Influential Article Review - Internal Management’s Voluntary Transparency and Auditor's Declaration: China Proofs

Abstract

This paper examines management. We present insights from a highly influential paper. Here are the highlights from this paper: We examine what determines a firm’s decision to disclose a self-assessment report on its internal control (IC) system and to further attain an auditor’s attestation on the report, using a sample of firms from the Shanghai Stock Exchange during the period 2006–2010. We hypothesize and find supporting evidence that the likelihood of having voluntary disclosure of IC self-assessment with an auditor’s attestation is positively related to future equity refinancing, mutual-fund shareholding, and whether the firm is controlled by the government, especially the central government. Our study also takes the identification problem into consideration, as our sample includes firms with IC weaknesses/deficiencies. Our study not only makes an incremental contribution to the literature, but also has practical implications, especially for regulators and investors in China. For our overseas readers, we then present the insights from this paper in Spanish, French, Portuguese, and German.