On the demand for independent and active audit committees

We extend the literature on director independence and the role of the board by focusing on the importance of audit committees in the contracting process. We find that the demand for independent and active audit committees is positively related to the demand for accounting certification. In particular, we find that the likelihood of a firm having a completely independent and active audit committee is negatively related to firm growth opportunities and managerial ownership and positively related to firm size and leverage. Our results suggest that audit committees are an important organizational construct related to the demand for accounting certification.     

The role of CSR committee characteristics on R&D investments

We investigate the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) committees on research and development (R&D) investments. Using a unique sample of European listed companies, we offer three key results to the current academic and policy debate. First, we document that firms with a CSR committee exhibit lower levels of R&D investments. Second, we find that the CSR committee membership of either the CEO or chairman is associated with an increase in R&D investments. Finally, we provide evidence that firms whose CSR committees are chaired by a female director exhibit higher R&D investments. These results are of importance for academics, investors, and policy makers, since they shed light on the effect of CSR board committees on corporate outcomes, beyond their impact on social performance and/or sustainability disclosure.     

基于COSO模式的国有商业银行内部控制评价模型研究

内部控制是商业银行的一项重要管理活动,是商业银行实现风险管理的有效手段。根据COSO的思想,我国商业银行的内部评价体系可分为五个控制要素,即控制环境、风险评估、控制活动、信息与交流、监督和评审。借助于探索性因子分析和验证性因子分析的双因子检验方法,通过对我国国有商业银行内部控制活动的数据调查,可以对基于COSO模式的国有商业银行内部控制评价模型进行经验性分析,以揭示我国国有商业银行内部控制活动中的成效及不足之处,为加强我国商业银行内部控制、大幅度提高内部控制效率提供可靠的理论借鉴。     

审计委员会特征与审计收费的研究

以2005~2007年在沪深两市交易所A股上市的361家上市公司为样本,研究审计委员会特征对审计收费影响以考察审计委员会的治理效率。实证发现审计委员会独立性与审计收费负相关,审计委员会专业性和活跃性与审计收费正相关,表明审计委员会特征对审计委员会降低外部审计控制风险具有一定的影响作用,进而对审计委员会的治理效率产生一定的影响。     

商业银行操作风险度量问题思考

操作风险日益受到专家学者的关注,新巴塞尔协议规定操作风险为银行业面临的三大风险之一。操作风险的种类主要有内部欺诈、外部欺诈;雇员活动和工作场所安全问题;客户、产品和业务活动问题;实物资产的损坏;业务中断和系统错误、执行、交付和过程管理等九类。操作风险度量模型主要有基本指标法、标准法、高级度量法三种方法。我国商业银行应选择适当的度量方法,建立损失数据库,加强对高级度量方法的研究,结合我国商业银行实际开发出新方法。     

Auditor rotation and the appearance of independence: Evidence from non-professional investors

We examine the impact of audit firm versus partner rotation on non-professional investors’ independence-related perceptions, extending prior research on auditor rotation and independence in fact. Arguments for mandatory audit firm rotation continue to be made by regulators and investor groups based, in part, on the idea that firm rotation will incrementally strengthen independence in appearance relative to audit partner rotation. We report the results of two experiments. The first examines 5-year audit firm versus partner rotation under relatively weak or strong audit committees. We find no statistically significant difference in beliefs about how much of an income reducing audit difference management will record, or in beliefs about auditor independence, between the two auditor rotation conditions. On the other hand, we find that non-professional investors do believe more of the audit difference will be recorded, and the auditors will be more independent, under a strong audit committee than a relatively weak audit committee. The second experiment provides further evidence on audit firm versus partner rotation by examining a setting involving a 26-year audit firm–client relationship. Again, no statistically significant differences between the two auditor rotation conditions were found. These findings suggest that compared to audit partner rotation, audit firm rotation does not strengthen independence in appearance among non-professional investors and that non-professional investors recognize the value of strong audit committees.     

The impact of board composition and family ownership on audit committee formation: Evidence from Hong Kong

This study investigates empirically the relationship between three major corporate governance attributes (family shareholding, non-executive directors and independent chairman) and the existence of audit committees across a sample of 397 publicly traded firms in Hong Kong. The results show that at a medium level of family shareholding (between 5% and 25%), the convergence-of-interest effect is dominant and the existence of audit committees decreases. At a high level of family shareholding (more than 25%), the entrenchment effect is dominant and as a result, the existence of audit committees increases. In addition, we show that the response of investors to audit committee existence is not dependent upon family shareholding when there is an independent chairman. The findings of our study also suggest that there is a positive association between the proportion of independent non-executive directors on the corporate board and audit committee existence. In addition, the results show that the positive association between independent non-executive directors is stronger for firms with an independent chairman. Implications of these findings for regulators are discussed.     

税费改革对村委会筹资的影响

税费改革后村委会收入大幅减少,村委会可用资金明显减少,村集体经济组织存在经费不足和公益事业难办等问题,对此,应进一步加强村委会资金筹集的管理与监督,建立新型的农业税收体系模式,优化村委会可用资源结构,保证村委会工作的正常运转。     

Internal governance structures and earnings management

This paper investigates the role of a firm's internal governance structure in constraining earnings management. It is hypothesized that the practice of earnings management is systematically related to the strength of internal corporate governance mechanisms, including the board of directors, the audit committee, the internal audit function and the choice of external auditor. Based on a broad cross‐sectional sample of 434 listed Australian firms, for the financial year ending in 2000, a majority of non‐executive directors on the board and on the audit committee are found to be significantly associated with a lower likelihood of earnings management, as measured by the absolute level of discretionary accruals. The voluntary establishment of an internal audit function and the choice of auditor are not significantly related to a reduction in the level of discretionary accruals. Our additional analysis, using small increases in earnings as a measure of earnings management, also found a negative association between this measure and the existence of an audit committee.     

我国上市公司审计委员会有效性研究——基于上市公司年报补丁的实证分析

当前,国内外监管政策日益重视审计委员会在保障财务报告质量中的作用。事实上,审计委员会是否已提高财务报告的质量,是一个实证检验的问题。本文的研究结果表明,设立审计委员会的上市公司发布年报补丁的概率比较低,与此同时,随着审计委员会独立性的增强、权威性的提高、主任委员独立性的增加,公司发布年报补丁的概率进一步降低。这些研究结果说明,当前我国上市公司已设立的审计委员会能有效地发挥提高财务报告质量的作用。