上市公司会计师事务所变更原因分析

上市公司变更会计师事务所的现象日益增加,引起了广大学者的关注和研究,本文分别从审计供给、审计需求以及环境因素三方面分析了我国上市公司变更会计师事务所的原因,以期为此类研究提供参考。     

审计意见、外部环境与事务所变更

会计师事务所变更行为一直是国内外学者关注的重点。随着研究的深入,国外学者已经将外部环境因素纳入分析,而我国尚缺乏此方面的研究。于是本文以2006年我国A股上市公司为样本,在检验了变更前收到非标准审计意见与事务所变更之间的关系的基础上,利用樊纲、王小鲁编制的中国市场化指数及其子指数构建外部环境指数,考察了其对公司变更会计师事务所的影响,发现在相同情况下,良好的外部环境能在一定程度上抑制公司变更事务所的倾向。     

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。     

事务所和客户的策略选择及监管变动效应分析

本文以2018年1月起执行《中国注册会计师审计准则第1504号》关键审计事项的严重程度和处理为例,运用博弈模型分析了事务所和客户的策略选择和监管政策变动的效应。研究发现,事务所和客户的策略选择存在显著差异,监管政策的逐步强化对双方策略和行为的影响差异明显:它可能促使事务所更加谨慎,而对客户影响有限。因此监管政策变动的方向性和多样性是必要的、可行的。     

上市公司审计收费影响因素的实证分析

本文对我国上市公司2002年年报中所披露的有关审计收费因素数据进行多元线性回归分析,发现上市公司的资产总额、纳入合并范围的子公司数、聘任会计师事务所年限和地区差异是影响我国上市公司审计收费的主要因素,而存货占资产总额的比重、应收账款占资产总额的比重、资产负债率和审计意见类型对审计收费不存在显著的影响。     

会计师事务所合并对审计质量之影响:来自中国资本市场的经验证据

本文以中国2005-2009年间的会计师事务所合并案为对象,利用参与合并的会计师事务所及其上市公司客户的数据,同时从横向和纵向的角度考察了事务所合并对审计质量(以操控性应计的绝对值度量)的影响.结果发现,从横向来看,在控制了其他影响审计质量的因素之后,近两年内参与合并的事务所的审计质量显著低于未发生合并的事务所;而从纵向来看,参与合并的事务所的审计质量也显著低于合并之前.因此,尽管合并意味着相关事务所规模的快速提高,但这非但没有导致审计质量的提高,反而导致审计质量的下降.其原因部分可归结于我国事务所合并很大程度上是行政力量推动的结果以及合并初期不同事务所之间的内部摩擦.     

影子银行业务、会计师事务所选择和审计特征——基于上市非金融企业的实证研究北大核心CSSCI

本文利用标准普尔的C ompu st atGloba l企业数据库提供的2007-2014年中国上市公司样本,通过构建中国非金融企业影子银行活动的度量指标,研究了影子银行业务与会计师事务所选择、审计意见、审计风险以及审计费用的关系。研究发现,非金融企业参与影子银行业务越多,越有可能聘用小规模的会计师事务所,这说明上市公司控股股东和管理层通过审计合约来掩盖高风险的地下金融中介业务;进一步,从审计师执业风险角度出发的研究发现,上市公司参与的影子银行业务越多,审计师越有可能出具非标准的审计意见,面临的审计风险越高,同时收取的审计费用越高,这说明在我国审计市场中,会计师事务所充分识别并关注了非金融企业参与影子银行业务的高风险。最后,考察了研究的内生性、变量的度量误差和有效性问题,发现研究结果依然存在。     

审计质量与事务所规模背离--来自审计公费实证的证据

国外大多研究表明审计质量与事务所规模呈一定的正向关系.本文利用Simunic审计公费研究框架,选取沪深制造业118家上市公司为样本,收集其2001年审计公费和相关财务数据,采用实证研究方法,通过对比本土大型会计师事务所、本土小型会计师事务所的审计公费水平与审计质量差异,探讨我国上市公司审计市场结构的现状.研究结果表明,相对本土小所,本土大所未能提供更高质量的审计服务.     

政府管制提高会计师事务所声誉吗?--来自中国证券市场的经验证据

本文以2001￣2003年的上市公司及其主审会计师事务所为样本,研究了政府管制对审计定价以及事务所声誉的影响。用公司市场价值与盈利能力的相关系数来计量事务所声誉,本文发现,整体上来看,与其他事务所相比,首次获得IPO专项复核资格的事务所收取了更高的审计公费,但是投资者认为其审计的公司盈利并不更可信;经国内十大事务所审计的公司盈利的可信度与其他事务所没有显著差异;而经国际四大事务所审计的公司盈利更具可信性。这表明仅靠政府对供给方的管制并不能为会计师事务所带来市场声誉,政府应将工作重心转向培育市场对高质量审计服务的需求。对于会计师事务所而言,提高专业能力、保持高度的独立性才是建立市场声誉的有效途径。     

规范非审计服务,加强审计独立性

保持独立性是注册会计师执行鉴证业务的灵魂,注册会计师职业一旦丧失了独立性,其审计结果的客观性和公正性就会受到人们的怀疑。而会计师事务所提供的包括纳税服务,管理咨询和会计服务等在内的非审计服务对审计独立性的负面影响是存在的,人们对注册会计师在向客户提供审计业务的同时提供非审计服务产生了怀疑,尤其在安然、世通公司的审计舞弊案在审计界引起巨大震惊后。在我国,结合注册会计师行业的现实情况和会计师事务所的发展要求,应当采取相应的措施规范会计师事务所提供的非审计服务,协调好审计业务与非审计业务的矛盾冲突,推进会计师事务所的持续、良性发展。     

An Integrated Accounting for Firms,Job Positions and Employment

ABSTRACT: Using flow analyses for the various population areas and the social accounting that may be developed using the data from these analyses, enables us to better comprehend labour market dynamics. This comprehension is taken a step further if we interrelate this accounting system to that of the productive system. This paper deals with the more limited task of formulating an integrated accounting system for firms, job positions and employment, in order to clarify the concepts of an individual‘s stay in the employment area — both on a stay-by-stay basis and throughout the course of his or her entire working life — and that of mobility. The paper similarly touches on problems found in measuring flows, discusses the concept of definitive exit and its analytical relevance, and finally examines some recent Italian contributions on the topics of birth and death rates amongst firms and employment flows.     

Hedging and accounting-based RPE contracts for powerful CEOs

Several firms prohibit their CEOs from trading in the stock of peer firms. This is puzzling since hedging by the CEO through private trading in the capital market can reduce the CEO’s exposure to systematic compensation risk. When the CEO’s incentive contract comprises relative performance evaluation, we find that the firm might want to disallow private hedging even though there are no technological interdependencies or strategic interactions to peer firms. In the analysis, we highlight two frequently observed characteristics of incentive contracts. First, the use of accounting benchmarks is widespread in compensation contracts for CEOs. Second, empirical and anecdotal evidence suggests that powerful CEOs have influence on the process of designing their own compensation. We find that in the presence of a powerful CEO, the firm can benefit from disallowing private hedging. In particular, the firm’s decision to allow or to disallow private hedging depends on the characteristics of the accounting benchmarks and the characteristics of the peer firms.     

实际控制人政治身份降低债权人对会计信息的依赖吗——基于自我约束型治理视角的解释和实证检验

文章实证分析了民营上市公司实际控制人政治身份对会计信息债务契约有用性的替代效应,发现实际控制人政治身份降低了会计信息债务契约有用性,而且该效应随政治身份级别提高而加强;本文以上市公司违规概率、债务违约概率、审计意见严格程度以及操控性应计水平作为企业声誉及财务报告质量的替代,发现实际控制人具有政治身份、以及较高级别政治身份的公司,其声誉更好、财务报告质量相对更高;研究还发现,更具有关系资源优势的政府任职及金融机构任职背景没有降低债权人对于会计信息的依赖,具备上述优势的企业其违规、债务违约指标也没有得到改善.实际控制人政治身份对于会计信息债务契约有用性的替代效应,不是由于政治施压直接影响银行贷款决策,而是由于出于维护政治声誉和竞争优势目的的自我约束型治理,降低了债务契约风险.     

The effect of accounting standards on Big Bath behavior

This paper investigates the influence of accounting standards on systematic earnings understatement. To isolate the effect of reporting regulations from those of other institutional drivers of earnings management, Holthausen (2003) proposes analyzing reporting practices in a country undergoing a transition in accounting standards. We respond to this call by analyzing earnings management practices of large German-listed companies before and after their transitions from German GAAP to IFRS. Specifically, we focus on Big Bath behavior following Chief Financial Officer turnovers between 1999 and 2006. Our findings provide evidence of the effect of accounting standards on the existence of this particular earnings understatement pattern. However, while we detect Big Bath behavior for our sample of German GAAP firms, we find no such indication for those firms reporting under IFRS. Controlling for alternative explanations such as self-selection bias does not change our findings. We conclude that accounting standards seem to have a considerable influence on earnings management behavior, independent of managers’ and auditors’ incentives.     

Evolution of product quality in European,Japanese and US automotive firms: An exploratory longitudinal analysis

For years we have been hearing that US automobile manufacturers have been losing market share to their Japanese rivals who are reputed to make better quality vehicles. Most such reports are based on the initial quality surveys on new automobiles. In this paper we address two exploratory questions: (1) how does the quality of an automobile change with its age, and, (2) can firm level variables help explain differences quality. To answer these questions, we collected Consumer Reports’ reliability ratings on approximately 300 automobile models made by European, Japanese and US automotive firms during the 1998–2007; and approximately 240 models made by these firms over period of 2008–2015. For both periods we found that not only do automobiles made by Japanese firms have higher initial quality, but, as automobiles get older the difference in the product quality between Japanese versus European and US firms increases. We also found that the more generalist a European or US automobile firm, i.e., the wider is the firm׳s product offering in the marketplace, the lower its overall automobile quality during the 1998–2007 period. Conversely, Japanese generalist firms were found to have higher quality than specialist firms over the same period. The result is partly explained by the fact that Japanese firms have taken a different path to broadening their product variety – they have ensured a high level of quality of their initial offerings before entering newer market segments. The rate of reliability decline was found to be slower for all firms, and the differences in reliability across the 3 groups of firms were much less pronounced during the 2008–2015 period. This improvement may be as result of restructuring done by US automobile firms.     

Interdependence and accounting information exchanges in inter-firm relationships

These days, the locus of business operations is difficult to define and is subject to continuous modifications. On the one hand, firms form clusters of quasi-integrated partners; on the other, they outsource internal activities to external entities. Such inter-firm relationships have been studied in both the strategic and organizational fields, because they possess specific characteristics that challenge the extant theoretical frameworks and conclusions. Management accounting scholars have recently recognized the importance of these agreements and have started to study inter-organizational accounting information sharing, which supports inter-firm collaboration. Yet, the conditions that foster the exchange of this information between external partners, i.e., open book accounting, are still underexplored. Through some exploratory evidence, and a case study in the fashion industry, we focus on analysing one under-investigated factor, i.e., interdependence, suggesting that, ceteris paribus, this variable may explain several functions played by the accounting information in inter-organizational settings.     

The Grasshoppers and the Great Cattle: Participation and Non-Participation in the ASB's Standard-Setting Process

This paper presents the results of a research study of participation in the accounting standard-setting process in the United Kingdom. The study considers the 1,519 responses to the Accounting Standards Board's ('the ASB') proposals for accounting standards. Consistent with the findings of other studies in the USA and Australia, the present paper finds that there is a high level of participation by the preparers of financial statements in the ASB's consultation process. The paper then examines the size of the preparer firms which formally lobby the ASB. The evidence confirms that those firms which become involved in the lobbying process in the UK tend to be larger than non-lobbying firms, and the paper concludes that, as elswhere, the standard-setting process in the UK appears to be a discourse of the powerful.     

A specific accounting approach for public universities

Many universities in Germany and other countries have introduced financial (or commercial) accounting to manage effectively their finances. It aligns with so-called new public sector management reforms worldwide. In this paper we analyze whether the components of this type of financial accounting reform suit the nature and objectives of German public universities. While the analysis mainly relates to the German situation, there are likely to be implications for public universities universally. Drawing on an analysis of the reports of two well known German-speaking universities, Heidelberg and Vienna, we analyze whether the components of the new financial accounting reforms suit the nature and objectives of those public universities. While we argue that cash-flow statements and balance sheets remain important, it is shown that it is necessary for state-run educational institutions to change several key elements of traditional commercial accounting. Because the success goals of such universities are non-profit-oriented, their financial accounting should be augmented by a ‘change in value statement’, replacing the traditional income statement. As their valuation cannot be correlated with the definition of profit in (German) public universities this term is suggested. By change in value we mean specifically that assets may experience a total loss or a decrease in value. In management accounting output measures and performance indicators should substitute revenues as the counterpart of costs. Furthermore, long-term financial decisions play a crucial role in universities. Therefore, a form of investment accounting is very important for them. The conventional form has to be modified by ‘investment statements’ and ‘knowledge balances’ of their intellectual capital. In this paper we also show how the concept of a balanced scorecard can be applied to public universities and how specific accounting instruments can be integrated into it.     

The reconstitution of broken interfirm relations

Why do firms re-establish previously dissolved relations with other firms? In this paper we explore this phenomenon in a customer-supplier context. Organization and strategy theorists have focused primarily on the formation, evolution, and dissolution of interfirm ties, but few have examined their reconstitution, despite evidence that tie reconstitution can have benefits for firms. We address this gap through an examination of strategic customer-supplier relations among 26 Scandinavian firms. Based on 95 open-ended interviews with executives of these firms, we show that four factors promote the reconstitution of previously dissolved ties: the existence of relation-specific investments in the earlier tie, accompanied by a history of reliability and coordination; concerns regarding the uncertainty and risk associated with the initiation of a new relation from scratch; the maintenance of social ties between firm officers during the period of dormancy; and a major structural change such as a reorganization, merger, or acquisition in one or both firms. The results suggest that reconstituted interfirm relations represent a type distinctly different from newly-formed, currently active, or repeated ties. Successful reconstitution requires that the firms overcome whatever difficulties led to the cessation of their relation in the first place. How the ties were dissolved has an impact on their reconstitution at a later stage. A dormancy stage may provide new and unexpected knowledge, novel information, and other new resources that can lead to substantial benefits after the firms achieve a successful reconstitution.     

Subordinate Participation in Audit Budgeting Decisions: A Comparison of Decisions Influenced by Organizational Factors to Decisions Conforming with the Vroom-Jago Model*

This study examines the role of subordinate participation in the effectiveness of audit hours budget decisions in accounting firms. The study compares decisions influenced by organizational factors (such as organizational policies or the preferences of the superior) to decisions that conform to the Vroom-Jago (VJ) model. Our results indicate that actual level of participation used in budget decisions appears to be based primarily on perceived preferences of superiors and participation styles available under the circumstancesof the individual audit. However, results also indicate that decisions consistent with the Vroom-Jago model are characterized by higher decision quality and increased subordinatedevelopment. Since managers are apparently reluctant to use decision styles that conflictwith organizational factors, accounting firms may wish to gather information regarding the attributes of the decision context and use the VJ model to establish their available decision styles and determine the preferences of superiors. Doing so has the advantage of considering decision-specific attributes while enhancing the probability of manager compliance with a desired decision style.