Pacific Accounting Review最新文献

{"title":"Should asset impairments be included in earnings when evaluating stewardship by management?","authors":"Andrew Dymock, Peter Wells, Brett Govendir","doi":"10.1108/par-07-2023-0091","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/par-07-2023-0091","url":null,"abstract":"Purpose This paper aims to consider the relevance of asset impairments when evaluating stewardship by management. Design/methodology/approach This paper considers association of earnings (including and excluding asset impairments) with contemporaneous stock returns which are used as a measure of management performance and demonstration of stewardship. Findings Evidence is provided of earnings including asset impairments (an accounting measure of current measure firm performance) having a higher explanatory power for contemporaneous stock returns (an objective evaluation of current period firm performance) than earnings exclusive of asset impairments. Consistent with this, recognized asset impairments are significantly associated with contemporaneous stock returns. These results occur across firm years generally, as well as for firm years exhibiting indicators of impairment and firm years recognizing asset impairments. Research limitations/implications This paper adds to the literature providing evidence of asset impairments not being recognised on a timely basis. Additionally, challenges are identified in evaluating the relevance of accounting information for so-called growth firms. Practical implications These findings support continued recognition of asset impairments in the Statement of Profit or Loss if stewardship is accepted as an objective for financial reporting. It also suggests issues with the recognition of asset impairments that might be addressed by enhanced disclosure. Originality/value This paper is distinctive in that it considers the relevance of accounting information for evaluating stewardship, as distinct from decision-making. It also considers alternate measure of performance (earnings including and excluding asset impairments) for all firms rather than only those disclosing an alternate measure (i.e. a fair horse race)","PeriodicalId":46088,"journal":{"name":"Pacific Accounting Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136077767","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mandatory carbon reporting, voluntary carbon disclosure and ESG performance","authors":"Yan Jiang, Qingliang Tang","doi":"10.1108/par-08-2022-0133","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/par-08-2022-0133","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000This study aims to examine the impact of mandatory adoption of The Act 2013 in UK on voluntary carbon disclosure. Mandatory adoption of The Act 2013 in UK is a compelling setting to examine this research question because it is an exogenous imposed event and is unlikely to be affected by disclosure choice.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000This study uses a difference-in-differences research design to examine the impact of mandatory adoption of The Act 2013 in UK on voluntary carbon disclosure. The treatment sample includes 451 UK firms subject to mandatory adoption of The Act 2013, and the control sample includes firms from 15 EU countries that did not mandate adoption during the sample period.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000The authors document an increase in the quantity and quality of voluntary carbon disclosure following adoption of The Act 2013 in the treatment sample relative to the control sample. They also find that firms with better environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance experience a highly significant increase in voluntary carbon disclosure after adoption of The Act 2013. For firms from carbon-intensive vs less-carbon-intensive sectors, the results suggest that firms in carbon-intensive sectors experience a greater increase in the propensity of voluntary disclosure after adoption of The Act.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000The authors examine the impact of mandatory adoption of The Act 2013 in UK on voluntary carbon disclosure and the impact of firms’ ESG activity on the relationship between voluntary and mandatory carbon disclosure. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this insight has never been documented in the literature.\u0000","PeriodicalId":46088,"journal":{"name":"Pacific Accounting Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2023-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42036634","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Auditors’ response to earnings management after split-share structure reform in China","authors":"Alfred Bu, Masoud Azizkhani, Alicia Jiang","doi":"10.1108/par-09-2022-0139","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/par-09-2022-0139","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000This study aims to investigate whether and how auditors responded to the documented increases in earnings management after split-share structure reform (SSSR) in China, as manifested in auditors’ propensity to issue modified audit opinions (MAOs) after the SSSR. This study further investigates how client importance and auditor size influence auditors’ response to earnings management after the SSSR.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000This study adopts logit regression models to investigate auditors’ propensity to issue MAOs to their clients that appear to manage earnings after the SSSR. Initially, including all Chinese publicly listed firms from the CSMAR database, the sample for final analyses consists of 21,904 firm-year observations for 1,290 unique listed firms during the period 2001–2020. The sample period surrounds the implementation of the SSSR, which started in 2005, allowing the examination of auditors’ propensity to issue MAOs after vis-à-vis before the SSSR.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000The authors find that non-Big10 auditors in China were less likely to issue MAOs to their economically important clients who appear to manage earnings after SSSR. However, in the years of non-tradeable shares being released to the markets, both Big10 and non-Big10 auditors were less likely to issue MAOs to their economically important clients who appear to manage earnings. The findings suggest that auditors may have compromised auditor independence in response to earnings management after the SSSR, likely due to the pressure from their economically important clients.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000This paper contributes to the literature, specifically the practice and theory in auditing, by shedding light on ever-changing auditors’ reporting behaviour, especially with regard to auditor independence. It also adds to the growing body of literature on the impact of institutional changes on auditing practices worldwide. The findings of this study further suggest that the recently documented declining demand for high-quality audits after the SSSR may be motivated by the clients’ intention to manage earnings after the SSSR.\u0000","PeriodicalId":46088,"journal":{"name":"Pacific Accounting Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2023-08-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43473698","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Voter rationality, the use of accounting information and voting behavior: evidence from a referendum","authors":"Makoto Kuroki","doi":"10.1108/par-01-2023-0006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/par-01-2023-0006","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000This study aims to investigate whether objective and subjective rationality affects individual voters’ use of accounting information and if such use affects voting behavior. While prior accounting studies assume voter rationality concerning financial performance and political outcomes, this study distinguishes between two types of voters: objective rational voters (who make voting decisions about multiple alternatives based on objective information) and subjective rational voters (who make decisions based on their subjective values, and thus do not explore information or explore only information biased toward one alternative). This study expects that accounting information can influence the voting behavior of objective and subjective rational voters.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000Focusing on the 2020 Osaka Metropolitan Plan Referendum, this study used an online survey conducted on 768 respondents after the referendum.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000This study finds that objective rational voters use accounting information more than subjective rational voters, voters who used accounting information were more likely to vote against the referendum, and voting behavior is not directly affected by the type of rationality of voters; rather, objective rational voters are more likely to use accounting information that has a mediating effect on voting behavior.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000The results advance the understanding of public sector accounting research and practices by providing evidence of the individual voter’s use of accounting information and their voting behavior in political contexts.\u0000","PeriodicalId":46088,"journal":{"name":"Pacific Accounting Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2023-08-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46528986","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Drivers of China’s outward foreign direct investment: a comprehensive panel data analysis","authors":"Tong Tong, T. Singh, Bin Li, Le-le Liu","doi":"10.1108/par-08-2022-0131","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/par-08-2022-0131","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000This paper aims to investigate the primary motivations for China’s outward foreign direct investment (ODI) decisions.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000Using a panel data sample covering the period 2003–2012 and a comprehensive set of 176 host countries.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000This study finds that market size, trade variables and natural resource variables are strongly related to the Chinese ODI stocks. This indicates that Chinese ODI decisions are driven by both market- and resource-seeking motives. The subperiod sample test results lend even stronger support to the market-seeking motive for ODI.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000These results seem to emerge from the policy changes that were undertaken during the sample period. Consistent with subgroup tests, this study finds that the main purposes of China’s ODI in the top 100 countries are natural resource explorations and production line replacements.\u0000","PeriodicalId":46088,"journal":{"name":"Pacific Accounting Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2023-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"62177257","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Learning experience of accounting students during the COVID-19 pandemic: West Papuan perspectives of online learning in Indonesia","authors":"Otniel Safkaur, Jhon U. Blesia, Cornelia Matani, Kurniawan Patma, P. Sesa","doi":"10.1108/par-04-2022-0053","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/par-04-2022-0053","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000This study aims to examine the learning experiences of indigenous West Papuan students studying accounting in Indonesia during the COVID-19 pandemic.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000A qualitative approach was taken with 25 indigenous accounting students at five universities in the region who shared testimonies of their online learning experiences. The interview data collected were analysed using initial and selective coding and then interpreted under several themes.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000The paper shows the personal, faculty and external challenges in indigenous students’ learning activities during university closures because of COVID-19. The interrelated challenges included students’ struggles to adapt their learning habits when using various online applications, difficulties in understanding how the faculty managed lectures, tutorials and evaluations without adequate access to learning materials, the lack of a learning infrastructure, issues with equipment, and obtaining internet data credits. Students’ economic struggles and health issues exacerbated these challenges. While enduring various struggles and being frustrated about their future, all students expected a change in offline learning policies by the government to lessen their strict physical distancing.\u0000\u0000\u0000Research limitations/implications\u0000The findings can inform the importance of integrating accounting students’ learning challenges and needs into curriculum development.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000This study highlights the learning challenges of indigenous accounting students during the COVID-19 pandemic and how approaches to online learning need to consider the experience of these students.\u0000","PeriodicalId":46088,"journal":{"name":"Pacific Accounting Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2023-07-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43037139","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The impact of directors’ and officers’ liability insurance on firm’s investment efficiency: evidence from China","authors":"Weiping Li, Huirong Li, Xuan (Sean) Sun, Tairan Huang","doi":"10.1108/par-08-2022-0130","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/par-08-2022-0130","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of directors’ and officers’ liability insurance (D&O insurance hereafter) on corporate governance and firm performance, with a specific focus on investment efficiency.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000Using a sample of Chinese A-share listed firms from the period 2007 to 2020, this study uses Ordinary Least Squares regressions to investigate the research questions, as well as moderating and mediating effects. Additionally, alternative measures of investment efficiency are used, and the Heckman two-stage model and propensity score matching model are used to demonstrate the consistency of the findings and to mitigate the risk of endogeneity.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000The findings of this study suggest that purchasing D&O insurance has a detrimental impact on corporate investment efficiency, particularly in the context of over-investment activities; robust internal governance mechanisms, exemplified by a higher shareholding ratio of the top shareholder and enhanced internal control quality, alleviate this negative effect; and financing constraints act as a mediating factor in the association between D&O insurance and investment efficiency.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000Corporate investment efficiency is of significant importance for both national macroeconomic growth and micro-enterprise development. Notably, the prevalence of D&O insurance among Chinese firms is progressively increasing, thus exerting a growing influence. This study contributes to the existing literature on D&O insurance and corporate investment efficiency, providing valuable insights into the economic impact of D&O insurance on Chinese firms. The empirical evidence presented herein facilitates future reforms and adjustments.\u0000","PeriodicalId":46088,"journal":{"name":"Pacific Accounting Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2023-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47034300","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Earnings management, market liquidity and capital access of seasoned equity firms in a transition economy","authors":"B. Le, N. Reddy, Paula Hearn Moore","doi":"10.1108/par-09-2022-0142","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/par-09-2022-0142","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000This study aims to examine the effects of market liquidity on earnings management (EM) of seasoned equity offering (SEO) firms considering external capital access.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000This study uses a panel data set of 158 Vietnamese SEO firms from 2007 to 2019. Both real and accrual EM measures are analysed. The study uses two proxies for market liquidity: stock turnover (the ratio of total shares traded over the year divided by total shares outstanding for the year) and high–low spread (estimated following Corwin and Schultz [2012]) and fixed-effects panel and two-stage least squares regression in the analysis.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000Firms with high (low) market liquidity report low (high) EM, and the result is robust after controlling for endogeneity. The results hold for both real and accrual-based EM for both market liquidity proxies. However, the results are robust only for firms with low external capital access and non-state-owned companies. The authors find a negative market reaction to earnings manipulation.\u0000\u0000\u0000Practical implications\u0000This study’s findings help policymakers, investors and managers make better decisions regarding SEO firms and reduce the risk of inaccurate information due to EM.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000Among the few studies that test the influence of market liquidity on EM, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine the effect of market liquidity on EM in the context of SEO firms considering the impact of capital access.\u0000","PeriodicalId":46088,"journal":{"name":"Pacific Accounting Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2023-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43523804","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Accounting and religious influence in the seventh day Adventist church in the Pacific islands","authors":"C. Kuma, Peni Fukofuka, S. Yong","doi":"10.1108/par-03-2021-0040","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/par-03-2021-0040","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000This paper aims to investigate the practice of accounting in the Seventh-day Adventist church of the Pacific Islands and pays particular attention to the coexisting of two control devices: accounting and religion.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000This paper implemented a qualitative field study design collecting interview data from church members from the Solomon Islands, Tonga and Fiji. Data were also collected through focus group discussions, document reviews, website analysis and participant observations. Pierre Bourdieu’s thinking on symbolic violence, doxa and capital are used to interpret the findings.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000This paper’s main contribution shows that while there is a divine and profane divide, social agents, given their agency, can move back and forth from one side of the divide to the other. Accounting as a control device does not include features such as faith, which is helpful for decision-making; accordingly, religion is relied upon when it comes to decision-making. In contrast, accounting has features that are useful for stewardship purposes. Accordingly, when it comes to the church’s stewardship function accounting in the form of financial reports is relied upon.\u0000\u0000\u0000Research limitations/implications\u0000Pacific Island culture almost permeates all facets of life, including church life; however, this study did not clarify this. Later studies can explore the implications of culture on the deployment of accounting in a religious setting.\u0000\u0000\u0000Practical implications\u0000This rich empirical study describes the control dynamics and the tension between accounting and religion in a religious organisation. Accounting needs to adapt to churches’ unique characteristics, whereby religious/doctrinal beliefs must be accounted for and respected. Unlike in the corporate world, accountants in churches cannot fully practice their training or exercise the kind of influence they usually hold in organisations due to their religious belief systems.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is one of a few studies on the religion-accounting relationship. While the focus of earlier studies was generally on a secular and sacred divide, this study looks at coexisting of accounting and religion. This study adds to the sparse literature on accounting and religion and their controlling influence.\u0000","PeriodicalId":46088,"journal":{"name":"Pacific Accounting Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2023-06-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47168853","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Peers’ media coverage releases and investor heterogeneity","authors":"Jiaxin Duan, Yixin (Lucy) Wei, Lei Lu","doi":"10.1108/par-08-2022-0110","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/par-08-2022-0110","url":null,"abstract":"Purpose This study aims to examine the behaviour of institutional and retail investors in response to news about industry leaders (peer firms) and to determine its impact on the stock prices of other firms (focal firms) within the same industry. Design/methodology/approach The study investigates the impact of peer news on investor behaviour of Chinese A-shares listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges from 2010 to 2019. The media coverage of industry leaders is sourced from prominent Chinese online financial outlets and the Chinese Financial Press. Support vector machine is applied to identify the positive, neutral and negative news within the articles. The study uses event study and logistic regression to examine the effects of peer news on focal firms’ investor behaviour. Findings The results show that both good and bad news about leaders cause peers’ stock prices to increase initially, but then reverse within one quarter. Further analysis reveals that when leaders’ shares receive positive news coverage, institutional investors tend to exert excessive abnormal buying pressure on peers’ shares, resulting in overreactions. Conversely, retail investors do not actively trade on peers on leaders’ news day due to limited attention. In addition, the study shows that short-selling constraint inhibits bad news from reflecting in the stock prices. Originality/value The study highlights differences in investor behaviour. The finding that institutional investors tend to overreact more to peer firms’ news when focal firms are smaller and have a lower frequency of information disclosure supports the salient theory. This is consistent with the previous framework that suggests overreaction is more pronounced when it is difficult to combine external sources of information to evaluate the focal firms. In contrast, retail investors do not engage in active trading on peers on leaders’ news day due to the limited attention theory.","PeriodicalId":46088,"journal":{"name":"Pacific Accounting Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136066139","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}