The Market's Assessment of the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999

We examine the impact of the events leading up to and including the passage of the Financial Services Modernization Act (FSMA) of 1999 on the stock returns of banks, brokerage firms, and insurance companies. We find that the impact is positive for all institutions. Bank gains are positively related to size and capitalization. Brokerage firms gain regardless of size, but the gains are inversely related to capitalization and insurance companies gain regardless of size or capital position. The strong positive reaction suggests that the market expects the institutions to benefit from the new opportunities created by the FSMA's passage.     

美国Sarbanes-Oxley Act对会计的治理及其启示

为加强对会计的治理,美国出台并通过了SOX Act,该法案对加强注册会计师行业管理、提高注册会计师的独立性、完善会计信息披露制度等方面作出了详细规定.对于国内注册会计师行业治理而言,在继续加强行业自律的同时,借鉴美国的做法,加大对注会行业的外部监管力度,采取有效措施提高注册会计师的独立性,继续坚持以基本原则为基础的准则制订方针,增加披露表外信息、非财务信息等信息内容等.     

《萨班斯法案》孰是孰非:基于成本与效率(收益)的分析视角

《萨班斯法案》的出台堪称注册会计师行业的一件大事，从理论上看，该法案各项条款的出台确实具有积极的意义，但仍然存在缺陷，它更多地强调监管的作用，而监管的效率往往不如制衡的效率；它更多地强调经济处罚和刑事处罚的作用，而这两种处罚却必须以民事赔偿为前提，并最终使作假行为的作假成本大大高于作假收益。     

Camouflaged Indicators of Earnings Management†

Abstract

We argue that, in response to increased scrutiny and greater attention to accruals versus sales, firms become more likely to engage in accrual conversion (AC) cash management aimed at aligning cash and accruals with earnings and sales (e.g. by factoring of receivables). In doing so, they reduce the statistical power of standard indicators of accrual-based earnings management – in effect, camouflaging their earnings management activity. This proposition is of interest because many influential papers on earnings management have utilized accrual-based indicators to reach their conclusions. Our results indicate that firms indeed became more likely to engage in AC cash management after the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), and that this tendency was particularly pronounced among firms with strong incentives (or enhanced ability) to perform and hide earnings management. In particular, our findings suggest that the post-SOX decrease in standard measurements of accrual-based earnings management, identified in prior research, is partially attributable to firms’ increased engagement in AC cash management activity.     

"谨慎投资者规则"与我国基金管理人注意义务的法律完善

美国信托法中的“谨慎投资音规则”是在历经法定投资表和谨慎人规则两个阶段的演进中吸收了现代投资组合理论而形成的。“谨慎投资者规则”作为受托人的一项法定投资原则，不仅比较契舍当今证券投资的实际需要，而且也很好地防范了基金管理人对投资权力的滥用，目前已成为越采越多国家规范基金管理人注意义务的主要依据。我们很有必要对之加以吸收和借鉴，以使我国基金管理人注意义务的内容更为精细化。     

注册会计师法律责任体系的政策研究——基于《萨班斯-奥克斯利法案》的视角

安然公司破产案及其后的一系列公司财务欺诈案件,引起了美国社会各界对上市公司会计丑闻的关注。各方的压力迫使美国国会通过了《萨班斯-奥克斯利法案》。本文从分析目前我国注册会计师法律责任界定中面临的问题入手,通过考察《萨班斯-奥克斯利法案》,提出完善我国注册会计师法律责任体系的建议。     

Employer Penalties for Failure to Provide Individual Employee Notification Under the Family and Medical Leave Act: “Clarifications” Following Ragsdale v. Wolverine Worldwide, Inc.

This article examines the Supreme Court's ruling in Ragsdale v. Wolverine Worldwide, Inc. (2002) and considers its implications for employer and employee rights and responsibilities relative to implementing the FMLA policies. We provide an overview of the pre-decision regulatory environment including the general leave provisions of the FMLA and DOL's regulations requiring employer notification of leave designated as FMLA leave. We also identify those provisions that the decision did not alter and provide a broader consideration of the issues and implication of this decision for employers and employees.     

美国《社区再投资法案》理论争议与实践述评

美国《社区再投资法案》的颁布实施以及修正案的实施,鼓励了商业银行尤其是那些准备或正在进行并购的商业银行对低收入群体和少数民族居户抵押贷款的增长.该法案对于改善中低收入社区融资困难的状况起到了不可小视的作用.但CRA并不能有效解决市场失败和信贷歧视,其成本大于收益,且加重了市场扭曲.因此,CRA在理论界有所争议.我国正在推进信用社区建设,《社区再投资法案》对我国社会信用体系建设具有一定的借鉴作用.     

The consequences to analyst involvement in the IPO process: Evidence surrounding the JOBS Act

The JOBS Act allows certain analysts to be more involved in the IPO process, but does not relax restrictions on analyst compensation structure. We find that these analysts initiate coverage that is more optimistically biased, less accurate, and generates smaller stock market reactions. Investors purchasing shares following these initiations lose over 3% of their investment by the firm's subsequent earnings release. By contrast, issuers, analysts, and investment banks appear to benefit from this increased bias, as optimism is more positively associated with proxies for firm visibility and investment banking revenues when analysts are involved in the IPO process.     

Board changes and CEO turnover: The unanticipated effects of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act

The board independence requirements enacted in conjunction with the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) provided motivation for firms that were already compliant with the regulations to alter their board structure. We consider actual board changes made by compliant firms and how such changes affect the monitoring efficiency of the boards. We find that the majority of compliant firms (approximately 56%) add independent directors following SOX. However, we find a nontrivial number of firms (approximately 26%) actually decrease the number of independent directors to move closer to the stated 50% requirement. For firms that decrease independence, the CEO turnover performance sensitivity significantly decreases following SOX. We also find that large board independence changes seem to be most detrimental to the monitoring function of the board. Our results highlight that SOX may have had unintended consequences.