公司财务监控系统治理绩效的实证研究——来自中国上市公司的证据

本文以我国上市公司财务监控系统在财务方面的治理绩效为研究对象。实证研究检验了大股东在财务方面治理既有积极作用,也有消极作用;财会专业背景独立董事在抑制盈余管理、提高财务安全性方面发挥了积极的作用,财会专业背景独立董事与执行董事这两类人员在治理中的作用有所不同;审计委员会的作用已经显现,有必要继续改善制度建设。财务总监制度和财会专业背景监事在财务方面的治理绩效有待改进,企业财务监控系统在财务安全性方面的作用也有待加强。     

企业财务稽核存在的问题及完善措施

财务稽核作为内部监督的重要措施,将成为内部控制制度中不可或缺的组成部分,它与内部审计、纪检监察一起,构成了维护企业健康发展的防火墙。完善财务稽核体系可从建立完善财务稽核工作制度、完善财务稽核职能、完善财务稽核组织、完善系统的财务稽核工作模式和方法等方面着手。     

当前我国上市公司审计委员会制度存在的主要问题分析

审计委员会制度是英美等国家公司治理结构中的一项重要的制度安排。作为公司治理结构的一个组成部分,审计委员会在英美等西方发达国家的公司监管实践中对健全公司治理结构发挥了举足轻重的作用。理论上讲,审计委员会作为董事会下属的专门委员会,在财务信息披露、防止和发现财务报告欺诈、提高审计独立性及上市公司质量等方面能够发挥重要的监督作用,但当前审计委员会制度在我国的实践并没有发挥预期的效用。对此,笔者进行了深入的原因剖析。     

中国上市公司财务治理现状及完善对策

本文在阐述上市公司财务治理重要意义的基础上,分析了中国上市公司财务治理中存在的问题,并提出了限制控制性股东滥用权利、优化股权结构、完善内部控制制度和上市公司独立董事制度、健全约束和激励机制、以及强化监事会的权力等对策建议。     

上市公司关联交易的信息披露与审计问题初探

随着我国证券市场的发展,关联交易已成为我国上市公司普遍存在的现象.由于对关联交易的监管制度还不完善,许多上市公司采用关联交易操纵利润、控制盈余'加大了市场风险,严重损害了广大中小股东的利益.本文从上市公司关联交易的信息披露与审计方面存在的问题出发,提出了治理利用关联交易进行盈余操纵的对策.     

浅析上市公司关联交易盛行现状及对策

本文阐述关联方交易的基本概念,分析目前我国上市公司中的关联交易盛行的主要原因及其产生的影响,提出完善上市公司法人治理结构和关联交易披露会计准则、制定关联交易定价政策、加大关联交易审计力度以及处罚力度等建议。     

高管权力、审计委员会专业性与内部控制缺陷

本文以2009-2012年沪市A股非金融类上市公司为研究样本,实证检验了高管权力是否会干预审计委员会专业性对内部控制的监控效力。研究发现,专业的审计委员会有助于提高上市公司内部控制质量;进一步研究发现,高管权力会干预审计委员会专业性作用的发挥,随着高管权力的增加,审计委员会专业性对内部控制的监控作用将被削弱。     

高管权力、审计委员会专业性与内部控制缺陷北大核心CSSCI

本文以2009-2012年沪市A股非金融类上市公司为研究样本,实证检验了高管权力是否会干预审计委员会专业性对内部控制的监控效力。研究发现,专业的审计委员会有助于提高上市公司内部控制质量;进一步研究发现,高管权力会干预审计委员会专业性作用的发挥,随着高管权力的增加,审计委员会专业性对内部控制的监控作用将被削弱。     

上市规则与会计准则之关联人的差异及运用

关联交易管理是企业管理尤其是上市公司企业的一项重要内容,管理的是否到位直接影响到上市公司信息披露以及财务报告的质量。而要做好关联交易的管理工作,其前提条件之一就是关联人的识别。对于上市公司而言,企业会计准则和股票上市规则均适用于上市公司,而但这两个规则中对关联人的界定并不一致,从而使得上市公司的信息披露及财务工作人员在关联人识别方面经常出现差错。本文意在通过对两个规则对关联人的差异及其原因进行分析,并就其如何更好地在上市公司运用进行阐述,以期能够指导实践工作。     

上市公司审计委员会治理有效性的实证研究——来自沪深两市的经验证据

本文基于2002～2004年我国沪深两市A股上市公司审计委员会设立及其正常运转的基本数据,并立足于《上市公司治理准则》所赋予审计委员会的基本治理职能,以审计意见和事务所变更为反应变量,对审计委员会治理有效性进行了实证研究。研究发现,设立审计委员会的公司更不易被出具非标准审计意见,这一结果证实审计委员有效履行了财务信息质量控制和沟通协调的职能,并从审计质量的层面反映了监管层推进上市公司治理制度改革的政策效应。研究没有发现是否设立审计委员会和会计师事务所变更之间存在相关性,因而本文没有获得审计委员会实现有效监督职能的证据。本文还认为,现行的年度报告对审计委员会等董事会下设专业委员会活动和履职情况的信息披露尚不规范,由此可能影响投资者对公司治理结构有效性的判断。     

审计委员会与信息披露质量:来自中国上市公司的经验证据

本文选择深交所信息披露考评结果与证券分析师盈余预测精度作为上市公司信息披露质量的衡量指标,使用2006年深市上市公司的相关数据,实证检验了审计委员会与上市公司信息披露质量之间的关系.研究发现,与未设置审计委员会的上市公司相比,设立审计委员会的上市公司具有更高的信息披露质量,审计委员会的独立性对提高上市公司信息披露质量有着积极的促进作用.本文的政策含义是,在进一步完善资本市场的过程中应重视上市公司审计委员会建设.     

The Governance Role of Audit Committees: Reviewing a Decade of Evidence

Even though audit committees have traditionally been a key component of corporate governance regulation, the last decade has witnessed a greater emphasis on audit committee regulation and a parallel intensification of academic research on the subject. This review synthesizes recent empirical research seeking to investigate various aspects of audit committees’ governance role. The review is structured around current regulatory expectations of audit committees seeking to document the extent to which specific characteristics of good practice influence various components of audit committee effectiveness. It is found that larger and more independent audit committees as well as those with financial expertise are more likely to seek a higher level of external audit coverage and assurance. There is also evidence that more independent audit committees are associated with the purchase of lower levels of non‐audit services from auditors, thereby seeking to preserve the independence of the external audit process. There seems a consensus that more independent audit committees and those with greater accounting/financial expertise have a positive impact on the quality of financial statements. Evidence on the stock market reaction to audit committee issues suggests that investors both welcome the presence of audit committees and react positively when members are appointed with relevant expertise. It is also found that internal auditors view certain audit committee characteristics, specifically independence, expertise and frequency of meetings, as leading to more effective audit committee performance. In summary, therefore, this review documents a significant amount of evidence offering support to current regulations concerning the desired characteristics of audit committees.     

Does social exchange relationship impair audit committee effectiveness?

This research applies the three-tier agency theory and social exchange theory to study the role of audit committees in improving financial reporting quality and reducing the likelihood of earnings restatements. Utilizing a matched sample of restated and non-restated U.S. listed firms between 2002 and 2005, this paper finds that firms with a larger proportion of audit committee members appointed after the CEO are associated with higher incidences of restatements, while the presence of an all-independent nomination committee is associated with a lower likelihood of restatements. The paper also shows that firms whose audit committee members have longer average tenure and receive higher director compensation are associated with a smaller likelihood of restatements. Finally, the paper documents changes in the impact of audit committee characteristics on financial restatements after the enactment of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act. Overall, our results suggest that audit committees’ effectiveness in supervising financial reporting quality is affected by social exchange processes and the broad social context.     

Audit committee and internal audit and the quality of earnings: empirical evidence from Spanish companies

Corporate scandals and failures such as Enron, WorldCom, etc. were highly catastrophic and had a terrible effect on stakeholders. The pressure of globalisation and the intense competition have lead to organisations encouraging good corporate governance. Organisations have to promote transparency and accountability of financial information. As Gramling et al. (J Account Lit 23:194–244, 2004) argued there are four important mechanisms of corporate governance include boards of directors, audit committees (among others) and internal and external audit functions. However, this paper will focus on the relationship between two corporate governance mechanisms (audit committee and internal audit function). Thus, our purpose is to analyse the relation between characteristics of the audit committee and internal audit function and earnings management measured as abnormal accruals to test the quality of financial statements. We hypothesise that the association between the effectiveness of the audit committee and the presence of an internal audit function and its relationship with this committee would indicate less opportunity for management to manipulate earnings. Using a sample of 108 non-financial Spanish companies that traded on the Madrid Stock Exchange between 2003 and 2006 (432 observations), we have found that the size and number of meetings of the audit committee had a significant negative association with earnings manipulations. Also, our results suggest that a negative relation between having an internal audit function and earnings management.     

我国企业集团上市公司关联交易频率特征分析

现有的研究表明,关联交易是产生企业集团信用风险的重要因素之一。因此,对关联交易的分析是商业银行防范企业集团信用风险的重要工作。但是,目前还缺乏对关联交易定量化的研究。根据CCER数据库定义的29个关联交易类别,在2002-2006年上市企业集团公司的关联交易数据基础上,分析企业集团关联交易类别和频率特征,以及它们与企业集团信用风险的逻辑关系。统计分析显示,企业集团每年的关联交易频率符合负二项分布,并解释了负二项分布参数的实际意义。案例分析表明太多或太少的关联交易次数,都说明企业集团的经营存在问题,从而将直接或间接地增大其信用风险。     

The impact of related party transactions on earnings management: some insights from the Italian context

Related party transactions have become a key issue as a result of recent financial scandals. This study examines whether firms use related party transactions for earnings management, and then, whether they try to minimize detection through the format of related party transactions disclosure. Firstly, we analyze the association between related party transactions structure (types and parties involved) and the probability of reporting small earnings increase. Related party transactions may have significant impact on, and implications for, earnings management. According to the agency theory, related party transactions are used opportunistically, while the efficient transaction hypothesis argues that related party transactions meet the economic needs of the business. We next investigate the association between the probability of reporting small earnings increases through related party transactions and disclosure quality. Disclosure quality should be studied in relation to impression management and investor attention; this approach takes account of the idea that earnings management behavior may influence the quality of disclosure as a possible way of lowering conflict of interest. In line with the agency theory, our findings show that revenue related party transactions are more likely to be used to manage earnings than other types of transaction; related party transactions with ultimate parents are associated with lower probability of reporting small earnings increases compared to operations with other related parties. Lastly, our results confirm that the decision to engage in earnings management is related to lower disclosure quality.     

Effective working relationships between audit committees and internal audit—the cornerstone of corporate governance in local authorities, a Welsh perspective

This research looks at the working relationship between audit committees and the internal audit function within Welsh local government. The focus is primarily on the working relationship from the perspective of the head of internal audit, also known as the Chief Audit Executive or Chief Internal Auditor [Head of internal audit will be used synonymously with that of Chief Audit Executive and Chief Internal Auditor]. Is it a marriage of convenience or a working relationship where the two can capitalise on what they both bring to the corporate governance arena? Reluctance by local government in Wales to embrace the merits of audit committees in the late 1990s means that local government is playing catch up with other public sector organisations. This in turn affects the recognition of the benefits of an effective audit committee capable of working with the internal audit function to promote sound corporate governance. Published guidelines by the UK public sector accountancy body in 2005 on the implementation of audit committees within local government made those organisations yet to establish an audit committee to rethink the situation, and were encouraged by the seemingly positive benefits of audit committees. Wales was no exception, and the 22 local authorities considered embracing the concept of audit committees. Consequently, this placed the internal audit function and head of internal audit under the spotlight in terms of the expectations of the audit committee members. Audit committees roles and responsibilities mean that they should assist councils and officers to ensure they undertake their responsibilities with probity and effectiveness, especially in respect of financial control. It is imperative that committee chairs and internal audit can function as a working team in order to be effective. Audit Committees have a role to assess the performance of the internal audit function, appoint heads of internal audit, support and promote the audit function within the organisation. It is therefore important that the heads of internal audit have confidence and respect for the audit committee and its chair in terms of the skill and knowledge it has of the audit role in relation to the financial and non-financial aspects of the organisation. Laura Spira (2003) comments on how very little research has been undertaken in relation to the audit committee activities, within the private sector, consequently very little is known about what they actually do, let alone how effective they are in undertaking their role. In a similar vein, the same is true of the public sector audit committee activities, especially when they have tended to adopt the private sector audit committee as a blue print to their own audit committee development.     

Corporate governance and social norms during financial crisis: evidence from France and Saudi Arabia

The resistance to financial crisis and compliance with social norms and effectiveness of corporate governance mechanisms is considered recently as a good matter of concern. Focusing on differences between French and Saudi firms, we examine the effect of (1) board of directors, (2) audit committee, (3) compliance with Corporate Social Responsibility activities, (4) compliance with Shariah principles on financial volatility during subprime crisis of 2007. We find that larger boards, larger audit committees, independent members on boards and audit committees are related negatively to financial volatility. The result supports corporate governance theory which suggests that corporate governance variables outlined provide effective of monitoring of the management thereby enhancing firm’s resistance to financial crisis. In addition, we find that compliance with CSR alone does not explain the financial volatility. Its concert with corporate governance variables is necessary. This result supports stakeholder theory which argues that companies compliant with CSR activities in their business strategy and have larger boards and audit committees, and independent directors on boards and audit committees resist more financial downturns and any economic shock. Furthermore, we find that compliance with Shariah norms plays a significant role in protecting shareholder interests, improving functioning of corporate governance mechanisms and affect positively the resistance of Saudi firms to financial crisis.     

言多必失?管理层报告的样板化及其经济后果

样板化报告在古今中外都有广泛的运用, 但报告者面临两难:一方面, 样板化有利于规避披露风险;但另一方面, 样板化又不利于传递内部信息.那么, 投资者如何评价中国上市公司的报告的样板化程度?以中国上市公司的管理层讨论与分析的文字为样本, 用公司t期和t-1期报告的纵向文本相似度以及本公司和其他公司同期的报告的平均横向相似度来衡量样板化的水平, 并考察了其经济后果.检验结果表明, 纵向样板化的经济后果呈现相机抉择性, 当公司财务风险高 (亏损、微利或者被出具非标准审计意见) 时, 信息效应占优, 样板化的报告引发负面的市场评价, 而当公司财务风险较低, 风险效应占优, 样板化的报告则引发市场的好评.另一方面, 报告横向样板化则引起了整体的负面评价.在调节效应方面, 纵向样板化的经济后果受公司创新、特质信息、董事长权力和停牌次数的影响, 横向样板化的经济后果则受到公司独立董事的社会网络位置的影响.综合结果表明, 公司管理层讨论与分析的横向样板化, 以及在高财务风险条件下的纵向样本化都会因信息披露不足而引起负面的经济后果.     

On the relationship between compliance with recommendations on the audit committee of codes of good practices and financial reporting quality

Codes of good practices provide a soft alternative to the hard legislation approach to corporate governance. These codes include a set of recommendations that companies are expected to follow in order to enhance governance structures and practices. Some of these recommendations specifically aim to improve the effectiveness of the audit committee. We investigate the relationship between the level of compliance with recommendations on the audit committee of the Spanish Unified Code and financial reporting quality, as measured by discretionary accruals and by the opinion of the audit report. We use a sample of companies listed in the Spanish stock market for the years between 2007 and 2013. Results show a strong and positive relationship between the level of compliance with recommendations and the quality of financial reporting. We also report significant results for some specific recommendations. These results are robust to various checks. Therefore, the level of compliance with recommendations on the audit committee might provide a feasible and reliable indicator of the quality of financial reports released by the company.