上市公司信息披露与投资者信息获取的成本效益问卷调查分析

本文分别对上市公司信息披露的成本效益和投资者信息获取的成本效益网上问卷调查进行分析 ,结果表明 ,上市公司信息披露工作的费用呈逐年上升态势 ;投资者为获取公开信息所负担的费用较多 ,总体呈上升趋势 ;投资者普遍认为对投资决策极重要的公开信息项目有年度报告、利润分配及转增股本实施公告、首次发行或二次发行招股说明书及发行公告等。投资者认为最重要的定期报告项目是主要财务指标 (中报 )和会计数据和业务数据摘要 (年报 )、股本变动和 (主要 )股东 (持股 )情况以及财务报告。对机构投资者而言 ,其在作出投资决策时最关注的财务指标依次是上市公司成长性指标、盈利数量指标、盈利质量指标。而对偿债能力指标、资产状况指标、营运状况指标、现金流量指标和利润分配指标则关注程度不是很大。     

The Israeli XBRL Adoption Experience

eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) is a language for the electronic communication of business and financial data which is revolutionizing business reporting around the world. It is a tool to bridge potential language barriers and unify financial reporting. This has appeal to foreign investors, among others, who can rely on information in XBRL‐tagged financial reports to make investment decisions without having to translate financial statements from local language. In 2008, Israel required most public companies to adopt International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for financial reporting and to use XBRL‐tagged reporting format, as part of an aggressive effort to make its capital markets more transparent and attractive for foreign investors. In this paper, we study all Israeli public companies and analyze the accuracy and reliability of their XBRL‐tagged financial statements that are available on MAGNA, the Israel Securities Authority's electronic system. We describe the process by which the XBRL‐based data were collected and reported. We document, categorize, and analyze deficiencies in the XBRL‐tagged filings, and inconsistencies between them and the Hebrew‐based annual reports. We observe pervasive data entry errors resulting in inaccurate XBRL‐generated financial reports, which went undetected for over one year. Further, first year XBRL reporting (in conjunction with IFRS adoption) did not increase foreign investment in the Israeli capital markets. This analysis allows us to better understand the benefits and challenges of the adoption of XBRL.     

深市B股发行公司年度报告可读性特征研究

上市公司年报分为财务信息和非财务信息两部分。非财务信息主要由文字部分构成 ,其可读性是否与投资者群体的理解能力相配合、相适应 ,它决定了上市公司信息的传递效率。本文以深圳证券市场所有 5 9家发行B股上市公司的 2 0 0 0年英文版年度报告为样本 ,采用FLESCH可读性取值模型 ,及单向T测试的统计方法 ,对我国上市公司年报中非财务信息的可读性进行了实证研究 ,并对研究结果进行分析和讨论。     

Brexit disclosure – companies’ honest or bogus perceptions of risk?

Motivated by the recent FRC Brexit-risk reporting guidance, we investigate empirically how internationally diversified companies and those operating in industries with high/low exposure voluntarily responded to this. The paper also examines the pessimistic tone of risk disclosure in annual reports by employing Loughran and McDonald (2011)’s business dictionary capable of gauging various attributes of uncertainty. We find that while almost all FTSE 100 companies discuss this topic in their 2016 to 2019 annual reports, more international involvement results in a greater amount of information and fewer Brexit risk factors. This suggests that while internationally diversified companies respond to more pressure from regulatory requirements, they have already taken internal measures to minimize their exposure to Brexit and therefore, have downgraded their assessment of Brexit risks and uncertainties, and report it to investors accordingly. The results hold true regardless of the location of risk disclosures in the Strategic report and Financial Statements and notes. We also reveal evidence that there are some differential effects among industries depending on the exposure to the Brexit shock. Finally, our results show that internationalisation and industry exposure explain some variation in the negative tone of Brexit discussions. The increased risk reporting and negative tone may be driven by either an intentional bias or justifiably, by a lack of managerial information endowment (Dobler, 2008).     

ANNUAL REPORT RESOURCE COMMITMENT AND DISTRIBUTION PATTERNS IN AUSTRALASIA

In April 1978 a mail questionnaire was administered to 1230 Australian and 215 New Zealand public companies to solicit annual report resource commitment and distribution patterns. Summarized responses indicate that Australian annual reports for year ended 1977 cost A$2.98 per copy on average to produce and mail, while New Zealand reports for the same period cost NZ$2.50. More than half of these costs is attributable to the printing component. Australian companies employed 99 manhours on average in the preparation and distribution of their reports, while New Zealand companies employed 130 manhours. Eighty percent of all reports distributed by Australian companies were sent to shareholders, while 70 percent of all reports distributed by New Zealand companies were sent to this group.     

Ethical awareness of Chinese business managers and accountants and their views on the use of off-book accounts

This paper reports the survey results of ethical awareness of Chinese business managers and accountants on business ethical issues and their assessment of the nature of off-book accounts (OBAs) usage from the perspective of ethical viewpoints. We find that Chinese respondents can, overall, make appropriate ethical judgments on explicitly unethical business behaviors but they may still adopt a relatively tolerant view towards some business behaviors that are less explicit in deviation from the general business ethics. Regarding the ethical assessment of the use of OBAs in practice, Chinese respondents can generally recognize the illegitimacy and irrationality of the OBAs and they hold reservations on the so-called positive effects of OBAs. In addition, the paper has further analyzed the impacts of a series of influential factors (e.g., gender, age, education, job occupation, work experience, firm size/listing status, and business ownership) on the ethical judgments of general business ethical issues and the ethical assessment of the nature of OBAs made by the respondents respectively.     

Ranking Corporate Governance of Australia's Top Companies: A Decade On

The Horwath/University of Newcastle (UoN) Corporate Governance Reports commenced in 2002 and were among the first to assess Australia's largest companies on their corporate governance structures and policies. Initiated prior to the release of the 2003 Australian Securities Exchange Corporate Governance Council's Principles of Good Corporate Governance and Best Practice Recommendations, and at a time of increased focus on corporate governance failures, the reports attracted much attention from both the media and stakeholder groups. This paper reports the findings of applying the Horwath/UoN methodology to the relevant corporate governance disclosures of the 2012 annual reports of Australia's top 200 companies. Comparison to the original analysis of 2002 annual report disclosures shows a significant improvement across all areas of corporate governance by Australia's top companies. However, there remain some areas of concern, particularly in respect to board diversity, risk management and insider share trading policies.     

BIG Writing: The Fundamental Discipline of Business Writing

BIG Writing presents a strategy for creating a culture of disciplined business writing within a large organization. In today's service‐oriented economy, virtually everyone is doing some form of writing on the job. Yet there is no organized effort to train people in this important skill. Universities don't do it, nor does it typically happen on the job except among a handful of branding specialists—and most books on business writing focus either on grammar and style or how to overcome writer's block. BIG Writing addresses the need for guidelines on business writing as it is actually practiced in the workplace. The article describes how organizations should connect their top‐level messages—their statements of mission, business strategy, and value proposition—with more routine writing activities such as annual reports and sales letters. At a time when CEOs and CFOs are held accountable for the accuracy of every line item in their financial reports, companies are responding by implementing complex systems of financial controls. BIG Writing can help senior management secure better control of its core messages by defining the way in which they are created and disclosed.     

Seeking Capital Abroad: Motivations,Process, and Suggestions for Success

Until fairly recently, the ownership of companies has remained largely with investors in home countries with stocks listed only on domestic exchanges. But a growing number of firms are now raising equity capital on foreign stock exchanges in response to opportunities created by the increasing integration of global capital markets. The authors identify several reasons why seeking capital abroad is an attractive strategy for companies, including greater access to capital, a more liquid share price, easier means of offering employees equity interests in the firm, greater opportunities to make acquisitions, and at least the potential for a stronger reputation and higher valuation, stemming in part from better governance law and greater protection for minority investors in certain jurisdictions. But along with such potential benefits, companies that raise capital abroad also inevitably face liabilities of foreignness (LOF) in their dealings with foreign investors and capital markets. The authors propose a number of ways of minimizing such liabilities, that including signalling the firm's commitment to strengthening its internal governance system, adopting host country business practices, and enlisting the help of reputational intermediaries.     

中注协约谈部分证券资格事务所负责人及注册会计师 提示上市公司年报审计风险

为深入贯彻落实会计师事务所执业质量检查制度改革精神和《上市公司年报审计监管工作规程》要求,中注协在系统总结2010年年报审计监管约谈经验的基础上,通过创新约谈工作思路、健全约谈工作机制、加强约谈工作技术支持力量,进一步加大年报审计事前事中监管力度,有效抵制不正当低价竞争,更好地引导和帮助事务所防范审计风险。2012年,中注协先后约谈了9次(其中,当面约谈6次,书面约谈3次)、共20家证券资格事务所,就部分上市公司2011年年报审计风险进行提示,引起社会各界的高度关注和积极反响。为帮助广大读者深入了解中注协年报审计监管约谈机制和全面把握风险提示内涵,现接上期,继续将有关约谈的情况予以刊发。     

沪市公司年报对公司实际控制人的披露情况分析

绝大部分沪市上市公司均按规定在2008年报中对实际控制人的情况进行了披露,但也有一些上市公司未按或未完全按年报准则关于实际控制人的披露要求履行披露义务,无助于广大投资者了解其产权和控制关系状况。针对披露中存在的问题,我们建议:进一步明确界定实际控制人的含义、类型及其控制形式,充实和完善对实际控制人应予披露的内容,加强对法人控股股东和中间层级控制主体的披露;出台专门的实际控制人披露指引,规范披露的内容和形式;严格上市公司及其控股股东、实际控制人未按规定如实、准确、完整披露的责任。     

Uncovering the impacts of structural similarity of financial indicators on stock returns at different quantile levels

The mining industry is the upstream industry of national economic development. In recent years, the mining financial market has rapidly developed. Stock returns have always been a hot topic for investors and researchers. There are many factors affecting stock prices, such as market supply and demand, national policies and the price fluctuations of other financial products. The most essential factor affecting stock price fluctuation is the operating condition of the listed companies that issue shares. A series of financial indicators comprehensively and systematically reflect listed companies' current earnings and future development potential. However, there are few studies on the structure of financial indicators of listed mining companies. Therefore, we take listed mining companies as the research object to explore whether the structural similarity of their financial indicators can uncover their stock returns. The research findings are as follows: (1) The strength of the structural similarity of financial indicators has a significant negative impact on annual returns, so enterprise managers should adjust their business model and attach importance to personalized development. (2) Similar media capabilities have a negative impact on companies with high annual stock returns and a positive impact on companies with low annual stock returns. (3) The impact of similar cohesion on annual returns varies across different networks and it has a positive effect on the earnings of low-returning companies in operation network. A specific analysis should be carried out according to different financial indicator networks to diversify investment.     

The Ethics Development Model Applied To Declining Ethics in Accounting

This paper presents the Ethics Development Model (EDM) as a lens by which to view declining ethics in accounting and other business professions. The paper also provides a background on fraud (one type of ethical breakdown) and its causes. The EDM comprises personal ethical understanding, application of ethics to business situations, ethical courage and ethical leadership. The model is applied to declining ethics, teaching styles and educational responsibility .     

Attracting Long‐Term Investors Through Integrated Thinking and Reporting: A Clinical Study of a Biopharmaceutical Company

Faced with a large percentage of investors that chase short‐term returns, companies could benefit by attracting investors with longer‐term horizons and incentives that are more consistent with the long‐term strategy of the company. The managers of most companies take their investor base as a “given” that cannot be changed through their actions or words. Using the case of Shire, a biopharmaceutical company with a strong commitment to the goals of improving the safety of its products and the reliability of its supply chain, the authors of this article suggest that companies have the ability and the means to change their investor base in ways that are consistent with their strategy. One of the most promising ways of attracting such investors is integrated reporting, which provides companies with a means of credibly communicating the commitment of its top leadership to diffusing integrated thinking across the organization and to building strong relationships with important external stakeholders. In the case of Shire, both a commitment to integrated thinking and the adoption of integrated reporting appear to have helped the company attract longer‐term investors, which in turn has strengthened management's confidence to carry out its strategy of stakeholder engagement and investment.     

Ethics education in accounting: An investigation of the importance of ethics as a factor in the recruiting decisions of public accounting firms

In recent years, significant attention has been directed to the role of ethics in the business environment and to the ethical development of business students. This study explores the importance of ethical behavior as a factor in the recruiting decisions of public accounting firms. Factors related to the ethical behavior of entry-level employees were compared with other personal characteristics that are traditionally viewed as important to public accounting firms (e.g., personality, appearance, academic performance, etc.). Recruiters from both Big-Six and non-Big-Six firms indicated strong views on the importance of the students' ethical propensities. In fact, ethics received the highest rating by the public accounting firms regardless of their size. The results of this study provide strong evidence for accounting educators to continue to stress to their students the importance of ethical behavior and to continue their efforts to more fully integrate ethics education into the accounting curriculum.     

Signaling strategies in annual reports: Evidence from the disclosure of performance indicators

In voluntary annual report communication, empirical results of signaling theory are contrasting, mainly owing to problems in disclosure measurements. We focus on a specific piece of incremental information and study the signaling strategies in annual reports by analyzing the disclosure of performance indicators that provide incremental information. In this paper, we scrutinize the business review of a sample of 120 listed Italian companies for fiscal year 2010. After controlling for size, risk, and industry, our analysis confirms that the number of indicators published is positively related to firm profitability. Our results help clarify the signaling strategies in annual report communication. Operatively, our evidence can help regulators and standard setters to better discipline the communication of relevant and private information in annual reports, particularly performance indicators.     

Corporate Governance and Investor Reaction to Reported Earnings: An Exploratory Study of Listed Chinese Companies

This study explores the determinants of listed Chinese companies’ governance practices. It also examines how these companies’ governance practices affect domestic investors’ reaction to their earnings reports. Using publicly disclosed financial information and data directly collected from 148 domestically listed Chinese companies, the findings are consistent with investors in these companies basing their valuation decisions, at least in part, on these companies’ earnings reports. This is indicated by the significant relationship between “unexpected” earnings and cumulative abnormal returns. However, the hypothesized effects of governance practice/choice are, on the whole, not supported. There also is no systematic relation between governance choice and ownership structure. We interpret these findings to imply that in the Chinese securities market, the institutional factors and infrastructure (e.g., legal liability, information intermediation, market for managers, and takeovers) are not yet sufficiently developed to permit individual domestic investors to exert significant influence via their actions in the capital markets.