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.     

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。     

独立董事声誉与盈余质量——会计专业独董的视角

本文研究中国上市公司独立董事声誉对盈余质量的影响。本文以2007~2012年我国民营上市企业为样本,从会计专业独董的视角研究独立董事声誉对盈余质量的影响。研究发现,会计专业独董的声誉对企业盈余质量有着显著的正向影响,并且这种影响在受聘于大股东掏空严重、低市场化进程地区企业和担任审计委员会主席的高声誉会计专业独董上更为明显。本文的结论在使用不同的盈余质量度量方式、不同的独董声誉度量方式、控制了内生性因素后依然成立。本文的结果表明,高声誉的会计专业独董能积极发挥治理作用,提高盈余质量。本文为独立董事声誉的研究提供了一个新的视角,即声誉机制能激励独立董事维持其独立性,提高公司的会计信息披露质量,从而保护中小股东利益,这对于当前我国不够完善的投资者法律保护体系以及公司治理机制是一种有效的补充。     

盈余管理对上市公司审计费用的影响

本文在Simunic审计收费模型研究的基础上,以2007-2009年的上市公司为研究对象,运用实证分析的方法研究了我国特有监管制度下的盈余管理行为对审计费用的影响。结果发现,审计费用在一定程度上与盈余管理具有一定的相关性,即正相关,审计收费越高,盈余管理的幅度越大。因此,监管机构应要求上市公司的财务报告提供更高水平的盈余质量,应更多地考虑通过修改和完善会计准则、加强监管等措施来缩小盈余管理的空间。     

中国证券市场审计任期与盈余质量关系的实证检验

安然事件以来,审计任期与盈余(经审计的)质量的关系成为了研究热点.本文运用中国证券市场1998-2004年上市公司的公开数据,同时从事务所任期与合伙人任期两大层面实证检验了审计任期与盈余质量之间的关系.实证结果显示:随着会计师事务所审计任期的增加,盈余质量显著地表现出先逐渐上升后逐渐下降的倒U型趋势,且拐点稳定在6-8年之间;而随着签字注册会计师审计任期的增加,盈余质量虽然总体逐渐上升,但此趋势尚不足够显著.     

上市公司审计意见、未预期盈余与年报披露及时性的实证研究——基于深沪两市2007年年报数据

鉴于信息披露及时性的重要性,本文基于国外的相关研究和中国股市及上市公司的特征,提出3个研究假设,然后构建回归模型,依据2007年,即新会计准则实施的第一年,中国上市公司年报数据进行假设检验,考察上市公司审计意见、未预期盈余与年报披露及时性之间的关系.研究结果大部分和国外研究类似,但是由模型的分析结果以及年度差异来看,实施新准则后,中国上市公司进行盈余管理实施新准则后的可能性较大.     

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。     

债权治理与盈余质量:来自中国证券市场的经验证据

以2007-2008年非金融类上市公司为样本,研究了债权治理与盈余质量之间的关系,得到以下研究结论:资产负债率与盈余质量显著负相关,短期资产负债率与盈余质量显著负相关,长期资产负债率与盈余质量呈现出不显著的正相关关系。进一步研究后发现,短期债务融资是引发盈余质量恶化的主要原因,而长期债务融资虽然一定程度上改善了上市公司的盈余质量,但这种效果总的来说并不显著。此外,最终控制人的国有性质加剧了债务契约引发的盈余管理动机,恶化了盈余质量。     

盈余质量与资本成本——来自中国上市公司的经验证据

盈余质量和资本成本一直是西方实证研究的热点,以2001年～2004年中国上市公司数据为样本,采用DD模型和Jones模型计量盈余质量,检验公司盈余质量对资本成本的影响.研究结果表明,盈余质量显著影响公司资本成本,公司盈余质量越高资本成本越低.按照产权性质分类回归的结果表明,无论是国有还是民营上市公司,盈余质量越高资本成本越低,这在一定程度上说明市场能区分质量好坏的公司,能有效引导资源优化配置.     

How to manage corporate reputation? The effect of enterprise risk management systems and audit committees on corporate reputation

Research on corporate reputation has generally argued that reputational risk, or risk of reputation loss, stems from all company risks. As companies use enterprise risk management (ERM) systems to manage all their risks, we analyse the effect of ERM system quality on corporate reputation. Furthermore, as audit committees are in charge of supervising ERM systems, we analyse the effect of audit committee characteristics (i.e. independence and independent members' knowledge and diligence) on corporate reputation through their effect on ERM system quality. Our results for a sample of listed Spanish firms support consultants’ arguments that ERM system is a useful tool for managing corporate reputation. Our results also show that audit committee independence improves corporate reputation through the ERM system. Finally, our findings also reveal a positive relationship between the average educational level of independent directors of the audit committee and ERM system quality. These results provide evidence that ERM systems are platforms to manage corporate reputations and suggest the importance of the audit committee as a supervisor of ERM system and as guarantor of corporate reputation.     

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.     

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.     

中国上市公司审计委员会治理效率的实证研究

国外机构以及相关学者的研究认为,审计委员会应在监督财务报告、管理内部审计、审核内部控制制度等方面发挥作用,中国证监会还特别强调除此以外的对公司重大关联交易事项的审计。本文以对中国上市公司审计委员会的调查为依据,对审计委员会的治理效率进行了系统的实证观察。结果显示,我国上市公司审计委员会在维护信息披露的质量方面起到了一定的积极作用;但在防止上市公司财务舞弊、维护关联交易的规范性以及确保上市公司财务安全性等方面没有发挥显著作用。目前上市公司审计委员会的设置是外部制度约束的结果。     

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.     

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.     

The Corporate Governance Effects of Audit Committees

Arguments associated with the promotion of audit committees in many countries are premised on their potential for alleviating weaknesses in corporate governance. This paper provides a synthesis and evaluation of empirical research on the governance effects associated with audit committees. Given recent policy recommendations in several countries aimed at strengthening these committees, it is important to establish what research evidence demonstrates about their existing governance contribution.A framework for analyzing the impact of audit committees is described, identifying potential perceived effects which may have led to their adoption and documented effects on aspects of the audit function, on financial reporting quality and on corporate performance. It is argued that there is only limited and mixed evidence of effects to support claims and perceptions about the value of audit committees for these elements of governance. It is also shown that most of the existing research has focused on factors associated with audit committee existence, characteristics and measures of activity and there is very little evidence on the processes associated with the operation of audit committees and the manner in which they influence organizational behaviour.It is clear that there is no automatic relationship between the adoption of audit committee structures or characteristics and the achievement of particular governance effects, and caution may be needed over expectations that greater codification around factors such as audit committee members' independence and expertise as the means of correcting past weaknesses in the arrangements for audit committees. The most fundamental question concerning what difference audit committees make in practice continues to be an important area for research development. For future research we suggest (i) greater consideration of the organizational and institutional contexts in which audit committees operate; (ii) explicit theorization of the processes associated with audit committee operation; (iii) complementing extant research methods with field studies; and (iv) investigation of unintended (behavioural) as well as expected consequences of audit committees.     

Ceremonies of Governance: Perspectives on the Role of the Audit Committee

The widespread establishment of auditcommittees in large UK companies cannot be explainedby evidence of their effectiveness as a mechanism ofcorporate governance, since such evidence is sparse.In this paper, participants' accounts of auditcommittee activity are explored, using conceptsdeveloped in actor-network theory. The paper suggeststhat a possible explanation for the popularity ofaudit committees may be found in their ceremonialfunction, which, through a comforting display ofconcern for corporate governance standards, validatescompany legitimacy and enables access to resources forsurvival and growth.The paper briefly reviews the literature on auditcommittee effectiveness, noting its limitations, anddescribes a qualitative study of audit committeeactivity through the perceptions of participants –audit committee chairs and members, finance directors,internal and external auditors. The actor-networkconcept of `translation' is used to frame theseperceptions, highlighting the ceremonial components ofaudit committee meetings and the performance ofquestioning. It is argued that, aside from anysubstantive audit committee activity, this ceremonialperformance plays an important part in offeringcomfort and reassurance to investors and lenders.     

Managerial dominance and audit committee independence in Spanish corporate governance

The purpose of this paper is to analyse whether the independence of audit committees is affected by the degree of control exerted by managers over the board of directors. Results from a sample of 75 listed Spanish companies show that the majority of firms that voluntarily adopted an audit committee between 1998 and 2001, made an effort to guarantee their independence from management. The degree of independence is shown to be determined by the proportion of inside directors on the board, the same person holding both the CEO and board chairperson positions, and the level of management ownership. These findings may have political implications because existing regulations do not limit the presence of inside directors on audit committees. The presence of inside directors may compromise effectiveness, turning audit committees into instruments of management to provide the appearance of monitoring.