期刊名称：Journal of Accounting research
本期期卷：Volume 62, Issue 1
刊出日期：March 2024
目录
01 By What Criteria Do We Evaluate Accounting? Some Thoughts on Economic Welfare and the Archival Literature
RAY BALL
02 Information Complementarities and the Dynamics of Transparency Shock Spillovers
SHANTANU BANERJEE, SUDIPTO DASGUPTA, RUI SHI, JIALI YAN
03 How Does Carbon Footprint Information Affect Consumer Choice? A Field Experiment
BIANCA BEYER, RICO CHASKEL, SIMONE EULER, JOACHIM GASSEN, ANN-KRISTIN GROßKOPF, THORSTEN SELLHORN
04 Price Rigidities and the Value of Public Information
LIFENG GU, JIN XIE
05 Cultural Origin and Minority Shareholder Expropriation: Historical Evidence
ZHIHUI GU, WEI SUN, FRANK S. ZHOU
06 Regulatory Transparency and Regulators’ Effort: Evidence from Public Release of the SEC's Review Work
RUI GUO, Xiaoli (Shaolee) Tian
07 Audit Partners’ Role in Material Misstatement Resolution: Survey and Interview Evidence
ELDAR MAKSYMOV, MARK PEECHER, ANDREW SUTHERLAND, JOSEPH WEBER
08 Corporate R&D Investments Following Competitors’ Voluntary Disclosures: Evidence from the Drug Development Process
YUE ZHANG
09 Target Setting in Hierarchies: The Role of Middle Managers
JAN BOUWENS, CHRISTIAN HOFMANN, NINA SCHWAIGER
10 Transparency in Hierarchies
CHRISTIAN HOFMANN, RAFFI J. INDJEJIKIAN
# 01 #
Title：
By What Criteria Do We Evaluate Accounting? Some Thoughts on Economic Welfare and the Archival Literature
Author：
RAY BALL
Abstract：
The economic role of an accounting regime is to increase welfare through its effectsin conjunction with complementary institutionson firm and household behavior. I review three major streams of the archival literature (real effects; price effects, including value relevance; and costly contracting), in terms of what they can and cannot reveal as proxies for welfare effects. One conclusion is that the partial correlations and average effects that predominate in this literature have provided valuable insights into the role of accounting in the economy, but provide limited and misleading proxies for welfare effects. A major concern is that teachers, students, and researchersindeed, regulators and standard settersraised on this literature could lose sight of, and underestimate, the fundamental contribution of accounting to aggregate welfare.
# 02 #
Title：
Information Complementarities and the Dynamics of Transparency Shock Spillovers
Author：
SHANTANU BANERJEE, SUDIPTO DASGUPTA, RUI SHI, JIALI YAN
Abstract：
We show that information complementarities play an important role in the spillover of transparency shocks. We exploit the revelation of financial misconduct by S&P 500 firms, and in a “Stacked Difference-in-Differences” design, find that the implied cost of capital increases for “close” industry peers of the fraudulent firms relative to “distant” industry peers. The spillover effect is particularly strong when the close peers and the fraudulent firm share common analyst coverage and common institutional ownership, which have been shown to be powerful proxies for fundamental linkages and information complementarities. We provide evidence that increase in the cost of capital of peer firms is due, at least in part, to “beta shocks.” Disclosure by close peersespecially those with co-coverage and co-ownership linksalso increases following fraud revelation. Although disclosure remains high in the following years, the cost of equity starts to decrease.
# 03 #
Title：
How Does Carbon Footprint Information Affect Consumer Choice? A Field Experiment
Author：
BIANCA BEYER, RICO CHASKEL, SIMONE EULER, JOACHIM GASSEN, ANN-KRISTIN GROßKOPF, THORSTEN SELLHORN
Abstract：
This paper reports the results of a field experiment investigating how attributes of carbon footprint information affect consumer choice in a large dining facility. Our hypotheses and research methods were preregistered via theJournal of Accounting Research’s registration-based editorial process. Manipulating the measurement units and visualizations of carbon footprint information on food labels, we quantify effects on consumers’ food choices. Treated consumers choose less carbon-intensive dishes, reducing their food-related carbon footprint by up to 9.2%, depending on the treatment. Effects are strongest for carbon footprint information expressed in monetary units (“environmental costs”) and color-coded in the familiar traffic-light scheme. A postexperimental survey shows that these effects obtain although few respondents self-report concern for the environmental footprint of their meal choices. Our study contributes to the accounting literature by using an information-processing framework to shed light on the information usage and decision-making processes of an increasingly important user group of accounting information: consumers.
# 04 #
Title：
Price Rigidities and the Value of Public Information
Author：
LIFENG GU, JIN XIE
Abstract：
Firms' inflexibility in adjusting output prices to economic shocks exacerbates information asymmetry with respect to firms' profits, but public information on firms' cost structure mitigates this problem. We construct a novel form of public information from economic statistics disclosed by the government and find that such public information significantly reduces inflexible-price firms' bid–ask spreads, the probability of informed trading, and analyst forecast dispersions, but these results do not hold for flexible-price firms. Security analysts seek more cost-related information during conference calls about inflexible-price firms, but such a phenomenon is observed less frequently if a firm's input cost is more publicly observable. In addition, stock markets react more strongly to earning news announced by inflexible-price firms, consistent with our intuition.
# 05 #
Title：
Cultural Origin and Minority Shareholder Expropriation: Historical Evidence
Author：
ZHIHUI GU, WEI SUN, FRANK S. ZHOU
Abstract：
Can culture explain regional differences in minority shareholder expropriation? Examining regional variation in China, we document that the influence of historical Confucian values persists, despite decades of political movements clamping down on these values, and that these values reduce minority shareholder expropriation in local public firms. The effect on minority shareholder expropriation, in part, operates through the establishment of oversight mechanisms (i.e., greater financial reporting quality and dividend payouts) that constrain expropriation. The findings have important implications for understanding the origins of enduring regional differences in minority shareholder expropriation and capital market development.
# 06 #
Title：
Regulatory Transparency and Regulators’ Effort: Evidence from Public Release of the SEC's Review Work
Author：
RUI GUO, Xiaoli (Shaolee) Tian
Abstract：
Using the public release of comment letters on EDGAR to capture a regime shift toward regulatory transparency, we examine whether an increase in transparency affects regulators’ effort and work performance. We find that the SEC staff reviews more filings and more documents per filing following the disclosure regime shift. These effects are incrementally stronger for firms with comment letters that are expected to attract greater investor or public monitoring. Furthermore, under the new regime, reviews are more timely. Upon the regime switch, the likelihood of a restatement (receiving a comment letter) decreases (increases) for filings that are reviewed. After receiving a comment letter, a firm with signs of potential fraud is more likely to be investigated, and this effect becomes more pronounced under the new regime. Altogether, our findings suggest that publicly disclosing regulators’ work output can mitigate moral hazard (i.e., increase regulators’ work input), improving their work performance.
# 07 #
Title：
Audit Partners’ Role in Material Misstatement Resolution: Survey and Interview Evidence
Author：
ELDAR MAKSYMOV, MARK PEECHER, ANDREW SUTHERLAND, JOSEPH WEBER
Abstract：
Auditors are expected to identify and resolve material misstatements (MMs) in management's financial statements. However, beyond the audit opinion, the audit process is opaque. To address this, we independently survey 462 audit partners and interview 24 audit partners, CFOs, and audit committee members on how partners assess and address MM risk, resolve MMs, and the consequences of MMs. Partners identify MMs in approximately 9% (15%) of public (private) engagements and use qualitative factors to waive apparent MMs. Loan covenant and going-concern issues increase MM risk more than earnings benchmark issues. Partners point to a variety of both auditor and client factors as threats to audit effectiveness. Partners often rely on rapport with management and involve the national office and audit committee in resolving MMs. Partner incentives around restatements are context specific. Our results provide new insights into the auditor's role in financial reporting that are relevant to academics, practitioners, and regulators.
# 08 #
Title：
Corporate R&D Investments Following Competitors’ Voluntary Disclosures: Evidence from the Drug Development Process
Author：
YUE ZHANG
Abstract：
This paper examines the role of peer firm disclosures in shaping corporate research and development (R&D) investments. Drawing on models of two-stage R&D races, I hypothesize that a firm could be either deterred or encouraged by peer disclosure of interim R&D success, depending on peer firms’ R&D strength in the race. Using granular, project-level data on clinical trials in the drug development process, I find that a firm's R&D investments in a specific therapeutic area are deterred by disclosures of early-phase trial initiation from strong rivals in the same area but encouraged by disclosures from weak rivals. Cross-sectional analyses show that focal firm strength and disclosure relevance moderate the effects of peer firm disclosure. Overall, my evidence suggests that peer firms’ R&D disclosures can have both proprietary costs and deterrence benefits.
# 09 #
Title：
Target Setting in Hierarchies: The Role of Middle Managers
Author：
JAN BOUWENS, CHRISTIAN HOFMANN, NINA SCHWAIGER
Abstract：
We explore how a supervisor's hierarchical rank affects the extent to which employees’ targets reflect their past performance. Literature documents that supervisors do not fully ratchet targets for past performance, arguably because the commitment not to penalize successful employees with more difficult targets alleviates the severity of the ratchet effect. We argue that commitment is less credible in organizational hierarchies where a middle manager sets employees’ targets. Using data from an organization comprised of three hierarchical layers, we consistently find that a middle manager's exposure to performance pressure is positively associated with the ratcheting of the employees’ targets. Moreover, we show that management at headquarters reduces a middle manager's performance pressure when most of her employees missed their targets in the previous period. Overall, the results imply that the hierarchical rank is an important determinant of the credibility of a supervisor's commitment to deemphasize past performance in target setting.
# 10 #
Title：
Transparency in Hierarchies
Author：
CHRISTIAN HOFMANN, RAFFI J. INDJEJIKIAN
Abstract：
We use an agency model to address the benefits and costs of transparency in a hierarchical organization in which the principal employs a manager entrusted with contracting authority and several workers, all under conditions of moral hazard. We define the principal's transparency choices as a decision to allow workers to observe their coworkers’ performances (observability) and as an investment in monitoring worker performance (precision). We find that whereas precision alleviates agency conflicts as expected, observability can exacerbate agency conflicts, especially if the manager's interests are misaligned sufficiently with those of the principal. Our results suggest several testable hypotheses including predictions that opaque performance measurement practices are well suited for small organizational units at lower hierarchical ranks, and in settings where the sensitivity-precision of the available measures is low, workers’ performances are correlated positively, and managerial productivity is modest.
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