How do auditor rotations affect key audit matters? Archival evidence from South African audits

The expansion of the auditor's reporting duties with the introduction of critical or key audit matters (KAMs) has reignited interest in the determinants and consequences of the rules and regulations aimed at improving audit's functionality and quality. This paper expands on a growing body of work which investigates possible determinants of the KAMs being included in audit reports. It provides an original perspective on KAM identification and reporting in three ways. Firstly, the paper deals specifically with audit partner and firm rotations as possible KAM determinants. Secondly, hand-collected details are analysed to test for changes in the absolute number of KAMs as well as for KAMs added to or removed from audit reports to provide a more refined measure of how KAM disclosures are varying. Finally, data are gathered from South Africa to complement the empirical work which, to date, has largely focused on the U.S. and U.K. Our findings reveal a duality of stability and variability in how the requirement to report KAMs is being operationalised. A change in audit partner is not associated with changes in reported KAMs but changing audit firms appears to have a significant impact on the KAMs added to or removed from an audit report. The provisions of ISA 701 promote consistency in how KAMs are identified and disclosed by individual partners. However, ISA 701 cannot define and control every aspect of KAM determination. As a result, there is a degree of agency at the firm-level which allows for differences in how audit firms choose to implement the standard's provisions. Our study makes an important contribution by providing evidence of the complex interaction between standardisation of audit practice and sources of performative variability and may lend weight to the regulatory arguments in favour of mandatory firm rotation.     

数字化转型与全要素生产率——基于A股上市公司的经验证据

数字化转型是把握时代方向赋能企业战略转型与变革的必然选择。在数字经济迭代更新的背景下，本文引入企业全要素生产率这一理论视角，选取2007—2020年A股上市公司数据，实证检验数字化转型对企业全要素生产率的影响效应。研究发现，第一，数字化转型显著提升企业全要素生产率水平，这一结论在选取历史数据作为工具变量及稳健性检验后仍然成立；第二，外部知识产权保护、组织内部冗余资源和管理者能力会强化数字化转型与企业全要素生产率之间的正向关系；进一步地，数字化转型对企业全要素生产率的激励效应得益于企业创新能力与企业专业化分工效率的提升，异质性分析表明在非国有和非高新技术企业样本中上述关系更加显著；最后，企业全要素生产率增长能够提升企业市场价值。本研究助推了全要素生产率动因以及数字经济赋能企业创新高质量发展的效应、机制和企业性质差异的理解，为更好的驱动企业数字化转型提供参考建议。     

资金供给、技术能力与技术转移绩效——国家重点研发计划多群组结构方程模型分析

国家重点研发计划对全产业链的强调使得研究其技术转移尤为必要。参考资源基础理论和动态能力理论，构建“资金供给—技术积累规模—技术转移能力—技术转移绩效”国家重点研发计划技术转移模型。应用结构方程模型进行检验，使用多群组结构方程模型探讨不同研究项目各因素对技术转移绩效的不同影响。结果发现：(1)国家重点研发计划技术转移绩效总体处于较高水平；(2)技术转移能力是国家重点研发计划技术转移绩效最直接、最有力的影响因素，资金供给是技术转移绩效的重要支撑；(3)技术积累规模难以直接影响技术转移绩效，但在技术转移绩效影响机理中发挥重要传导作用，是技术转移的基础性技术资源；(4)不同项目类型影响效应存在显著差异。研究结论可为政府、项目参与单位、首席科学家和普通参与者有效促进科技项目技术转移提供参考依据。