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This paper aims to study the influence of the addition of calcium nitrite on the passive films of rebar to reveal what causes calcium nitrite to further prolong the durability service life of the reinforced concrete structures.

A comprehensive experimental study of the passive films, such as components, surface morphologies, electric structure and compactness, was carried out in a saturated calcium hydroxide solution which is normally used to simulate concrete pore solution by using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, Mott–Schottky and potentiostatic polarization, respectively.

The results showed that the passivation behavior of rebar has been changed dramatically by the addition of calcium nitrite. That is, the passive film formed in the solution with the addition of 10 g/L Ca(NO₂)₂ had less donor density (Nd), more positive plat potential, smoother surface and lower content of Fe_hydrox than that formed in the solution without Ca(NO₂)₂.

The study focuses on the passive films and provides a more clear cognition of the durability service life extension of the reinforced concrete structures caused by the addition of calcium nitrite.

This paper aims to make a comparison, different from existing literature solely focusing on voluntary earnings forecasts and ex post earnings surprise, between the effects of mandatory earnings surprise warnings and voluntary information disclosure issued by management teams on financial analysts in terms of the number of followings and the accuracy of earnings forecasts.

This paper uses panel data analysis with fixed effects on data collected from Chinese public firms between 2006 and 2010. It uses an exogenous regulation enforcement to minimise the endogeneity problem.

This paper finds that financial analysts are less likely to follow firms which mandatorily issue earnings surprise warnings ex ante than those voluntarily issue earnings forecasts. Moreover, ex post, they issue less accurate and more dispersed forecasts on former firms. The results support Brown et al.’s (2009) finding in the USA and suggest that the earnings surprise warnings affect information asymmetries.

This paper justifies the mandatory earnings surprise warnings policy issued by Chinese Securities Regulatory Commission in 2006.

Mandatory earnings surprise is a unique practical regulation for publicly listed firms in China. This paper, for the first time, provides empirical evaluation on the effectiveness of a mandatory information disclosure policy in China. Consistent with existing literature on information disclosure by public firms in other countries, this paper finds that, in China, voluntary information disclosure captures more private information than mandatory information disclosure on corporate earnings ability.

The purpose of the papers included in this issue is to cover a broad range of contemporary issues in Chinese corporate financial management and therefore provide the readers with important insights into Chinese financial markets as well as the social and economic consequences of firm behavior in the Chinese context.

The first part of this issue is a special section on “Corporate Finance and Corporate Social Responsibility”, which includes three papers that explore various aspects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) from a finance perspective – including the relationship between CSR and the cost of equity, the “insurance-like effect” of CSR and competition in corporate philanthropy. The remainder of the issue includes seven further papers that cover a wide range of finance-related topics, including currency and equity, monetary policy, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, earnings management, overseas investment, information disclosure, social capital and cosmopolitanism. All of the papers included in this issue are based on empirical research that draws on primary and secondary data from Chinese financial markets and from the information disclosures of Chinese enterprises.

The authors are confident that such in-depth discussions and analysis will help researchers and practitioners to develop a better understanding of the issues faced by Chinese managers in the context of China’s economic transformation. The findings reported in this issue will help inform and develop Chinese management theories based on a wide range of Chinese management practices.

Each paper in this issue reports on different aspects of finance, reporting and management in the Chinese context, discussing findings that have both relevance and significance beyond China.