Purpose - This paper provides a systematic comparison of the level of business diversification in China and eight other large economies for the 2001 to 2005 period. We investigate reasons why Chinese firms are more diversified than companies elsewhere.Design/methodology/approach - We collect...

Based on data of state-owned enterprises listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges from 2003 to 2017, this study examines how mixed-ownership reform affects a company’s auditor choice from the perspectives of ownership structure and governance. We find that the higher the degree of...

We examine the consequences of a regulatory reform that reduces the timeliness of public enforcement of mandatory corporate disclosure in a developing financial market. Contrary to the intent of the regulatory reform, corporate disclosure timeliness is not increased while corporate disclosure...

We apply voting theory to the context of audit committees and examine how the even-odd nature of audit committees is related to earnings quality. We hypothesize that an audit committee with an odd number of directors can improve the committee's voting efficiency by better aggregating directors'...

Where legal systems and market forces enforce contracts inadequately, vertical integration can circumvent these transaction difficulties. But, such environments often also feature highly interventionist government, and even corruption. Vertical integration might then enhance returns to political...

We investigate how institutional factors influence behavior of distressed firms in emerging markets, where bankruptcy laws are often weak and debtors have greater bargaining power in distress. By studying a comprehensive sample of distressed firms in China, a representative of the cases in other...

China is representative of many emerging markets in that its bankruptcy law and enforcement is weak and institutional background remains under-developed. Taking advantage of the country`s regional variations in government quality and financial development, we are interested in understanding what...

Where legal systems and market forces enforce contracts inadequately, vertical integration can circumvent these transaction difficulties. But, such environments often also feature highly interventionist government, and even corruption. Vertical integration might then enhance returns to political...