Tsung-Kang Chen, Yu-Shun Hung, Yijie Tseng and Kan-Yi Hsiao
According to the management obfuscation hypothesis, managers have incentives to influence the audit reports’ communicative value. This study aims to examine the relationship…
Abstract
Purpose
According to the management obfuscation hypothesis, managers have incentives to influence the audit reports’ communicative value. This study aims to examine the relationship between corporate earnings management and the readability of Chinese-text audit reports and the impact of key audit matter (KAM) disclosure requirements on this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
This research adopts Taiwanese firms from 2010 to 2019 to investigate the association between earnings management and readability of Chinese-text audit reports within the framework of the KAM disclosure requirements implemented in 2016.
Findings
The findings show that auditors tend to issue less readable audit reports to firms undertaking earnings management, particularly after introducing KAM disclosures. Additional analyses indicate that such adverse impacts of client earnings management on audit report readability have become more pronounced for firms audited by a newly pointed or long-tenure lead audit partner, with high business risk, poor monitoring of governance mechanisms or a large amount of nonaudit services. These results suggest that auditor partners may compromise auditor independence and use flexible narratives in audit reports as a form of moral insurance.
Practical implications
As auditors may manage audit report readability to reduce audit liability, authorities must formulate policies concerning audit report disclosure to strengthen its communicative value and simplify language usage. Additionally, authorities should strengthen quality control standards concerning auditor independence to reduce auditor pressure from clients’ economic importance.
Originality/value
This study provides valuable insights into auditors' responses to corporate earnings management behavior, particularly regarding the interplay between earnings management, audit report quality and regulatory changes, thus expanding our understanding of the dynamics within the auditing profession.
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Dexin Chen, Hongyuan He, Zhixin Kang and Wei Li
This study aims to review the current one-step electrodeposition of superhydrophobic coatings on metal surfaces.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to review the current one-step electrodeposition of superhydrophobic coatings on metal surfaces.
Design/methodology/approach
One-step electrodeposition is a versatile and simple technology to prepare superhydrophobic coatings on metal surfaces.
Findings
Preparing superhydrophobic coatings by one-step electrodeposition is an efficient method to protect metal surfaces.
Originality/value
Even though there are several technologies, one-step electrodeposition still plays a significant role in producing superhydrophobic coatings.
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Minghua Ye, Kang Chen, Tongjiang Wang and Junsheng Zhu
Crop price insurance can reduce losses from price volatility for crop producers, but pricing is one paramount important issue. The objective of this research is to provide a…
Abstract
Purpose
Crop price insurance can reduce losses from price volatility for crop producers, but pricing is one paramount important issue. The objective of this research is to provide a tentative method for pricing of crop price insurance with data from the futures market.
Design/methodology/approach
With weekly settlement price of January corn futures from the second week of January 2009 to the fourth week of April 2020 in China, we assume that corn futures price follows fractional Brownian motion, and apply an improved Black model.
Findings
Our results reveal that the proposed model can be used to yield a fair premium and crop price insurance with varying insured prices and gradient coverage ratios can be used to meet the divergent needs of farmers at an affordable cost for price risk management purposes.
Research limitations/implications
Results can be fine-tuned by extending research to crops such as wheat and rice, and by modeling price volatility with data from options market.
Originality/value
This study offers one plausible way to rate crop price insurance using data from the futures market, and thus adds to this thread of literature by incorporating fractional Brownian motion into an improved Black model.
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Joanna Radomska, Przemysław Wołczek and Susana Costa e Silva
The manager of the 21st century is expected to succeed in an environment strongly characterized by unprecedented volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA). In…
Abstract
The manager of the 21st century is expected to succeed in an environment strongly characterized by unprecedented volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA). In fact, today’s business environment consists of contradictory pressure and tensions, where competitive advantage could be gained by ambidextrous activities. The concept of ambidexterity has already been discussed by many scholars, but still little is known about managerial practice and actions that are useful for finding the balance between the paradoxes that have been identified at that level. Although there are different tensions, dynamic and evolving according to the changes observed in the environment: more volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous, the pressure to remain flexible and simultaneously maintain the plan of development, seems to be essential. In recent research studies, networking perspective is mentioned as one of areas worth exploring while analyzing the concept of ambidexterity. For that reason, the main goal of this chapter is to investigate if networking is one of the factors useful for managing ambidexterity. To gain deeper insight, we investigated further, searching for the factors essential for managing ambidexterity: we compared the research results between companies of different sizes to identify any regularities. We focused on ambidexterity reflected by managerial practice where stability/plans and flexibility are implemented simultaneously. We investigated 150 managers using paper-and-pencil interviewing. Our research results confirmed that networking could be one of the main approaches having an impact on ambidextrous activities. However, we cannot conclude that companies are obliged to apply a networking perspective to be ambidextrous, although it could be recommended. Further analysis of companies of different sizes revealed the relationship between ambidexterity and networking in case of small and large companies, and no relation in medium-sized enterprises.
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Ruey-Ching Lin, Tsung-Kang Chen, Yi-Jie Tseng and Chih-Kai Chang
The purpose of this study is to explore whether pension plan reporting readability affects earnings volatility. Moreover, as SFAS 158 requires firms to fully recognize their…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore whether pension plan reporting readability affects earnings volatility. Moreover, as SFAS 158 requires firms to fully recognize their funded status on the balance sheet, the firms’ pension liabilities (inside debts) and financing ability have the corresponding change. This study further investigates whether pension plan reporting readability affects earnings volatility from the SFAS 158 and funded status perspectives.
Design/methodology/approach
This study follows Li (2008), Lehavy et al. (2011) and Rennekamp (2012) to use the FOG and SMOG variables as the readability proxies and investigates whether pension plan reporting readability affects earnings volatility from the perspectives of inside debts and SFAS 158 by using a sample of 3,077 American firms from the year 2006 to 2009.
Findings
Empirical results of this study show that firms with low readability of pension plan reporting have high earnings volatility, revealing that less readable pension plan reporting increases the assessed variance of a firm’s inside debts, financing flexibility, investment ability and therefore profitability. In addition, the implement of SFAS 158 enhances the effect of pension plan reporting readability on earnings volatility. Moreover, the authors also find that the funded status plays a moderating role for the effect of pension plan reporting readability on earnings volatility. Finally, the results are robust to endogeneity issue.
Research limitations/implications
Earnings stability measures how consistently earnings have been generated over time, and its importance has been acknowledged by most firms. For example, prior literature has documented that manipulating financial reporting to smooth earnings is becoming a business common practice (Burgstahler et al., 2006; Liu and Espahbodi, 2014). The empirical results suggest that pension plan reporting readability is a significant determinant of earnings volatility.
Practical implications
As a practical implication, this study points out that manipulations of the pension reporting readability are not costless. It incurs the costs of earnings instability.
Social implications
This study indicates that the issuance of SFAS 158 makes firms more likely to engage in pension plan readability manipulation. As a result, it has policy implication that the regulator should consider how the policy change alters the firm financial reporting behavior.
Originality/value
The empirical results suggest that firms may be more likely to engage in obfuscating pension plan disclosure after FASB’s issuance of SFAS 158. This would further increase outside investors’ assessed variance for inside debts and earnings volatilities. When policymakers require firms to recognize their funded status in statement of financial position, they should consider the costs or benefits that the firm manager face and, therefore, how this policy change alter the firm financial reporting behavior.
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Xujian Zhao, Hui Zhang, Chunming Yang and Bo Li
In recent years, a great number of top conferences and workshops on artificial intelligence (AI) were held in China, showing Chinese AI plays an important role in the world…
Abstract
In recent years, a great number of top conferences and workshops on artificial intelligence (AI) were held in China, showing Chinese AI plays an important role in the world. Meanwhile, Chinese government announced an ambitious scheme, “New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan,” for the country to become a world leader in AI technologies by 2030. The AI research in China has covered various aspects, ranging from chips to algorithms. This chapter attempts to give an overview of the recent advances of AI research and development in China, as well as some perspectives on the future development of AI in China.
This chapter tries to hedge extreme financial risk of entrepreneurs who work with wheat by combining wheat with four stock indices of developed and emerging European markets in a…
Abstract
This chapter tries to hedge extreme financial risk of entrepreneurs who work with wheat by combining wheat with four stock indices of developed and emerging European markets in a portfolio. Extreme risk of the portfolios is measured by the parametric and historical value-at-risk (VaR) metrics. Portfolios that target maximum return-to-VaR ratio are also constructed because different market participants prefer different goals. Preliminary equicorrelation results indicate that integration between wheat and emerging markets is lower (0.218) vis-á-vis the combination of wheat and developed markets (0.307), which gives preliminary advantage to emerging markets in diversification efforts. The results show that portfolios with emerging stock indices have significantly lower parametric (–0.816) and historical (–0.831) VaR than portfolios with developed indices, –1.080 and –1.295, respectively. As for optimal portfolios, the portfolios with developed indices have a slight upper hand. This chapter shows that parametric VaR is not a good measure of extreme risk, because it neglects the third and fourth moments.
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Guangjian Xu and Yan Wu
The purpose of this paper is to examine the financing and provision of basic public services in China. The main issue addressed is how to reform the public finance system to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the financing and provision of basic public services in China. The main issue addressed is how to reform the public finance system to achieve quality and fairness in the provision of basic public services.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on an historical analysis of the functional transformation of the public finance system in China and on an empirical analysis of the current public finance system and the public service provision system, a comprehensive understanding was gained about the relationship between the financing and provision of basic public services.
Findings
The paper argues that there is a close relationship between the provision of basic public services and the functional changes made to the public finance system. Based on a systematic retrospective study of the Chinese Government’s efforts to improve basic public services over the last three decades, this paper offers policy suggestions on further public finance restructuring that would support better service provision.
Originality/value
By analyzing issues in the public service provision system, this paper contributes to the debate about the efficiency improvement made to governmental functions in China.
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De-Xing Peng, Yuan Kang and Yu-Jun Huang
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the wear performance of carbon steel cladded with TiC powders by gas tungsten arc welding method. Because of poor wear resistance, carbon…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the wear performance of carbon steel cladded with TiC powders by gas tungsten arc welding method. Because of poor wear resistance, carbon steels have limited industrial applications as tribological components.
Design/methodology/approach
The cladding microstructures were characterized by optical microscope, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray energy dispersive spectrometer. The wear behavior of the clad layer was studied with a block-on-ring tribometer.
Findings
The experimental results revealed that the metallurgical interface provided an excellent bond between the cladding and the carbon steel substrate. The cladding revealed no porosity or cracking, and particles were evenly distributed throughout the cladding layer. Hardness was increased from HRc 6.6 in the substrate to HRc 62 in the cladded layer due to the presence of the hard TiC phase.
Originality/value
The experiments confirm that the cladding surfaces of TiC particles reduce wear rate and friction. Increasing TiC contents also improves hardness and wear resistance at room temperature and under dry sliding wear conditions.
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This chapter focuses on visualization. Seeing the humanities differently is one of the amazing benefits of working with tools mentioned within this category. Whether it be more…
Abstract
This chapter focuses on visualization. Seeing the humanities differently is one of the amazing benefits of working with tools mentioned within this category. Whether it be more traditional visualizations like images or video or that which is considered a bit more advanced like augmented or virtual reality, the enhanced perspective gained through the use of these tools offers digital humanities scholars unprecedented disciplinary perspectives while helping to shape new research areas, questions, and understanding of humanity and culture. In addition to visualization and issues related to it, this chapter also examines gaming and how games and play are impacting the digital humanities in exciting ways.