Purpose – To investigate the recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Committee (BRC) and the requirements of the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act (SOX) on audit committee alignment.Design/methodology/approach – Using a unique set of hand collected data on audit committees for a sample of 129 firms during...

This study investigates how discretionary accruals affect earnings valuation (or price-earnings multiples) to provide indirect evidence on whether managers use their discretion over accruals to communicate their private information or to obtain private benefits. The results indicate that...

We investigate Big 4 pricing over the period 2000 to 2010. We classify the data into five periods: 2000-2001 as the pre-SOX period, 2002-2003 as the SOX period, 2004-2006 as the AS2 period, 2007 as the AS5 period, and 2008-2010 as the Great Recession period. These shocks to the audit market...

During the recent COVID-19 pandemic crisis, several high-income countries pursued vaccine nationalism (i.e., my country first approaches for vaccine distribution), leading to an even wider income inequality between rich and poor countries. This significantly challenged the poorer countries'...

This study compares the relative performance of several well-known models in the forecasting of REIT volatility. Overall our results suggest that long-memory models (ARFIMA & FIGARCH) provide the best forecasts. Using either a large sample or some statistically justified small subsamples, we...

In the context of the digital economy, empowering firm innovation investment through digital transformation is an important strategy for promoting innovation development in China. This study investigates the effects and mechanisms of digital transformation on firm innovation investment from the...

Catalytic ozonation is an effective technology widely used in advanced treatment to remove refractory organics from wastewater. Meanwhile, it is also a highly energy-consuming technology, usually accounting for 30%~40% of the total electricity consumption of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP)....

Listed companies in China have provided large numbers of loan guarantees for borrowers in recent years. The loan guarantee size of A-share Main Board listed companies was about RMB 3.85 trillion at the end of 2017. On the one hand, loan guarantees help borrowers access debt financing, which...