{"title":"Reprint of: Heterogeneity in the integration of ESG measures in executive compensation: Determinants, contracting details and outcomes","authors":"Shilin Hou , Jianfeng Shen , Chuan Yu , Shan Zhou","doi":"10.1016/j.bar.2025.101559","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bar.2025.101559","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Corporate social responsibility (CSR) contracting incorporates environmental, social, and governance (ESG) related measures in executive compensation plans. Current research on this practice is limited to a US setting, despite global adoption. We investigate heterogeneity in CSR contracting using data from 59 countries between 2002 and 2019. We find that besides firm-level past ESG performance and the industry-level adoption rate, country-level ESG regulations have significant explanatory power in firms’ tendencies to adopt CSR contracting. Hand-collected data reveal significant cross-country differences in CSR contracting details. Finally, CSR contracting is positively associated with subsequent financial performance only in countries with more stringent ESG regulations and stronger legal enforcement. In contrast, CSR contracting is associated with subsequent ESG performance regardless of country-level factors.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47996,"journal":{"name":"British Accounting Review","volume":"57 1","pages":"Article 101559"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143593187","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Charl de Villiers , John Dumay , Federica Farneti , Jing Jia , Zhongtian Li
{"title":"Reprint of: Does mandating corporate social and environmental disclosure improve social and environmental performance?: Broad-based evidence regarding the effectiveness of directive 2014/95/EU","authors":"Charl de Villiers , John Dumay , Federica Farneti , Jing Jia , Zhongtian Li","doi":"10.1016/j.bar.2025.101558","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bar.2025.101558","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Given that the aim of corporate social and environmental <em>disclosure</em> mandates is to improve corporate social and environmental <em>performance</em>, this study investigates the impact of such mandates on performance. Using a difference-in-differences analysis, we examine trends in corporate social and environmental performance before and after the introduction of Directive 2014/95/EU (hereafter, the Directive), comparing affected European companies with companies in the United States (US), based on a balanced sample of 358 European companies (excluding United Kingdom (UK) companies, because they were subject to additional regulations that came into effect around the same time) and 470 US companies from 2009 to 2020. We find that European companies' performance has not improved substantially since the Directive came into effect in 2017, nor have they improved compared to US companies. Thus, the evidence suggests that the Directive has not improved European companies’ social and environmental performance. Our study provides broad-based evidence of the (in)effectiveness of mandating corporate social and environmental disclosures to enhance performance. Our findings will be of interest to regulators considering disclosure mandates, as well as stakeholders and investors interested in enhancing social and environmental performance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47996,"journal":{"name":"British Accounting Review","volume":"57 1","pages":"Article 101558"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143593057","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Reprint of: The capital market consequence of sustained abnormal Audit fees: Evidence from stock price crash risk","authors":"Sang Mook Lee , Jong Chool Park , Hakjoon Song","doi":"10.1016/j.bar.2025.101555","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bar.2025.101555","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Prior studies provide mixed interpretations for the effect of abnormal audit fees on audit quality. One interpretation is that abnormal audit fees reflect economic bonding which decreases audit quality, while the other interpretation is that they are associated with unobserved audit efforts and audit risk. We argue that long-term abnormal audit fees clarify mixed evidence, as they reflect the gradual formation and development of both economic bonding and sustained auditor efforts over time. We examine the effect of long-term abnormal audit fees on audit quality by focusing on client's future stock price crash risk. Using 42,604 firm-year observations of U.S. firms, we find that sustained positive abnormal audit fees (consistently positive long-term abnormal audit fees) are negatively associated with future stock price crash risk, supporting the auditor effort argument and negating the economic bonding argument. We also find weak evidence that current-period abnormal audit fees are positively associated with future stock price crash risk, supporting the audit risk argument. Overall, our evidence shows that the magnitude and the pattern of long-term abnormal audit fees jointly affect audit quality in mitigating a client's bad news hoarding behavior.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47996,"journal":{"name":"British Accounting Review","volume":"57 1","pages":"Article 101555"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143593059","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Reprint of: Rank-and-file employee stock options and audit pricing: Evidence from S&P 1500 firms","authors":"Xiaoqi Chen , Maoliang Li , Emmanuel Obiri-Yeboah , Qiang Wu","doi":"10.1016/j.bar.2025.101556","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bar.2025.101556","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In this study, we examine the impact of rank-and-file employee stock options on audit fees. We document compelling evidence that option grants to rank-and-file employees are positively related to audit fees. Further analyses show that this positive relation is more pronounced when a firm's real earnings manipulation risk is higher and when rank-and-file employees are more sensitive to monetary incentives. We also find that options granted to rank-and-file employees are positively related to audit efforts. The evidence suggests that auditors perceive options to rank-and-file employees to be associated with increased audit risk.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47996,"journal":{"name":"British Accounting Review","volume":"57 1","pages":"Article 101556"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143593178","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Reprint of: Audit committee member busyness and risk factor disclosure","authors":"Cristina Bailey , Joshua J. Filzen","doi":"10.1016/j.bar.2025.101561","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bar.2025.101561","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Audit committees in the U.S. oversee risk management within organizations, including oversight of the disclosure of risk factors in periodic filings. Because audit committees have become increasingly over-burdened, we examine the impact of the busyness of audit committee members, measured via members’ service on other boards, on risk factor disclosures. We find firms with busy members issue disclosures that are of lower quality (i.e., less readable and less focused on firm fundamentals). Further, we find that firms with busy members are more likely to issue timely updates to disclosures. However, these updates are more likely to be vague—implying they are inconsequential to the market. We find these results are primarily driven by service in other non-audit committee roles. In additional cross-sectional tests, we find that our results are strongest when there is more uncertainty or complexity in the business environment. Finally, additional specifications and tests show that our results are robust to concerns related to endogeneity. Overall, we find that the busyness of audit committee members has important implications for risk factor disclosures.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47996,"journal":{"name":"British Accounting Review","volume":"57 1","pages":"Article 101561"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143593060","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The hidden cost of organisation capital: Evidence from trade credit","authors":"Joye Khoo , Adrian (Wai Kong) Cheung","doi":"10.1016/j.bar.2023.101238","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bar.2023.101238","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div><span>Organisation capital is an important firm-specific resource that is linked to value created by key talents, and the risk arising from the unexpected departure of key talents is detrimental to the firm. We find that trade credit decreases with organisation capital, particularly when labour mobility is greater or employees have more outside opportunities. This supports the </span><em>agency view</em> of organisation capital. However, when the threat of losing key talents is low, such as during the global financial crisis, the <em>efficiency view</em> of organisation capital prevails, making firms with high organisation capital more attractive customers for suppliers. The evidence is robust to endogeneity tests.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47996,"journal":{"name":"British Accounting Review","volume":"56 6","pages":"Article 101238"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2024-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42449216","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Shujie Liu , Mohammed Aminu Sualihu , Mingwei Sun , Alfred Yawson
{"title":"Exploring the acquisition behavior of penny stock firms","authors":"Shujie Liu , Mohammed Aminu Sualihu , Mingwei Sun , Alfred Yawson","doi":"10.1016/j.bar.2023.101276","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bar.2023.101276","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div><span>We document that penny stock firms' acquisition likelihood increases with firm size, sales growth, free cash flow, stock price volatility, and run-up, but decreases with leverage, the number of years since IPO, and Tobin's Q. These findings are validated in a stepwise regression framework and are robust to alternative model specifications. Penny stock acquirers prefer public targets and are more (less) likely to use stocks (cash) as the payment method. We also find that acquisitions announcement returns are higher for penny stock firms than for non-penny stock firms, even after accounting for firm- and deal-characteristics. Further analyses indicate that the increase in announcement returns is driven by the firm's improved information environment. Overall, we document that penny stock firms are significant players in the market for </span>corporate control.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47996,"journal":{"name":"British Accounting Review","volume":"56 6","pages":"Article 101276"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2024-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135714539","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lemonia M. Rempoutsika , Dimitris K. Chronopoulos , Linh Nguyen , John O.S. Wilson
{"title":"Deposit insurance and credit union earnings opacity","authors":"Lemonia M. Rempoutsika , Dimitris K. Chronopoulos , Linh Nguyen , John O.S. Wilson","doi":"10.1016/j.bar.2024.101486","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bar.2024.101486","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines the impact of deposit insurance coverage on credit union earnings opacity. For identification, we employ the provisions outlined in Section 136 of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, which raised the upper limit of deposit insurance coverage from $100,000 to $250,000. Using variation in insured deposits brought about by the differential impact of the change to deposit insurance arrangements and a difference-in-differences approach, we find that credit unions experiencing a substantial rise in insured deposits tend to exercise more discretion over loan loss provisions, leading to an increase in earnings opacity. This is most evident for small and medium sized credit unions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47996,"journal":{"name":"British Accounting Review","volume":"56 6","pages":"Article 101486"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2024-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890838924002634/pdfft?md5=828d8282b4b75f17e9df45b590523904&pid=1-s2.0-S0890838924002634-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142231924","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yongwei Ye , Dongmin Kong , Renzhi Li , Xiaofan Li , Yunqing Tao
{"title":"Online judicial auction, loan availability, and corporate investment in China","authors":"Yongwei Ye , Dongmin Kong , Renzhi Li , Xiaofan Li , Yunqing Tao","doi":"10.1016/j.bar.2024.101487","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bar.2024.101487","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Online judicial auctions can significantly impact corporate investment by enhancing creditor protection and facilitating loan availability. Using a dynamic difference-in-differences strategy, we find that the reform significantly boosts corporate investment. Mechanism tests reveal that the reform boosts corporate investment by improving corporate loan availability and creditors' willingness to lend. The effect is more pronounced in regions with high judicial auction turnover, high public participation, poorer legal environments, and lower banking competition, suggesting that these reforms enhance legal system efficiency and market competition. Additionally, we find that judicial auction reform reduces firms’ precautionary savings and fosters regional economic development. Overall, our study contributes to understanding the important role of creditor protection in corporate investment and provides insights for implementing digital judicial reforms.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47996,"journal":{"name":"British Accounting Review","volume":"56 6","pages":"Article 101487"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2024-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142312625","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}