International Review of Financial Analysis最新文献

Improving the legal structure of China's securities market depends on revising the Securities Law. Using data from A-share listed companies from 2015 to 2022, this paper uses the difference-in-differences (DID) approach to investigate the effect of implementing the New Securities Law on the audit quality of companies. The revelation shows how much the New Securities Law can improve the caliber of company audits. Furthermore, improving audit fees, risk premiums, and media concentration yields positive results. Moreover, the degree of internal control and ownership of companies has different mediation consequences. The efficiency of the recently adopted Securities Law in controlling the conduct of auditors is assessed in this paper. The study results have significant practical relevance for efficiently implementing the new Securities Law, extending the market structure for auditing services, properly preventing and regulating auditing risks, and increasing the efficiency of the capital market.

In the realm of modern financial regulation, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) is considered to be a potential game-changer. With rapid technological advancement, AI can enhance regulatory capabilities by efficiently processing and analyzing complex financial data. This approach allows for more precise predictions and prevention of market risks, effective monitoring of potential market abuses, and a deeper understanding of financial markets. As a result, AI can substantially improve the efficiency and impact of government regulatory frameworks. This study examined the impact of governmental AI adoption on financial regulatory intensity in China, revealing significant findings across 30 provinces and municipalities from 2012 to 2022. The relevant findings are fourfold. (1) Governmental AI adoption for financial regulation significantly strengthens financial regulatory intensity. (2) The institutional environment and government transparency have respective promotional and restraining influences on this process. (3) Further tests reveal a nonlinear impact of governmental AI adoption for financial regulation on regional financial regulatory intensity. (4) Heterogeneity analysis demonstrates that the enhancing effect of governmental AI adoption is more pronounced in regions located in the east, with strong governance capabilities and well-developed digital environments. The conclusions of this study provide empirical evidence and practical guidance for local governments to develop and refine financial regulatory frameworks by adopting AI.

Females are underrepresented in academic finance departments, especially among senior faculty. Using information on 2910 finance scholars from 387 universities worldwide, we show that although females have become more common in finance departments over the past 30 years, yet only one in ten full professors are women. We explore whether this gap is associated with a lower likelihood of female faculty transitioning into higher academic ranks and find no significant difference between the sexes. While we cannot rule out the existence of a glass ceiling impacting women, partly due to their higher exit rates from the profession, we primarily attribute the low representation of female finance professors to historic male-centric recruitment activity. Due to the length of time for early-career academics to reach full professor status, gender imbalance at the most senior levels in finance is likely to continue for several years.

This study utilizes data from A-share listed companies of China between 2010 and 2021 to investigate the impact of digital transformation on corporate growth performance using a two-way fixed-effects model. We find that digital transformation has significantly promoted corporate growth performance, which remains robust across a series of tests. Mechanism analysis indicates that overall financing constraints and debt financing have significant moderating effects on the relationship between digital transformation and growth performance, whereas equity financing has similar effects only after PSM matching. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the promotion effect of digital transformation on growth performance is more pronounced in private enterprises, regions with superior business environments, and non-high-tech industries. Furthermore, both debt financing and equity financing were found to have a threshold effect on the growth performance promotion of enterprise digital transformation. Based on these, it is proposed that the configuration of enterprise capital scale and financing path should be considered when pursuing the positive effects of enterprise digital transformation.

The article study selects the panel data of 3407 A-share listed companies between 2010 and 2022, aiming at exploring the impact of fiscal incentives on firms' innovation performance and revealing the mediating role of financing constraints. The empirical results show that fiscal incentives have a significant positive impact on both corporate innovation performance and financing constraints; meanwhile, corporate financing constraints are found to play a fully intermediary role between fiscal incentives and corporate innovation performance. This research result is of great significance to both enterprises and governments. Enterprises can take the initiative to utilize fiscal incentives to improve innovation performance, strengthen financing ability, and then promote enterprise development. The government can take fiscal incentives and other measures to support enterprise innovation and promote the healthy development of the national economy. At the same time, governments should also explore more effective financing mechanisms to provide enterprises with a favorable financing environment to further promote enterprise development and innovation capacity.

Originating from the theory of organizational hierarchy, the concept of power discrepancy among corporate executives has garnered scholarly attention due to its roots in the unequal distribution of authority and influence within the upper echelons of management. This paper explores the realm of corporate ESG greenwashing, a deceptive practice masking genuine environmental, social, and governance responsibilities, and empirically investigates the influence of executive power discrepancies on such practices. Findings indicate a direct correlation between increased executive power discrepancies and a heightened propensity towards ESG greenwashing. Furthermore, the impact of this discrepancy is notably more pronounced in non-state-owned entities, corporations operating in highly marketized regions, and those with substantial financing constraints. This study contributes to the nuanced understanding of how disparities in executive power shape corporate ESG conduct, enriches the discourse on corporate governance structures, and fosters the evolution of theories related to internal governance and social accountability, offering vital practical insights.

In the context of rapidly aging populations, Housing Reverse Mortgages (HRMs) offer a valuable supplement to the multi-tiered pension insurance system and can effectively ease the burden on pension financing. However, a widespread lack of financial cognitive ability among elderly residents often leads to cognitive biases towards the operating principles and potential benefits of HRMs, creating “insufficient effective demand” in China's HRM market. This study empirically examines how limited financial cognitive ability constrains the demand willingness to use HRM services. The findings reveal: (1) Elderly residents with higher financial cognitive ability are better able to understand and objectively evaluate the operating principles and potential value of HRMs, thus displaying a stronger willingness to utilize these services. (2) Bequest motivations and risk preferences are significant mediators through which financial cognitive abilities influence HRM demand willingness. (3) Financial education and increased social interaction among elderly residents substantially reduce the negative impact of limited financial cognitive ability on their demand willingness for HRMs.

Corporate strategy greatly influences corporate investment activities. This study seeks to better understand the relationship between the level of corporate strategic aggression and environmental investment decisions based on 2011–2020 data. We find that increasing the intensity of strategic aggression effectively increases environmental investment. Moreover, this effect is incentivized by good corporate environmental, social, and governance performance, innovation ability, and management tone manipulation. Although financing constraints may hinder the positive effects of corporate aggression on environmental investment, independent directors and corporate risk promote maximum positive effects. These findings enable companies to identify strategically motivating factors for improving environmental protection.

Analyses of zombie firms have emphasized the role of bank financing as the reason for zombie survival. This conclusion was made despite no comparative analysis of the sources of external finance for zombie firms. This paper provides the first analysis of that sort using Finnish data. Banks are not found to fund zombie firms by more than other types of funders when shares of the credit market are taken into account. Among different types of funding sources, only the relationship between equity funding and zombie status is found to be statistically significant. While bank funding is found to be associated with a longer zombie lifetime, equity funders are found to prolong zombie lifetime by greater extent than other sources. The choice of zombie definition - of which there are many in the literature - is not uncontentious and plays a role in determining the economic significance of coefficient estimates.