会计专业独董的兼职席位、事务所经历与真实盈余管理

 自独立董事制度确立以来，理论界和实务界都非常关注独立董事个体特征在完善公司治理中扮演的重要角色。鉴于独立董事多席位的现象在中国资本市场中普遍存在，以及具有事务所经历的专业人士已成为上市公司选聘会计专业独董的重要来源，考察会计专业独董的兼职席位和事务所经历特征在公司治理中的作用具有重要的理论价值和现实意义。        以2009年至2014年中国A股上市公司为研究样本，采用STATA软件以及控制行业和年度固定效应的OLS回归分析方法，结合独立董事的声誉假说，探讨会计专业独董的兼职席位、事务所经历会计专业独董的兼职席位与企业真实盈余管理行为之间的关系。在此基础上，进一步分析产权性质、股权集中度和事务所关联等因素对上述关系的影响。        实证结果表明，会计专业独董兼职席位数越多，其所在公司的真实盈余管理程度越低，当具有事务所经历的会计专业独董兼职席位越多时，公司真实盈余管理程度进一步降低；进一步分析还发现，当公司产权性质为非国有企业、股权集中度较低以及事务所经历会计专业独董与公司所聘任的主审会计师事务所不存在关联关系时，事务所经历会计专业独董的兼职席位对真实盈余管理行为的抑制作用更加明显。        研究结论不仅验证了独立董事的声誉假说，还发现产权性质、股权集中度和事务所关联等因素会影响会计专业独董有效履职，拓展了独立董事个体特征和真实盈余管理的相关经验研究；同时，研究结论还为监管层完善监管机制、上市公司会计专业独董的选聘和主审会计师事务所的聘用提供决策参考依据。     

独立董事与审计师出自同门是“祸”还是“福”?——独立性与竞争—合作关系之公司治理效应研究

按照我国公司治理规则,上市公司聘请的独立董事中至少应有一名会计专业人士。具有会计师事务所从业经历的人员是会计专业人士中的一个类别。在实践中,我们观察到上市公司聘请具有事务所从业经历的人士担任独董存在3种模式。第一种模式是,公司聘请来自主审会计师事务所的雇员担任独董("同门"模式)。在该模式下,独董与审计师之间具有更高的合作程度,但其独立性下降。第二种模式是,公司聘请曾在事务所从业的人士担任独董("前同行"模式)。在该模式下,独董与审计师的独立性明显增强,且合作程度同样较高。第三种模式是,公司聘请的独董正在事务所从业,但并非来自主审事务所("同行"模式)。在该模式下,独董虽然独立于审计师,但对审计师构成业务竞争威胁,从而可能削弱审计师对客户的监督动机与效果。研究表明,"前同行"模式伴随着最严格的审计,"同行"模式伴随着最宽松的审计,而"同门"模式伴随的审计严格程度居中。这意味着保持不同治理机制之间的独立性固然重要,但避免不同机制之间的潜在利益冲突、促进相互合作同等重要。     

《萨班斯法案》对在美上市的中国公司内部控制的影响

<正>1前言《萨班斯法案》是一部涉及会计职业监管、公司治理、证券市场监管等方面改革的重要法律。《萨班斯法案》的主要内容包括七个方面:成立独立的上市公司会计监管委员会,负责监管执行上市公司审计的会计师事务所及注册会计师:加强审计师的独立性;加大公司的财务报告责任;加强公司的财务披露义务;加重对公司管理层违法行为的处罚措施;增加经费拨款,强化SEC的监管职能;要求美国审计总署加强调查研究。而其中最难操作、最复杂、成本最高的则是该法案中对企业要求的完善内部控制,即404条款。     

控股股东股权质押与审计师风险应对

本文以2003~2015年我国A股上市公司为研究样本,考察了控股股东股权质押对审计师风险应对行为的影响。研究发现,对于存在控股股东股权质押的公司,审计师会增加审计投入、收取更多的审计费用且出具更多的非标准无保留审计意见。进一步的机制检验表明,控制股东股权质押增大了审计师面临的业务风险和审计风险,进而导致了审计师的上述风险应对行为。此外,本文还发现:(1)相对于非国有企业而言,审计师针对控股股东股权质押的风险应对行为在国有企业里显著弱化;(2)相对于非国际四大会计师事务所而言,国际四大会计师事务所针对控股股东股权质押的风险应对行为更加明显,但主要体现在增加审计投入和收取更多的审计费用两个方面。本文丰富了控股股东股权质押经济后果和审计师风险应对行为领域的研究成果,有关结论对于上市公司和监管部门具有重要的参考价值。     

机构投资者调研与公司审计意见购买行为:刺激效应还是抑制效应?

公司管理层实施审计意见购买行为及其监管治理是审计学界与监管部门长期关注的重要问题。机构投资者调研作为投资者发掘公司内部信息并缓解信息不对称的一种非正式制度安排,会抑制还是刺激公司实施审计意见购买行为?本文基于我国上市公司的机构投资者调研数据,通过实证研究发现:机构投资者调研会刺激公司实施审计意见购买行为,参与调研机构数量越多、调研频数越高,被调研公司的审计意见购买动机越强,审计意见激进度也越高。进一步分析发现,在机构投资者调研的刺激效应下,公司主要通过选聘“中小”事务所实施审计意见购买,其目的是掩盖公司盈余管理及经营风险的“不利信号”。在缓解内生问题、排除替代性解释、考虑审计轮换制度影响等一系列稳健测试之后,上述结论依然成立。因此,建议会计师事务所应重视由机构投资者调研衍生的客户公司审计风险,市场监管部门应加强公司审计师选聘行为监管,提高机构投资者调研的外部治理效应。     

内部审计师的亲组织非伦理行为：基于双重认同视角

  近年来频发的企业丑闻中，内部审计师为维护组织利益参与亲组织非伦理行为，结果却对组织造成严重的潜在负面影响。内部审计师面临的亲组织非伦理行为决策困境与普通员工迥然不同，结合职业情景探讨其亲组织非伦理行为的成因和机制，有助于从根本上提升内部审计的治理效率。         基于社会认同理论，提出内部审计师的亲组织非伦理行为决策困境，结合儒家伦理将此困境上升为“尽忠”还是“守义”的文化困境，进而提出双重认同对内部审计师亲组织非伦理行为的直接效应和联合效应。基于道德推脱理论和情感事件理论，识别出双重认同与亲组织非伦理行为之间的理性机制是道德推脱、感性机制是预期内疚。通过两阶段调研，收集212份调研数据，采用多项式回归、响应面分析和块变量法进行实证检验。         研究结果表明，组织认同越高或职业认同越低，内部审计师的亲组织非伦理行为倾向越高。当组织认同高于职业认同时，该倾向较高；双重认同差值越大，该倾向越高。当组织认同低于职业认同时，该倾向较低；双重认同差值越大，该倾向越低。当双重认同相等时，该倾向介于二者之间，且认同水平与亲组织非伦理行为倾向呈倒U形关系。双重认同的联合效应通过激发道德推脱和遏制预期内疚来推进亲组织非伦理行为。         结合职业情景研究内部审计师的亲组织非伦理行为，使社会心理学和商业伦理学在审计领域得到延展和深化；将具体的伦理困境上升到文化困境，有助于嫁接西方理论，发展解决中国现实伦理问题的本土化伦理理论；提出双路径模型，识别出双重认同与亲组织非伦理行为之间的感性和理性机制，拓展了伦理决策的理论框架。     

现金股利迎合能力的影响因素

  当资本市场表现出无效率的特征时，管理者能够通过迎合投资者非理性股利需求获得现金股利溢价。然而，不同公司具有的迎合能力有差别，迎合能力较强的公司更倾向于制定满足投资者非理性需求的现金股利政策。已有研究主要围绕公司股利迎合的对象展开，发现上市公司股利政策在一定程度上迎合了市场投资者、大股东甚至监管政策的要求，但缺乏对公司现金股利迎合能力的探讨。因此，有必要对公司现金股利迎合能力的影响因素进行研究。         基于行为公司财务理论，从自由现金流、资产流动性和生命周期阶段3个方面研究公司现金股利迎合能力。对不同特征的公司具有的现金股利迎合能力进行分析，基于股权分置改革后中国A股上市公司数据，研究现金股利迎合能力的影响因素。在此基础上，进一步探讨迎合能力不同的公司中现金股利迎合与盈余管理之间的关系。实证检验中运用Logit模型、Probit模型和Tobit模型考察不同迎合能力对公司现金股利支付倾向和支付水平的差异化影响，并采用多元回归方法检验现金股利迎合能力与公司盈余管理的关系。         研究结果表明，自由现金流、资产流动性和生命周期阶段影响公司现金股利迎合能力，自由现金流充裕、资产流动性高和成熟型的公司中现金股利溢价对现金股利政策的影响更强烈，这些公司更有能力迎合投资者非理性需求。进一步研究发现，公司实施现金股利迎合的同时也会进行应计项目的盈余管理，迎合能力强的公司更倾向于运用盈余管理配合现金股利迎合维持股票价格。         研究结果丰富和拓展了已有的公司迎合理论，有助于深入理解行为公司财务视角下的上市公司现金股利政策。同时，研究结果对于完善中国资本市场监管具有一定的借鉴意义。有关部门应当制定更为科学有效的现金股利监管政策，并引导和规范市场投资者行为，促进资本市场效率的提升。     

机构投资者调研与管理层盈余预测方式

 管理层盈余预测作为改善公司信息环境的重要手段之一，受到研究者们的广泛关注，近年来相关研究越来越强调具有信息优势的管理层会对业绩预告的披露时间和方式进行战略性选择，以实现自身利益最大化的目的。因此，对如何抑制管理层利用信息优势谋取私利、提高盈余预测精确度这一问题进行研究具有重要意义。        从信息不对称视角入手，以2013年至2015年深圳交易所披露管理层盈余预测的上市公司为研究样本，采用顺序Logit模型等多元回归分析方法，实证检验机构投资者调研与管理层盈余预测方式的关系，并进一步考察盈余预测信息性质和产权性质对二者关系的影响。以每个上市公司一年内接待的机构投资者调研次数或一年内接待的机构投资者总数的自然对数测量机构投资者调研频率。根据管理层盈余预测精确度将管理层预测分为4类，即当管理层盈余预测为点估计时赋值为4，为闭区间估计时赋值为3，为开区间估计时赋值为2，为定性预测时赋值为1。        研究结果表明，总体而言机构投资者调研越频繁的公司，其管理层越倾向于采用模糊的方式预测盈余，并且这种影响在盈余预测信息为坏消息时更为明显，以上情形主要存在于非国有企业中。进一步检验发现，相对于买方机构而言，卖方机构的调研行为更有可能导致管理层采用模糊方式进行盈余预测，公募基金和私募基金的调研行为对预测方式的影响并无显著差异。上述研究结果在进行工具变量两阶段最小二乘回归、Heckman两阶段检验等一系列稳健性检验后依然成立。        机构投资者作为重要的市场参与者，其行为一直受到广泛关注，与已有认为机构投资者与管理层直接沟通能够有助于降低信息不对称程度的研究不同，研究结果表明机构投资者调研给公司带来了业绩压力，从而使其更倾向于选择模糊的方式进行盈余预测，拓展了机构投资者行为对资本市场信息环境影响的相关研究，同时为中国投资者更有效地理解和利用管理层业绩预告信息进行决策、监管机构进一步完善上市公司信息披露规定、保护中小投资者权益提供了经验借鉴。     

独立董事网络、信息双向传递与公司被诉风险

 近年来频繁发生的诉讼案件威胁公司内外部“和谐”，引发各界关注。一般认为，信息不对称是引发公司诉讼风险的重要原因。一方面，外部利益相关者对公司内部信息不了解，使经理人机会主义行为更易发生；而且，外部利益相关者与公司间的信息偏误，也会造成日后纠纷，这些都可能引发公司被诉风险。另一方面，公司经理人掌握的外部信息不充分，使其在环境不确定性下的各项决策面临更高的失败风险，极易引发由决策失败导致的被诉风险。因此，研究如何缓解公司内外部间的信息不对称、规避公司被诉风险具有重要的理论价值和实践意义。        基于嵌入性和公司内外部间信息双向传递的视角，考察独立董事网络对公司被诉风险的影响及其作用机理。以2007年至2014年中国A股上市公司为研究对象，构建独立董事网络-信息双向传递-公司被诉风险理论分析框架，运用Stata 13.0软件进行多元回归分析、PSM分析和工具变量回归分析，实证检验独立董事网络对公司被诉风险的影响，并结合内部控制有效性和环境不确定性探讨这一影响的具体作用机理，最后对研究中涉及的内生性问题进行检验。        研究结果表明，独立董事网络有助于公司内外部间的信息双向传递，降低公司被诉风险。对作用机理的检验结果表明，在内部控制不健全、环境不确定性较高的公司中，独立董事网络抑制被诉风险的效应更加明显，说明独立董事网络既可以将公司内部信息向外部传递，缓解经理人机会主义行为和公司内外部间信息偏误，也可以将外部信息向公司内部传递，提升经理人决策科学性。而且，独立董事网络并未强化独立董事监督职能，而是通过信息传递增强证券分析师和机构投资者等外部监督，改善了公司信息环境。稳健性检验结果表明，在考虑替代变量、独立董事自选择偏差、内生性等问题之后结论依然稳健。        研究结果有助于丰富和完善社会网络与公司治理和诉讼风险成因的研究，也为中国上市公司认识和规避当前被诉风险提供一些有益的现实启示。     

融资约束、财务松弛与股价信息含量

  上市公司的股价信息含量是测量资本市场效率的重要指标之一，已有研究发现上市公司具有足够的动机和操作空间干预信息披露，其中主动提高信息披露水平的主要动机是对外融资。近十几年来越来越多的国内外上市公司长期保持低负债或高现金持有，形成了财务松弛，优序融资理论认为当公司存在财务松弛时对外融资依赖下降，因此，逐渐被学界重视的财务松弛现象在理论上会影响上市公司信息披露，进而对股价信息含量产生重要影响。         基于此，将财务松弛纳入已有理论模型进行拓展，在理论模型推导所得结论的基础上，利用2007年至2016年中国A股上市公司数据，采用固定效应模型对财务松弛与股价信息含量之间的关系进行实证检验。实证研究中采用股价同步性r²量股价信息含量，根据财务松弛的定义和其他学者的研究成果构建财务松弛的测量指标，并且利用2007年底出台的《物权法》中应收账款可以抵押贷款这一规定构建双重差分模型，控制可能存在的内生性问题。         研究结果表明，财务松弛确实是影响上市公司信息披露的重要因素，当公司面临融资约束时，公司内部财务松弛水平的增加会使上市公司减少信息披露，进而降低股价信息含量，在采用双重差分模型控制内生性之后这一结论仍然成立。这说明作为内部资本结构重要组成内容的财务松弛不仅影响公司的经营活动，也是影响上市公司股价特质性信息含量的重要因素。         研究结果为研究和监管上市公司信息披露提供了一个新的内部视角，也将目前学界对财务松弛与公司投融资等经营活动关系的研究拓展到探究财务松弛对于资本市场的影响。     

Power,authority and legitimacy

Management, human resources, organization, control, leadership, etc., all seem to be just so many euphemisms for power, and this suggests a discourse of management and organization that calls things by their proper name. This paper on the contrary stresses the need to resolve the concept of ‘power’ itself into more differentiated notions, and proposes that clarification may be derived from distinctions once explicit in the vocabulary of Classical antiquity, but lost in modern European languages. It argues that nothing but confusion in thinking about organizations, management and legitimation can result from the failure to recognize that the phenomena this vocabulary identifies and distinguishes are irreducibly different.     

The moderating role of social support in Karasek's job strain model

This paper examines whether social support is a boundary-determining criterion in the job strain model of Karasek (1979). The particular focus is the extent to which different sources of social support, work overload and task control influence job satisfaction, depersonalization and supervisor assessments of work performance. Hypotheses are tested using prospective survey data from 80 clerical staff in a university setting. Results revealed 3-way interactions among levels of support (supervisor, co-worker, non-work), perceived task control and work overload on levels of work performance and employee adjustment (self-report). After controlling for levels of negative affect in all analyses, there was evidence that high levels of supervisor support mitigated against the negative effects of high strain jobs on levels of job satisfaction and reduced reported levels of depersonalization. Moreover, high levels of non-work support and co-worker support also mitigated against the negative effects of high strain jobs on levels of work performance. The results are discussed in terms of the importance of social support networks both at, and beyond, the work context.     

Job insecurity, coping resources and personality dispositions in occupational strain

This paper presents research on the relationships between the work-related stressor of perceived job insecurity and various indicators of occupational strain, taking into account employees' personality dispositions (trait negative and positive affectivity) and coping resources. Respondents were 222 Australian public servants surveyed during organizational restructuring that involved downsizing and threat to job certainty. The research was formulated within an adaptation of Osipow, Doty, and Spokane's (1985) framework of stress-strain-coping that included the possible direct as well as moderating effects of personality dispositions in reporting occupational strain (Parkes, 1990). Findings from hierarchical regression analyses indicate consistent significant independent effects of personality dispositions, coping resources and perceived job insecurity on various indicators of strain. There was also support for the moderating roles of negative affectivity and self-care in the relation between perceived job insecurity and physical strain. Implications for the role of dispositional factors, especially negative affectivity, and the utility of various coping resources in accounting for occupational strain in times of threatened job security are discussed.     

Dermal Uptake of 18 Dilute Aqueous Chemicals: In Vivo Disappearance‐Method Measures Greatly Exceed In Vitro‐Based Predictions

Average rates of total dermal uptake (K_up) from short‐term (e.g., bathing) contact with dilute aqueous organic chemicals (DAOCs) are typically estimated from steady‐state in vitro diffusion‐cell measures of chemical permeability (K_p) through skin into receptor solution. Widely used (“PCR‐vitro”) methods estimate K_up by applying diffusion theory to increase K_p predictions made by a physico‐chemical regression (PCR) model that was fit to a large set of K_p measures. Here, K_up predictions for 18 DAOCs made by three PCR‐vitro models (EPA, NIOSH, and MH) were compared to previous in vivo measures obtained by methods unlikely to underestimate K_up. A new PCR model fit to all 18 measures is accurate to within approximately threefold (r = 0.91, p < 10^?5), but the PCR‐vitro predictions (r > 0.63) all tend to underestimate the K_up measures by mean factors (UF, and p value for testing UF = 1) of 10 (EPA, p < 10^?6), 11 (NIOSH, p < 10^?8), and 6.2 (MH, p = 0.018). For all three PCR‐vitro models, log(UF) correlates negatively with molecular weight (r² = 0.31 to 0.84, p = 0.017 to < 10^?6) but not with log(vapor pressure) as an additional predictor (p > 0.05), so vapor pressure appears not to explain the significant in vivo/PCR‐vitro discrepancy. Until this discrepancy is explained, careful in vivo measures of K_up should be obtained for more chemicals, the expanded in vivo database should be compared to in vitro‐based predictions, and in vivo data should be considered in assessing aqueous dermal exposure and its uncertainty.     

Systems Resilience for Multihazard Environments: Definition,Metrics, and Valuation for Decision Making

The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction reported that the 2011 natural disasters, including the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan, resulted in $366 billion in direct damages and 29,782 fatalities worldwide. Storms and floods accounted for up to 70% of the 302 natural disasters worldwide in 2011, with earthquakes producing the greatest number of fatalities. Average annual losses in the United States amount to about $55 billion. Enhancing community and system resilience could lead to massive savings through risk reduction and expeditious recovery. The rational management of such reduction and recovery is facilitated by an appropriate definition of resilience and associated metrics. In this article, a resilience definition is provided that meets a set of requirements with clear relationships to the metrics of the relevant abstract notions of reliability and risk. Those metrics also meet logically consistent requirements drawn from measure theory, and provide a sound basis for the development of effective decision‐making tools for multihazard environments. Improving the resiliency of a system to meet target levels requires the examination of system enhancement alternatives in economic terms, within a decision‐making framework. Relevant decision analysis methods would typically require the examination of resilience based on its valuation by society at large. The article provides methods for valuation and benefit‐cost analysis based on concepts from risk analysis and management.     

Defining Spirituality of Work

There is a current surge of writings on spirituality and related topics. For instance, Woodward (1997) has pointed out that since Thomas Moore's publication of Care of the Soul in 1994 there have been nearly 800books published with the word soul in the title. These run all the way from Chicken Soup for theWoman's Soul (Canfield et al., 1996) to A Guide to Liberating YourSoul (Barrett, 1995). Spirituality of work is a big part of this surge. Definitionsof spirituality of work seem to vary widely. Bowman (1998, p. 8) in his `reviewof the phenomenon of spirituality of work' found `Definitions of the term spirituality in the context of the Spirituality of Work troublesome and particularly subjective. Many writers do not even attempt definitions.' The purpose of this article is to review the concept of spirituality of work in its historical and current use and to propose a comprehensive definition.     

Job strain and psychotropic drug use among white-collar workers

The main objective of this study was to measure the association between simultaneous exposure to high psychological demand and low decision latitude at work and the use of psychotropic drugs among white-collar workers. A second objective was to determine whether social support at work modified this association. A cross-sectional study was performed that included 2786 workers from the public sector in the Greater Quebec City area. A self-administered questionnaire was used in order to evaluate psychological demand, decision latitude and social support at work. Psychotropic drug use was measured over a period of 2 days. The prevalence of psychotropic drug use among the participants was found to be 3.9%, even though 20.5% were exposed to job strain. The association between job strain and psychotropic drug use, after adjustment for social support at work, age, gender, education, family income, employment status, occupation, stressful life events, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption and physical activity, was statistically significant (odds ratio: 4.5, 95% CI 1.7?12.2). Social support did not appear to modify this association. The results of this study suggest that job strain might be a determinant of psychotropic drug use among white collar workers. Social support at work does not appear, however, to modify this association.     

Role clarity, work overload and organizational support: multilevel evidence of the importance of support

The present study extended the demands-control-support model used in occupational stress research in two ways. First, it hypothesized that role clarity (i.e. role ambiguity), like control, would moderate the relationship between demands and psychological strain. Second, the study assessed support (from leaders) as a macro characteristic of the work-group environment. Data were drawn from a large study of US army soldiers, the study sample consisting of 1786 lower enlisted male soldiers. The inclusion of support as a work-group characteristic lead to a multilevel test of the model. A three-way multilevel interaction among work demands, role clarity and support was observed. As predicted, the relationship between demands and psychological strain was moderated by role clarity; however, this moderating relationship was found only when work-group support was high.     

WebStress: a web interface to explore a multidatabase bibliographic corpus on occupational stress

A bibliographic study on a multidisciplinary subject, such as occupational stress, requires a multidatabase query facility. Given this, we searched eight databases belonging to different fields (medicine, psychology, etc.) and from different countries. Thus, more than 26000 references on occupational stress were gathered. A bibliographic corpus of this sort is unusable because of the heterogeneous format of the records and the number of duplicate entries. Considering the limitations of commercial programs, we have developed a system, called WebStress, for reformatting the data and removing duplicates. The huge number of references and the research needs of updating and searching have necessitated the addition of several other functions to WebStress. Therefore WebStress comprises a web interface that makes it possible to search the corpus with advanced features (using clustering, a specialized thesaurus on stress and Boolean queries). In addition to the usual bibliographic queries on a specific database such as Medline, WebStress provides bibliometric analysis of the corpus, which might contribute to a detailed analysis on occupational stress in order to highlight the networks of researchers and to find the main topics studied in this area. WebStress is not yet available to researchers in general. It is being further developed, and also permission needs to be obtained from the eight commercial bibliographic databases that it consults.