Managers’ segment disclosure choices under IFRS 8: EU evidence

We examine the impact of proprietary and agency cost motives on segment disclosure quality and quantity and how the adoption of the principle IFRS 8 affects this impact. By using hand-collected data, our results show that proprietary and agency costs play a relevant role in determining the quality and quantity of segment disclosure. We find that proprietary costs are a particularly relevant reason for providing lower segment disclosure quality post-IFRS 8. Our results also suggest that firms’ segment disclosure choice is dependent on disclosure dimension. These results contribute to the ongoing debate regarding IFRS 8 and have valuable implications for accounting regulators.     

Disentangling Managers’ and Analysts’ Non‐GAAP Reporting

Researchers frequently proxy for managers’ non‐GAAP disclosures using performance metrics available through analyst forecast data providers (FDPs), such as I/B/E/S. The extent to which FDP‐provided earnings are a valid proxy for managers’ non‐GAAP reporting, however, has been debated extensively. We explore this important question by creating the first large‐sample data set of managers’ non‐GAAP earnings disclosures, which we directly compare to I/B/E/S data. Although we find a substantial overlap between the two data sets, we also find that they differ in systematic ways because I/B/E/S (1) excludes managers’ lower quality non‐GAAP numbers and (2) sometimes provides higher quality non‐GAAP measures that managers do not explicitly disclose. Our results indicate that using I/B/E/S to identify managers’ non‐GAAP disclosures significantly underestimates the aggressiveness of their reporting choices. We encourage researchers interested in managers’ non‐GAAP reporting to use our newly available data set of manager‐disclosed non‐GAAP metrics because it more accurately captures managers’ reporting choices.     

On Quality and Variety Bias in Aggregate Prices

How do product variety and quality affect the aggregate price bias? We develop a general equilibrium model that accounts for the joint interaction of product quality and variety. Our findings show that the aggregate price bias is procyclical and the contribution of product variety is persistent whereas the contribution of product quality becomes countercyclical in the medium to long run. We show that accounting for product quality and variety has critical implications on the measure of cyclical fluctuations. Measurements of cyclical fluctuations derived using the consumption deflator, which abstracts from changes in product quality and variety, underestimate the variables' true volatility.     

An international study of internal audit function quality

We investigate organisational and environmental factors that influence firms’ incentives to develop high-quality internal audit functions (IAFs) by using a unique international sample formed by matching proprietary data from a global internal auditor survey with public data obtained from Worldscope. Concerning organisational factors, we find that a positive relationship exists between IAF quality and firm complexity and confirm that complex firms have a higher demand for monitoring and advising and, therefore, a greater need for formal controls. In addition, IAF quality is positively related to board monitoring and audit committee diligence but negatively associated with CEO power, which suggests that IAF quality is influenced by other key players in corporate governance. Regarding environmental factors, we document that IAF quality is positively associated with industry competition, which implies that a firm’s incentive for a high-quality IAF is enhanced when confronted with greater environmental uncertainty. Furthermore, IAF quality has a significantly positive relationship with our self-constructed index of IAF requirements included in national corporate governance codes, which indicates that strong home-country corporate governance codes play a role in fostering IAF development.     

Annual report readability and corporate agency costs

Annual reports are the main sources of information for outside investors’ investment decisions and enable shareholders to supervise the management. Difficulties with the readability of these reports may therefore have serious consequences. Using 19,221 firm-year observations of Chinese A-share listed firms from 2001 to 2015, we investigate the association between annual report readability and corporate agency costs, where readability is proxied by report file length and/or file size. We find that firms with better annual report readability experience lower agency costs, and the negative association between readability and agency costs is more pronounced in firms with higher external audit quality, internal control quality or analyst coverage. These results hold after several robustness checks. The positive effect of annual report readability is stronger in private firms than in state-owned enterprises, and becomes stronger after the implementation of new accounting standards in 2007. Readable annual reports can help in monitoring corporate insiders’ opportunistic behavior and thus reduce agency costs.     

人口规模与教育资源配置良性互动机制的动态仿真

我国人口规模与教育资源配置形成了恶性循环。以社会宏观动力学为分析框架, 基于2000—2019年面板数据,采用Vensim PLE软件,构建人口规模与教育资源配置互动机制系统动力学模型。研究表明：2024年开始,人口规模下降速度将逐年加快,教育市场将出现结构性萎缩,教育资源投入总量和速度将提高;人口规模对生产水平敏感;教育资源市场配置对人口增速、权力巩固程度、权力中心化程度、物力教育资源敏感。基于研究结论,提出两者良性互动的调适策略：保持经济高质量发展,降低生育养育成本;将生育权还给家庭,全面放开生育;巩固“双减”政策成效,引导教育需求;降低权力中心化程度,利用教育市场优势;加大教育资源投入,促进优质教育资源均衡。     

企业ESG 履责的绿色生产力效应研究——基于绿色技术创新视角

论文选取2011-2020 年沪深A 股上市公司为研究样本,基于绿色技术创新视角,实证研究了企业ESG 履责的绿色生产力效应。研究发现,ESG 履责显著促进了企业绿色技术创新水平;机制检验发现,企业ESG 履责主要通过缓解财务约束,提升企业声誉,以及提高企业信息披露质量,促进绿色技术创新水平的提升;进一步基于“宏观——中观——微观”的多维异质性检验显示,当企业所处环境规制压力较高、所在行业竞争压力较大、以及企业人力资源基础较好时,ESG 对绿色技术创新的促进效应更为凸显。论文研究对新形势下构建绿色生产力体系、助力实现新质生产力发展提供有益启示。     

旅行社质量保证金制度的重构

旅行社质量保证金是用于保障旅游者权益的专用款项.它对保证旅游质量、减少旅游纠纷、降低交易风险发挥了一定作用,但保证金制度设计的缺陷,致其功能远未充分彰显.本文从保证金制度的性质及功能出发,分析其实施中存在的问题,最后提出具体的重构措施和方法.     

数字技术融合对企业创新数量与质量的影响

以268家医疗装备企业为研究对象,从Himmpat专利数据库获取2002—2022年的15 446条专利数据,构建“数字-医疗”技术融合网络,基于量与质的视角实证分析数字技术融合对企业创新绩效的影响。采用负二项固定效应回归模型进行实证研究。结果表明,互补性数字技术融合和替代性数字技术融合均对企业创新质量和数量具有正向影响,融合波动性负向调节上述关系。     

审计项目质量责任追究机制初探

本文探讨了审计项目质量责任及过错追究制度制定的制定依据、具体内容、责任追究时应注意的问题。指出审计项目质量责任及过错追究制度的核心是要明确审计项目质量责任、落实过错责任追究机制。