企业信息披露中的模仿行为研究——基于制度理论的分析

本文在制度理论的分析框架下,研究合法性压力和不确定性条件下企业信息披露中的模仿行为及由此导致的制度同形现象.本文以2006-2010年我国重污染行业上市公司年报中的环境信息披露为研究对象,发现企业环境信息披露存在同形性和模仿行为,且属于模仿其它企业平均水平的频率模仿,而不是模仿领先者.本文将已有的信息披露研究从经济学分析的视角向经济社会学进行拓展,丰富了对信息披露过程中决策者认知过程和制度化过程的认识,同时也透过信息披露中的模仿行为从更加微观的层面为制度化过程中的趋同现象提供了新的证据.     

The Benefits and Costs of Disclosing Information about Risks: What Do We Know about Right‐to‐Know?

Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, the Environmental Protection Agency and other government agencies removed information from their web sites that they feared could invite attacks on critical public and private infrastructure. Accordingly, the benefits and costs of environmental information disclosure programs have come under increasing scrutiny. This article describes a framework for examining these benefits and costs and illustrates the framework through brief case studies of two information disclosure programs: risk management planning and materials accounting. The article outlines what we know and still need to find out about information disclosure programs in order to appropriately balance benefits and costs.     

Determinants of voluntary CSR disclosure: empirical evidence from Germany

Currently, companies spend a great deal of effort on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) disclosures. CSR disclosure relates to the provision of information on companies’ environmental and social performance. From an economic perspective, companies might disclose this information to avoid or decrease potential political costs. We construct a CSR disclosure index based on the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines. Using content analysis, we analyze 130 listed German companies’ CSR disclosures (470 firm-year observations) to investigate the determinants of these voluntary disclosure activities. Our results show that, consistent with the political cost theory, German companies’ disclosures of all CSR issues are affected by their visibility, shareholder structure, and relationship with their US stakeholders. In addition, higher profitability is associated with more environmental disclosures. Finally, size and industry membership affect the amount of CSR disclosure.     

Corporate and managerial characteristics as drivers of social responsibility disclosure by state-owned enterprises

The public administration sector, including state owned enterprises (SOEs), has developed various types of information disclosure practice, in response to stakeholders’ demands, in parallel with developments in the private sector. This paper analyses the corporate social responsibility (CSR) information disclosed by SOEs and the influence exerted by the characteristics of the SOEs themselves (size, industry sector, degree of government ownership and number of years in operation) and by those of their managers (age, gender, CSR education profile and CSR responsibilities in the workplace). To do so, an index of CSR information disclosure was created, based on the responses made to a questionnaire in this respect. An empirical regression model was then applied to test and categorise the factors analysed. According to the results obtained, the size and sector of the SOE, together with the manager’s CSR responsibilities, are the factors that most significantly affect the online disclosure of CSR information.     

Using Information: A Financial Stakeholders’ Perspective

Complete disclosure is fundamental to ensuring proper and efficient financial transactions. The call for greater levels of disclosure has been a central theme in the socially responsible investment community. However, in today's world, there are differing approaches to the issue of disclosure. On the one hand, there are calls for more disclosure in the wake of debacles such as that illustrated by Enron Corp. On the other hand, there are concerns about security and the possibility that more disclosure might compromise security. What is needed is the identification and exploration of opportunities where the socially responsible investment community collaborates with other stakeholders with the aim of leveraging environmental information to work for positive societal change. In this effort there is a need for new methodologies, new and more sophisticated models with greater predictive power, and increased emphasis on education for the next generation of business leaders.     

Die Bedeutung von Steuern in der Nachhaltigkeitsberichterstattung: Eine international vergleichende empirische Analyse

Due to tax competition, high levels of national debt and promulgated tax avoidance strategies of large corporations, there is a growing interest of multiple stakeholders in taxation putting taxes on the corporate social responsibility (CSR) agenda. This study empirically examines the relevance of taxes in sustainability reports of 90 corporations listed on the Dow Jones 30, DAX 30 and FTSE 100. The findings show that 54,4?% of these corporations disclose tax information in their reports. The quality of disclosure is examined using a scoring model based on the tax-related performance indicators of theGlobal Reporting Initiative Guidelines and two standards for voluntary disclosure of tax information. In most cases, disclosure practices are of low quality. However, there are a few corporations providing high disclosure quality, especially in the UK. By analyzing the determinants of disclosure, this study demonstrates that extractive companies and companies that have been object of negative tax-related media coverage tend to disclose more information. Furthermore, corporations with higher profitability and high performance in CSR rankings rather disclose tax information.     

Transparency after 9/11: Balancing the “Right-to-Know” with the Need for Security

Mandatory and voluntary environmental information disclosure has grown dramatically over the past decade. The prevailing view had become that the public has a “right-to-know” the risks they face and that more information would ultimately lead to better societal decision-making. This all changed on September 11, 2001. The concern for homeland security has led to thousands of web pages and documents at public reading rooms being withdrawn. This article reports on a panel discussion with leading environmental information disclosure experts on the change in the transparency landscape post 9-11. Among the questions addressed: Have companies begun to rethink this trend post 9/11? What is the public's “right-to-know”? Does reducing the amount of information available to the public increase or decrease the risk to communities or emergency responders? Will the heightened threat of terrorist use of chemicals put pressure on companies to find alternative chemicals and processes?     

Corporate social responsibility disclosure and market valuation: evidence from Spanish listed firms

Using a sample of listed Spanish companies pertaining to the IBEX35 index for the period 2007–2011, this paper examines whether those firms with higher CSR disclosure ratings are more valued by market participants. This study also complements the literature addressing the value relevance of CSR disclosure by further analyzing not only the direct effects of CSR reporting on stock prices but also its indirect effects through its interaction with main accounting variables (i.e., earnings and book value of equity). CSR reports can also affect stock price indirectly because the sustainability report may be perceived by investors to be a source of further and complementary information regarding the nature, composition and trends of the traditional value-relevant accounting variables. Finally, this study also analyzes whether CSR disclosure by firms operating in environmentally-sensitive industries is assessed differently by market participants than CSR disclosure by companies operating in other industries. By using a modified Ohlson (Contemp Account Res 1:661–687, 1995) model, it is found that CSR disclosure do have both a direct and indirect effect on stock prices by modifying the value-relevance of earnings and book value of equity. Moreover, CSR disclosure by companies operating in environmentally-sensitive industries is associated with higher market valuations than CSR disclosure by companies operating in nonsensitive industries. This may be due to the fact that CSR disclosures provide information that allow investors to make better assessments of the increased risk related to potential litigation and future environmental liabilities, thereby reducing information asymmetries and the risk of adverse selection.     

内部控制信息披露与市场反应研究——来自中国沪市上市公司的经验证据

本文以2006-2009年沪市A股上市公司为研究对象,实证考察了内部控制信息披露的市场反应。研究发现,从总体上看,我国上市公司内部控制信息披露具有明显的市场反应,但从不同侧面看,内部控制信息披露的市场反应存在显著差异:从披露内容看,内部控制有效引起股票价格上涨,而内部控制缺陷则引起股票价格下跌;从披露类型看,强制性披露较自愿性披露更具有价值相关性;从披露详略看,详细披露会引起股票价格上涨,而简单披露则不一定。此外,与单独的强制性披露或自愿性披露的市场反应相比,内部控制强制性披露和自愿性披露交互影响的市场反应更加显著。据此本文认为,在进一步加强强制性披露的日常监管的同时完善自愿性披露的激励政策,是当前规范我国上市公司内部控制信息披露行为和提高内部控制信息披露质量的关键。     

管理层自利行为与外部监督——基于信息披露的信号博弈

代理理论框架下的企业高层管理者具有普遍的自利倾向，而信息不对称是产生代理问题的重要原因。缓解代理问题的方法不外乎监督，激励和减少信息不对称。现有文献通常分别考察以上三种机制对缓解代理问题的作用，本文则构建了管理层与企业外部监督者之间的信号博弈模型，同时考虑监督、激励和信息披露之间的互动，分析外部监管对高管自利行为的有效监督机制。研究表明：在缺少激励机制的情况下，以信息披露质量为信号的博弈仅存在一个低效率的混合均衡，即无论高管是否存在自利行为，都会选择低的信息披露质量。而在对高管选择高质量的信息披露策略给予一定的奖励时，可以实现分离均衡。由此我们提出新的包含奖励的信息披露激励机制以及在这一机制下外部监管者的最优策略选择。利用金牌董秘的评选及其对外部监管的信号效应，我们为理论模型的结论提供了实证支持。     

What right-to-know means for environmental strategies

Every environmental strategist spends time trying to anticipate environmental regulation. John S. Guttmann, director of the law firm Beveridge & Diamond based in Washington, D.C. provides CES readers with a quick study into the significant changes that are occuring in the nature and extent of public participation. Guttmann explains how the expanding nature of community “right-to-know” and direct public involvement are becoming drivers for regulatory change. His concluding comments blends critical analysis of current U.S. Environmental Protection Agency information of disclosure initiatives with an evaluation of recent EPA public involvement programs. Guttmann identifies how these changes might impact corporate disclosure, and offers valuable insight on the pitfalls of attempting to satisfy the growing public demand for information and involvement.     

A Fig Leaf for The Naked Corporation

The implementation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the United States and the German Law of transparency and disclosure (TransPuG) lead to a claim for more disclosure of information with the goal of a “naked corporation” such that all information is available to the (potential) investors. In this article we pick up this debate and present arguments that the “naked corporation” does not offer an efficient degree of disclosure, as we have to distinguish between more and better information. Concerning the latter the new regulations are critical. Cognitive limitations and bounded rationality highlight the risk of information overload. Asymmetric information illustrates that self induced disclosure can do better than a mandatory one. Therefore the legislator should not be asked for specific informational contents but for regulations on the way of information provision.JEL Codes: K22, G34, D82     

Determinants of Trust in Industry, Government, and Citizen''s Groups in Japan

The causal structure of the determinants of trust in industry, government, and citizen's groups in Japan was investigated on the basis of Peters et al. (1997). A preliminary survey of the adequacy of the hypotheses proposed by Peters et al. in Japan was made. A set of hypothesized determinants of trust in Japan was proposed based on results of the preliminary survey. Questionnaires concerning perceptions of trust in the organizations and the proposed determinants were sent by mail to residents in the area where environmental risk problems had emerged. The data were analyzed by covariance structure analysis to construct models of trust in industry, government, and citizen's groups. As a result, "openness and honesty," "concern and care," "competence," "people's concern with risks," and "consensual values" were found to be factors directly determining trust. Suggested in particular is that "openness" of an organization is not attained merely by information disclosure, but also by bi-directional communication with the people. Moreover, these models include "consensual values," which do not appear in the model proposed by Peters et al.     

基于环境信息和金融市场不对称博弈模型分析

由于金融市场存在信息不对称使得投资决策者缺乏必要的环境信息,从而导致了投资决策信息不完全、金融资金分配不合理等问题。本文在Nikolaou,Chymis和Evangelinos^[5]提出的环境信息、金融市场不对称博弈模型的基础上,引入政府局中人行为策略,构建了政府、企业与金融市场之间的博弈模型。通过设置相关参数发现,该博弈模型能够覆盖Nikolaou,Chymis和Evangelinos^[5]提出的模型,并证明了在政府局中人参与并满足一定条件的情况下,由环境信息缺失引起的信息不对称问题可以通过引入第三方国际环境审计来解决,从而为我国环境污染问题的化解机制提供新的研究角度。     

Regulation by disclosure: the case of internal control

In this paper we explore the use of disclosure as a regulatory tool, using as an illustration the current UK requirements regarding the disclosure of information about internal control. After discussing the broad concept of regulation by disclosure, we trace the evolution of concepts of internal control and its reporting, describing the background to the Turnbull guidance for directors on internal control reporting, the basis of current UK requirements. We then examine recent examples of internal control disclosures, identifying the range of ways in which they address the disclosure requirements and considering the possible impact of the disclosure requirements on corporate behaviour and on the audiences for disclosure. We conclude with some reflections on the disclosure life cycle. The paper contributes to the literature on disclosure by specifically considering the role of disclosure as a regulatory tool and by examining the nature of specific disclosures in an area of continuing interest, that of internal control.     

A Bootstrap Mechanism for Response Masking in Remote Analysis Systems

National Statistical Agencies and other data custodian agencies hold a wealth of data regarding individuals and organizations, collected from censuses, surveys and administrative sources. In many cases, these data are made available to external researchers, for the investigation of questions of social and economic importance. To enhance access to this information, several national statistical agencies are developing remote analysis systems (RAS) designed to accept queries from a researcher, run them on data held in a secure environment, and then return the results. RAS prevent a researcher from accessing the underlying data, and most rely on manual checking to ensure the responses have acceptably low disclosure risk. However, the need for scalability and consistency will increasingly require automated methods. We propose a RAS output confidentialization procedure based on statistical bootstrapping that automates disclosure control while achieving a provably good balance between disclosure risk and usefulness of the responses. The bootstrap masking mechanism is easy to implement for most statistical queries, yet the characteristics of the bootstrap distribution assure us that it is also effective in providing both useful responses and low disclosure risk. Interestingly, our proposed bootstrap masking mechanism represents an ideal application of Efron's bootstrap—one that takes advantage of all the theoretical properties of the bootstrap, without ever having to construct the bootstrap distribution.     

股权分置改革:程序公正和投资者关系

中国社会正处于变革时期,诸多改革都涉及利益分配,改革的过程和结果对于评判改革的成败是相当重要的。本文借鉴社会学理论,从中小流通股东角度研究了股权分置改革背景下的投资者关系问题。本文为流通股东对股改程序公正的理解寻找了两个前因:信息披露和反馈的及时性以及流通股东潜在的影响力。研究发现,提高信息反馈的及时性和流通股东的潜在影响力可以改善流通股东对程序公正的理解,可以改善投资者关系。研究同时发现,流通股东对程序公正的理解是信息反馈及时性和流通股东潜在影响力对投资者关系的中介变量。最后,本文提出一些政策建议。     

创业板上市公司文本惯性披露、信息相似度与资产定价——基于Fama-French改进模型的经验分析

“管理层讨论与分析”MD&A是上市公司财务报告“董事会报告”的重要内容,为投资者提供了管理层如何看待企业经营状况的历史信息及未来事项的前瞻性信息,在投资者决策中起到至关重要的作用。如果管理层披露的MD&A信息不能按时间推移和公司经营状况变化进行动态调整,那么将会对资本市场产生何种影响,这是投资者与监管者普遍关心的问题。本文以创业板上市公司2010年-2012年披露的MD&A文本信息为样本,以“信息相似度”为文本惯性披露行为的计指标,运用改进后的Fama-French资产定价模型,实证检验了MD&A信息相似度与股权资本成本之间的关系。经验证据显示信息相似度与股权资本成本之间存在正相关关系。     

The Interplay between Information Acquisition and Quality Disclosure

This study investigates the interactions between a manufacturer's information acquisition and quality disclosure strategies in a supply chain setting in which the manufacturer privately knows his product quality but is uncertain about consumer preferences. We argue that the manufacturer should treat his information acquisition and quality disclosure decisions as an integrated process because these decisions can significantly influence a retailer's rational inferences about product quality and can have conflicting effects on his own profitability. Although information acquisition helps a manufacturer subsequently craft better pricing and quality disclosure strategies, it also leaks certain product information to the retailer, thus helping the retailer better estimate product quality. Therefore, in equilibrium, a manufacturer may choose not to acquire any consumer information, even when such acquisition is costless. Moreover, we find that this adverse effect of acquisition is highly dependent on the cost of disclosure and consumers’ preference differentiation. Increased consumer preference differentiation may have a non‐monotonic relationship with the manufacturer's profit, and information acquisition can become detrimental to the manufacturer once the disclosure cost is sufficiently high.     

The disclosure of information by companies

The paper presents some results relating to the degree of disclosure of selected important items of information in company annual reports. The research involved deriving an index of disclosure and this was then applied to the annual reports of 100 stock exchange quoted companies. The general conclusion was that disclosure levels are very low and that there is a big demand for greater amounts of information to be released in annual reports.