelihood of disappointing outcomes and potential litigation or threats for executives of being fired. The more risk-averse manager would be more inclined to reduce such conflicts, since they will have a destabilizing effect on his future compensation. The empirical results for a sample of Dutch companies over the period of 1983 to 1995 confirm our hypothesis: more risk-averse managers report earnings more conservatively than do less risk-averse managers.     

The Economic Determinants of Conditional Conservatism

Abstract:  We study the economic determinants of conditional conservatism. Consistent with prior literature, we find that contracting induces only conditional conservatism and litigation induces both conditional and unconditional conservatism. We extend prior evidence by Qiang (2007) by showing that taxation and regulation induce not only unconditional conservatism, but conditional conservatism as well. We show that in certain scenarios taxation and regulation create incentives to shift income from periods with high taxation pressure and high public scrutiny to periods with lower taxation pressure and lower public scrutiny. These income shifting strategies are implemented by recognising current economic losses that, given managerial incentives to report aggressively, would not have been recognized otherwise, or by delaying the recognition of current economic gains that would have been recognized had circumstances been different.     

成本粘性和盈余稳健性的衡量

盈余稳健性的衡量主要是基于Basu(1997)模型的盈余对市场收益的反应不对称的程度,而同时成本粘性产生的成本与销售收入的不对称性同样会导致利润与销售收入的不对称,成本粘性是否会混淆盈余稳健性的度量?本文旨在将成本粘性对盈余稳健性的影响剔除,从而衡量更准确的盈余稳健性。我们控制销售收入的增减情况等成本粘性的相关因素,基于Basu(1997)模型重新对盈余稳健性进行估计。研究表明成本粘性因素的确会混淆盈余稳健性的估计结果,因而,控制成本粘性的相关变量,能增加盈余稳健性度量的准确性。进一步利用新修订的盈余稳健性的估计模型分析会计政策变更对盈余稳健性的影响,研究发现会计政策变更降低了对盈余稳健性的要求。     

Conditional and Unconditional Conservatism:Concepts and Modeling

We develop a model that captures the distinct natures of and interactions between conditional and unconditional conservatism. Under unconditional conservatism, the book value of net assets is understated due to predetermined aspects of the accounting process. Under conditional conservatism, book value is written down under sufficiently adverse circumstances, but not up under favorable circumstances. The specification of earnings provided by the model yields hypotheses about how unconditional conservatism and other factors preempt conditional conservatism and so affect the asymmetric response of earnings to positive and negative share returns, both current and lagged, documented by Basu (1995, “Conservatism and the Asymmetric Timeliness of Earnings.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of Rochester’ 1997, “The Conservatism Principle and the Asymmetric Timeliness of Earnings.” Journal of Accounting and Economics 24, 3–37).This revised version was published online in August 2005 with a corrected cover date.     

Earnings Conservatism and Value Relevance Across the Business Cycle

Abstract:  Prior research has demonstrated higher value relevance of current earnings during economic expansions relative to contractions. We largely attribute such a result to expected growth prospects being captured in the current earnings coefficient when a direct proxy for expected future earnings is omitted from the returns-earnings model. We demonstrate that the conservatism and value relevance of current earnings is actually higher during economic contractions when including a proxy for future earnings expectations. We further demonstrate that the value-relevance of expected future earnings is higher during expansions, when the association between historical accounting information and future growth opportunities likely weakens.     

地理位置、高铁与盈余稳健性

基于债务契约假说的分析框架,探讨企业地理分布对盈余确认稳健性的影响,研究发现:当企业地理分布相对更加偏远时,在信息不对称加剧的影响下,融资约束会刺激企业选择更加激进的盈余确认政策;城市高铁开通有助于缩减时空距离,从而弱化企业地理分布在盈余政策选择中的影响。进一步研究发现,企业地理分布对盈余稳健性的负向影响在非国有企业、高负债企业和低股利企业中更为明显,地理偏远企业采用激进的盈余政策主要是为了向资本市场释放利好信息,以缓解企业的外部融资约束。     

Corporate Governance and Accounting Conservatism in China

A principal-agent relationship exists among creditors, shareholders and management, and information asymmetry among them leads to asymmetric loss functions, which induces conservative accounting. This paper investigates the determinants of accounting conservatism using accrual-based measures and data from 2001 to 2006 in China. We find that a higher degree of leverage, lower level of control of ultimate shareholders and lower level of management ownership lead to more conservative financial reporting. We also find that political concerns and pressures among state-owned enterprises are greater than those among non-state owned enterprises, which leads to more conservative financial reporting among the former. However, a decrease in such concerns leads to a decrease in accounting conservatism. Overall, we find that among the determinants of conservatism in China, debt is the most important, followed by ownership, and that board has little influence.     

Corporate Lobbying,Visibility and Accounting Conservatism

In this study, we examine the relationship between a firm's lobbying activities and financial reporting quality using a US setting where public scrutiny of corporate political activities is high. More importantly, we examine whether and how a firm's visibility shapes the relationship between its corporate lobbying activities and accounting conservatism. Adopting annual lobbying expenditure data to measure firms’ lobbying activities, and using a propensity‐score‐matching methodology to control for differences in firm characteristics between lobbying and non‐lobbying firms, we find a positive relationship between a firm's lobbying intensity and the degree of accounting conservatism in its financial reporting. We further find this positive relationship to be more pronounced in lobbying firms with a higher level of visibility. These results are robust after controlling for a firm's political connections, across various conditional conservatism measures, and across a number of visibility measures including firm size, the number of analysts following the firm, the age of the firm, the number of foreign stock exchanges that the firm is cross‐listed in, and the level of the firm's media coverage. Together, our findings add to the literature on how firms’ political activities shape their accounting practices in general, and accounting conservatism in particular. More importantly, our findings suggest that the heightened public attention paid to political activities in the US yields incentives for firms to be more conservative in their accounting practices.     

管理者过度自信与企业盈余管理行为研究

本文以我国上市公司作为研究样本,依据行为金融理论,从管理者过度自信角度研究了企业盈余管理行为。研究发现,管理者过度自信既会导致公司正向盈余管理行为的发生,也会导致负向盈余管理行为的发生。进一步研究发现,女性比例越高的管理团队越有可能进行盈余管理,管理团队的年龄越小越有可能进行正向盈余管理,管理团队学历越低越有可能进行负向盈余管理行为。本文对研究公司选择会计政策行为,治理公司盈余管理行为乃至完善公司治理结构均具有一定的启示。     

Corporate Life Cycle and Earnings Benchmarks

We examine whether and how corporate life cycle significantly influences meeting or beating earnings benchmarks (MBE). We find that corporate life cycle plays a significant role in a firm's meeting or beating earnings benchmarks behaviour. Developing strategies that fit into the stage of corporate life cycle is crucial for corporate success. MBE is an important financial goal that requires strategies. In this study, we examine whether and how corporate life cycle significantly influences MBE. Specifically, we focus on the incentives of MBE in growth and mature firms. We find that corporate life cycle significantly influences a firm's tendency to meet or beat zero earnings, prior earnings and analysts’ earnings forecasts. Based on logit regressions for the period from 1988 to 2008, the results indicate that growth firms are more likely to meet or beat all three earnings benchmarks. Overall, the results of this study indicate that a firm's MBE behaviour should be examined in the context of its life cycle stage.     

Aggregate Earnings and Corporate Bond Markets

I examine the previously unexplored relation between aggregate earnings changes and corporate bond market returns. I find that aggregate earnings changes have a negative relation to investment‐grade corporate bond market returns and a positive relation to high‐yield corporate bond market returns. The aggregate earnings‐returns relation is lower (i.e., less positive or more negative) for bonds with higher credit ratings and longer maturities. Further, I show that the aggregate earnings‐returns relation is driven by both the expected and the news component of aggregate earnings changes. The expected component is negatively related to expected returns, and the news component is positively related to cash flow news and changes in nominal interest rates, and negatively related to changes in default premia. My results contribute to the understanding of the role of earnings in corporate bond markets as well as the macroeconomic role of accounting information.     

Conditional Persistence of Earnings Components and Accounting Anomalies

We suggest that the failure of investors to distinguish between an earnings component's autocorrelation coefficient (unconditional persistence) and the marginal contribution of that component's persistence to the persistence of earnings (conditional persistence) provides a partial explanation of post‐earnings‐announcement drift, post‐revenue‐announcement drift, and the accrual anomaly. When the conditional persistence of revenue surprises is high (low) relative to its unconditional persistence, both the post‐earnings‐announcement drift and the post‐revenue‐announcement drift are high (low), because investors’ under‐reaction to revenues and earnings is stronger when the persistence of revenue surprises is more strongly associated with the persistence of earnings surprises. Also, the mispricing of accruals decreases substantially when the conditional persistence of accruals is high relative to its unconditional persistence, because investors’ over‐reaction to accruals is mitigated when the persistence of accruals is indeed more strongly associated with the persistence of earnings. Our findings also suggest that financial analysts’ failure to distinguish between unconditional and conditional persistence of revenues and accruals results in more biased revenue and earnings predictions.     

会计制度改革、盈余稳健性与盈余管理

本文以1994-2007我国会计制度改革为研究背景,分析了盈余稳健性和盈余管理之间的内在关系和相互影响,并以此为基础检验了我国会计准则的执行质量。研究得出,扣除操控性应计利润后,上市公司的盈余稳健性同会计制度中稳健性原则的运用程度仍紧密相关。并且,强化稳健性原则和限制公允价值的运用显著降低了公司高估盈余的水平,而弱化稳健性原则和扩大公允价值的运用,则导致了公司盈余管理水平的显著提高。总体而言,没有证据表明盈余稳健性的提高导致了上市公司的大清洗行为。