Is central bank conservatism desirable under learning?

In a New Keynesian model, we consider the delegation problem of the government when the central bank optimally sets discretionary monetary policy taking account of private expectations formed through adaptive learning. Learning gives rise to an incentive for the central bank to accommodate less the effect of inflation expectations and cost-push shocks on inflation and induces thus a deviation from rational expectations equilibrium. However, discretionary monetary policy under learning suffers from an excessively low stabilization bias. To improve the social welfare, the government should appoint a liberal central banker, i.e., set a negative optimal inflation penalty that decreases with the value of learning coefficient. The main conclusions are valid under both constant- and decreasing-gain learning.     

审计质量与审计师地域性关系影响因素的研究——基于信息不对称程度与政府干预程度的视角

以2002~2008年我国A股上市公司为样本,系统考察了信息不对称程度和政府干预程度对本地审计师审计质量的影响。研究发现,当上市公司信息不对称程度较高时,本地审计师的审计质量更高,审计师地域性与审计质量的关系更符合信息观;而随着政府干预程度的提高,审计师的独立性将受到损害,本地审计师的审计质量将下降,此时冲突观将占据主导地位。     

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.     

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.     

有条件会计稳健性与无条件会计稳健性分析——理解稳健性的新切入点

本文认为,当前对于会计稳健性的理论分歧,主要是由于混淆了有条件的会计稳健性和无条件的会计稳健性。有条件的稳健性起源于契约中的委托代理关系,并受到诉讼、管制和税收的影响,是会计对不确定经济环境的一种谨慎反应,它能够维护契约执行、落实受托责任、缓解代理冲突,是降低代理成本的有效的制度安排。无条件的稳健性主要是因应管制和税收的需要而产生,随着经济环境的变化其存在的合理性受到质疑。有条件的会计稳健性和无条件的会计稳健性并非相互独立,而是相互联系、相互制约,无条件的稳健性比有条件的稳健性优先,但后者对前者也会产生影响。     

盈余稳健性与企业过度投资行为——来自中国上市公司的经验证据

以中国上市公司为研究样本,采用Khan和Watts(2007)构建的公司层面盈余稳健性度量方法,实证考察了盈余稳健性对企业过度投资行为的影响。实证结果表明,盈余稳健性能够显著抑制中国上市公司的过度投资行为,并降低过度投资行为对自由现金流量或经营活动现金流量的敏感度,从而提高投资效率。因此,中国会计稳健性原则的发展对资源配置效率提高起到了正向促进作用。     

会计稳健性与资本投资效率的实证研究

选取2001年-2008年我国A股上市公司为研究样本,检验会计稳健性与公司资本投资效率之间的关系,进而考察会计稳健性的治理价值.实证研究发现,会计稳健性与资本投资无效率水平以及投资过度(不足)都显著负相关,这对我国上市公司而言,会计稳健性水平有助于缓解经理人与股东之间的代理冲突、降低投资者面临的信息不对称、抑制公司的过度投资或投资不足行为,进而改善公司的资本投资效率.     

现金分红、债务政策稳健性与公司业绩

上市公司现金分红和债务决策是资本市场关注的热点问题。文章以我国A股上市公司为研究对象,考察了现金分红与债务政策稳健性及其对企业业绩的影响关系。研究发现上市公司现金分红行为对公司债务政策稳健性有着显著的影响,相对于无现金分红公司而言,现金分红公司有着更高的债务政策稳健性;现金分红公司的业绩水平显著高于无现金分红公司的对应水平,说明上市公司现金分红行为对公司业绩的提升具有促进作用;在现金分红与公司业绩的关系中,债务政策稳健性具有显著的中介效应。上述研究结论对规范我国上市公司现金分红行为、揭示其对债务政策稳健性与公司业绩的影响具有一定的理论和实践意义。     

Accounting conservatism and common ownership by dedicated institutional blockholders

We examine the peer effects of accounting conservatism in a common dedicated institutional blockholder (CDIB) setting. We find a positive correlation in accounting conservatism between focal firms and their CDIB peers. To corroborate our main findings, we document that the peer effect is stronger for firms connected through CDIBs that are activists or that have more active shares, for firms with larger CDIB ownership and for firms with weaker corporate governance mechanisms and higher information asymmetry. The results suggest that managers view following peer firms’ conservatism as a way of pleasing CDIBs. We also find that in proxy voting, firms receive less support from their investors when their conservatism deviates more from their CDIB peers. Finally, we find that the CDIB peer effect remains significant after controlling for the effect of industry and local peers. Overall, our paper presents evidence consistent with firms adapting their accounting conservatism in response to their incumbent dedicated institutional investors’ preference.     

会计稳健性与审计收费:基于审计风险控制策略的分析

随着监管趋于更加严格,会计师事务所承担的法律责任和赔偿也越来越高。如何采取有效措施防范和控制风险,最大可能地降低损失,已经成为会计师事务所的重要议题。本文对2001至2006年我国上市公司展开研究后发现:作为一种风险控制策略,强制审计客户保持一定的会计稳健性能够降低审计风险,从而降低审计收费;但稳健性发挥作用受到法律环境和诉讼风险的影响,仅对同时发行A股和其他类型股票的企业起到了显著作用。较高审计收费的风险控制策略与强制客户保持一定稳健性的风险控制策略之间存在替代关系。