Accounting Commons^™

Does Generative Ai Facilitate Investor Trading? Early Evidence From Chatgpt Outages, Qiang Cheng, Pengkai Lin, Yue Zhao

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

In this paper, we use ChatGPT outages to provide early evidence on whether investors rely on generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) to perform professional tasks and the associated impact on stock price informativeness. We document a significant decline in stock trading volume during ChatGPT outages. The effect is stronger for firms with corporate news released immediately before or during the outages and for firms with higher ownership held by transient institutional investors. We then document declines in short-run price impact and return variance during the outage periods, consistent with reduced informed trading. Lastly, we document a positive effect of GenAI-assisted trading …

Local-Thinking Bias, Ed Dehaan, Charles M. C. Lee, Wei Ting Loh

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Local-thinking bias, wherein agents overweight information that comes readily to mind, is a prominent finding in cognitive psychology. In this study, we investigate local-thinking bias in the context of sell-side analysts and measure each analyst’s “local” information as news stemming from their individual coverage portfolio. Tests examining multiple analysts forecasting on the same focal firm at the same time find that individual analysts overweight idiosyncratic local news and underweight news from economically linked firms that are not in their coverage portfolios. Market prices track the analyst bias from local news, leading to predictable and economically significant return reversal patterns in …

Commentary: Delayed Climate Reporting Requirements Threaten Singapore’S Sustainability Leadership, Jiwei Wang, Holly I. Yang, Liandong Zhang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

In a commentary by SMU Professor of Accounting (Practice) and Director of Master of Professional Accounting (MPA) and Master of Science in Accounting (MSA) programmes Wang Jiwei, SMU Associate Professor of Accounting, Lee Kong Chian Fellow and Co-Director (Academic Research) of the School of Accountancy Research Centre (SOAR) Holly Yang, and SMU Dean of School of Accountancy and Lee Kong Chian Professor of Accounting Zhang Liandong, they suggested that delaying climate disclosure requirements for small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) from 2025 to 2030 could weaken Singapore’s sustainable finance leadership, despite regulators saying the extension would help smaller firms build environmental, …

Research On The Impact Of Supply Chain Digitization On Innovation Performance: Based On Quasi-Natural Experiments And Longitudinal Case Study, Binbin Chen

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The Chinese government prioritizes supply chain digital transformation. Pilot policies for supply chain digitalization will accelerate digital development across industrial and supply chains. While existing research offers substantial empirical evidence on supply chain digitalization, its impact on corporate innovation performance requires further investigation. Based on this, the study constructs a quasi-natural experiment using data from A-share listed companies and appropriate econometric models, demonstrating that supply chain digitalization significantly enhances corporate innovation performance. This effect is statistically and economically significant, providing a foundation for future research. The study also identifies the mechanisms through which supply chain digitalization improves corporate innovation performance, …

Scenarios For Csrd Scope Amendments - Advancing Reporting Scope While Reducing Further Burden, Andreas Rasche, Theodor Florian Cojoianu, Andreas G. F. Hoepner, Fabiola Schneider

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This paper presents calculations related to the CSRD scope criteria which are modified through the Omnibus I Simplification Package. We show how many companies would be in scope of CSRD when considering the criteria suggested by (a) the Commission’s Omnibus proposal, (b) the position adopted by the Council of the EU, and (c) the European Peoples Party (EPP) proposal in the European Parliament. For each of these three “cases” we show the impact of lowering or increasing the employee-related threshold. 1.    Our calculations demonstrate that the number of in-scope companies varies significantly when modifying the employee threshold. We conclude from …

Blue Bird: Building The Right Path, Yuanto Kusnadi, Wee Kiat Lim

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

How Indonesia's leading mobility provider pursued twin transformations involving sustainable growth and digitalisation.

Psychological Characteristics Of Board Secretaries And Information Disclosure Quality - An Empirical Analysis Based On The Questionnaire Survey And Interviews With Board Secretaries Of A-Share Listed Companies, Shuijun Dai

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The capital market functions fundamentally on the principles of information, and effective information disclosure acts as the cornerstone of its operation. At present, China's capital market is fully advancing the registration-based reform that is primarily focused on information disclosure. In this context, the secretary of the board of directors ("board secretary")—who serves as the legal officer tasked with overseeing information disclosure for A-share listed companies—plays a vital role in information release and transmission.

In the context of the comprehensive implementation of the registration system and establishment of an investor-oriented capital market, this study surveys over 400 board secretaries from A-share …

Availability Of Esg Rating Information And Voluntary Esg Disclosure: Evidence From Coverage Expansion Of Esg Rating Agency, Xuefan Peng

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

I examine the effect of availability of ESG rating information on firms’ voluntary ESG disclosure practices. Thomson Reuters Asset4 expanded ESG rating coverage from Russell 1000 index to Russell 2000 index in 2017. Exploiting this exogenous shock of availability of ESG rating information in a difference-in-difference research design, I find that compared with Russell 1000 firms (i.e., control firms), Russell 2000 firms (i.e., treatment firms) are less likely to increase voluntary ESG disclosures. The effect is more pronounced for firms with higher disclosure costs, captured by higher level of firm complexity and lower level of digitalization, and less pronounced for …

Factors Influencing Consumers’ Online Purchase Decisions: Evidence From Amazon.Com, Weiwei Li

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

With the rapid expansion of cross-border e-commerce, platform sellers increasingly adopt diverse price formatsto influence consumer decision-making. In this context, consumers’ perceptions of and responses to price information have become a pivotal issue in understanding online purchase behavior. Using Amazon as the research setting, this study employs a dynamic panel model with monthly product-level data spanning January 2024 to June 2025 to investigate how different price formats—such as Prime-exclusive pricing and coupon mechanisms—affect consumers’ online purchase intentions when the out-ofpocket price is held constant. Furthermore, the moderating effect of promotional events is systematically examined.

Departing from prior research that largely …

How Do Analysts Affect Corporate Innovation? Evidence From Site Visits, Qiang Cheng, Brian Yutao Wang, Holly I. Yang, Zheyuan Zhang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

While prior studies have examined whether financial analysts affect corporate innovation, there is little research on the mechanism through which this occurs. In this paper, we examine whether and how analysts' questions about innovation during site visits affect corporate innovation. Using a sample of corporate site visits in China, we find that when analysts ask questions about innovation during site visits, firms invest more in R&D in the future. Consistent with knowledge diffusion across firms, this association is stronger when analysts cover more firms in the same industry, when firms share similar technologies as industry peers, and when an innovation-expert …

Firm Digitalization And Accounting Jobs, Amanda Awyong, Qiang Cheng, Tian Deng, Rencheng Wang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This study examines how firm digitalization affects the demand for corporate accountants and their digital skills. Using more than 373,000 job posts for corporate accountants by U.S. non-technology firms between 2010 and 2019, we find that firm digitalization does not change the overall demand for financial specialists-accountants who are responsible for financial reporting, budgeting, and forecasting-but reduces the demand for financial clerks-accountants who primarily perform administrative financial tasks. We further show that firms digitalization increases the demand for digital skills among financial specialists, but not among financial clerks, and that such demand is greater than that for other employees within …

In Crypto We Trust: A Cross-National Comparison Of Factors Affecting Trust In Cryptocurrencies, Arif Perdana, W. Eric Lee, Chu Yeong Lim, Gary Pan, Poh Sun Seow

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Background: Trust in cryptocurrencies is a complex and evolving construct influenced by technological, economic, and social factors. Unlike traditional information systems that rely on institutional trust, cryptocurrency users often depend on underlying technology and community insights. Despite growing interest, existing research has primarily focused on narrow aspects of trust, with limited cross-national perspectives and comprehensive models.

Method: This study investigates how geographic differences impact user trust in cryptocurrencies by surveying 644 respondents from China, Germany, and the USA. Drawing on established trust formation theories, it utilizes a comprehensive model encompassing technological, economic, and social factors.

Results: Our analysis reveals multiple …

Research On The Relationship Between Manufacturing Process Digitalization And Product Quality Performance: A Case Study Of Discrete Manufacturing, Baozhong Zhang

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The study aims to explore the impact of digital transformation on product quality in discrete manufacturing enterprises. As the global economy and technology rapidly advance, the manufacturing industry faces unprecedented challenges and opportunities. Digital transformation has emerged as a key strategy for tackling these challenges and has become a significant trend in the manufacturing industry. The discrete manufacturing industry, which demands high product quality, faces even greater challenges in digital transformation. However, if discrete manufacturing enterprises successfully navigate this transformation, they can significantly improve quality, gain a competitive edge, and unlock even greater opportunities for their business.

The study combines …

Economic Consequences Of Public Pension Accounting Regulation Changes: Evidence From Housing Markets And Local Economies, Grace Haoqing Fan

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

I examine whether, and through which channels, government pension accounting regulations affect local housing markets and economies. Using both a contiguous border-county approach across multiple states and a single-state study in California, I find that regions exposed to more severe state-level pension underfunding experience lower housing market growth after the introduction of Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) regulations 67 and 68, which significantly enhance the transparency of public pension underfunding. The effect is more pronounced in states heavily impacted by the new regulations and in counties more reliant on state funding. Further analyses suggest that the observed effect is driven …

Misinformation Regulations: Early Evidence On Corporate Social Media Strategy, Richard M. Crowley, Yun Lou, Samuel T. Tan, Liandong Zhang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Against the backdrop of an increasing threat of misinformation on social media, several countries have enacted regulations to curb the spread of misinformation. This study examines how corporate social media strategy responds to misinformation regulations. Using a large cross-country dataset of corporate tweets and a stacked regression analysis, we show that misinformation regulations lead to less corporate social media disclosure. This result suggests that by deterring misinformation, these regulations reduce firms’ need to use social media to counteract its adverse effects. Additional analyses show that the effect is more pronounced among countries with higher social media usage and countries with …

Individual Or Team Analyst Reports? The Organization Of Analyst Research Activities, Xia Chen, Ning Jia, Dan Wang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Given the importance of research resource allocation within brokerage firms, we examine key factors that influence the issuance of individual vs. team analyst reports. Using a comprehensive sample of analyst reports from China for the 2008-2021 period, we find that this decision is influenced by (1) the brokerage firm's client interests, whereby firms held by the brokerage firm's mutual fund clients and firms that are the brokerage firm's underwriting clients receive more team than individual reports from the brokerage firm, and (2) the nature of corporate events, whereby routine events receive more team reports and nonroutine events receive more individual …

Understanding Gender Differences In Digital Readiness During Digital Transformation In Accounting Functions: Accounting Professionals’ Perspective, Benjamin Lee, Clarence Goh, Gary Pan, Poh-Sun Seow

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Research aims: To examine gender differences in digital readiness during digital transformation in accounting functions, addressing a knowledge gap in current accounting literature. Design/Methodology/Approach: Survey of 297 accounting professionals (180 men, 117 women) with 27 questions on digital readiness perceptions, analysed using exploratory factor analysis and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests. Research findings: Women exhibited higher overall digital readiness than men, particularly feeling more empowered by senior management and better equipped to continue job tasks during digital transformation. No gender differences were found in perceptions of knowledge and skills, barriers, or organisational strategy. Theoretical contribution/Originality: Challenges traditional stereotypes about …

Unlocking Private Equity Investing: A Primer, Yin Wang, Steve Balaban

Asian Management Insights

Private equity might provide higher returns, but investors should be aware of the associated risks.

Bogging Down Investors: An Unintended Consequence Of Litigation Risk, Siwen Fu, Ke Wang, Liandong Zhang, Liu Zheng

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Securities litigation risk is a well-recognized yet underexplored source of financial reporting complexity or unreadability. This study examines the effect of litigation risk on the readability of corporate financial reports. The 1999 Silicon Graphics Inc. (SGI) court ruling unexpectedly reduced litigation risk for firms within the Ninth Circuit Court's jurisdiction. Using a difference-in-differences design centered on the SGI court ruling, we find that, while the readability of financial reports generally declines over the sample period, treated firms in the Ninth Circuit experience a comparatively smaller decline in readability than control firms in other states after the ruling. Put differently, treated …

Institutional Dual-Holders And Corporate Disclosures: A Natural Experiment, Lin Cheng, Qiang Cheng, Liwei Weng, Mark Yuzhi Yan

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This study examines the impact of the presence of institutional dual-holders, whose portfolios hold both loans and equity securities of the same firms, on those firms' voluntary disclosures. Using mergers between institutional shareholders and lenders to the same firms as exogenous shocks to identify firms with institutional dual-holders that have high relative equity ownership, we document that such firms are less likely to provide management forecasts and disclose fewer voluntary 8-K items. In cross-sectional analyses, we find that the reduction in voluntary disclosures is more pronounced when institutional dual-holders have higher board representation and when firms have lower litigation risk. …

The Association Between Different Succession Methods And Innovation Investments In Family Businesses In China, Lei Wu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Amidst the deepening of economic globalization, countries around the world are being progressively steered toward paths of innovative development, laying a solid foundation for enhancing national comprehensive strength and elevating international standing. Especially after the implementation of the reform and opening-up policy in our country, technological innovation has become the main direction of our transformation. According to the requirements of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, innovation-driven development will be fully applied to the country's development, creating favorable conditions for the realization of strategic development goals. National development and social progress are directly linked to corporate …

A Rating System To Evaluate Non-Gaap Exclusion Quality, Patricia M. Dechow, Wei Ting Loh, Annika Yu Wang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We develop a rating system to evaluate the quality of individual non-GAAP exclusions. Our perspective is that high-quality exclusions reflect nonrecurring economic transactions, are transitory accounting adjustments, or have little usefulness in forecasting cash flows. We use four approaches to rate exclusions. We evaluate the serial correlation of the exclusion, survey accounting academics’ views, obtain practitioner ratings from the CFA Institute, and identify the exclusions approved by the Chinese securities regulator. A firm’s exclusion quality score is the weighted average rating of its individual exclusions. For our sample of S&P 500 firms, we document that exclusion quality varies by industry, …

How Do Institutional Investors Facilitate Reporting Comparability? Evidence From Common Institutional Ownership In The United States, Xuanbo Li, Yun Lou, Rencheng Wang, Kaitang Zhou

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We examine how common institutional investors (CIIs) facilitate the financial reporting comparability (FRC) of US firms. Common ownership increases FRC of firms that are directly owned by CIIs (via a direct effect) and has positive spillover effects on other firms in the same industry. We find spillover effects in two types of firms: (1) those that are commonly owned by different institutional investors but are connected through common firms, and (2) those that do not have any common ownership. These results suggest that the effect of common ownership goes beyond commonly owned firms and extends to non-commonly owned firms. Furthermore, …

Research On The Structural Antecedents And Contingencies Of Fluid Team Performance, Xiaodong Zhang

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

In response to rapidly evolving markets and the pursuit of organizational agility, fluid teams—characterized by dynamic membership and flexible structures—have become prevalent as a key organizational form for addressing complex tasks and uncertainty. However, inherent challenges such as frequent member mobility and multiple project participation pose significant management difficulties and performance risks, including project delays and cost overruns, particularly evident in China's fintech sector. While existing research has begun examining fluid teams, systematic investigation into their structural antecedents and performance mechanisms—especially their contingencies across contexts—remains limited.

The study examines structural antecedents and contingencies of fluid team performance through a mixed-methods …

The Deterrence Effects Of Tax Whistleblower Laws: Evidence From New York’S False Claims Acts, Yoojin Lee, Shaphan Ng, Terry Shevlin, Aruhn Venkat

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

In this study, we provide evidence on the effects of state tax whistleblower laws. We exploit a novel 2010 amendment to New York’s False Claims Acts (FCA) that explicitly extended whistleblower incentives to corporate income tax whistleblowers. We identify treated firms (firms exposed to New York’s FCA) using establishment-level data and descriptive analyses. Using a sample of firms exposed to New York and neighboring states, we find evidence that New York’s FCA reduced state tax avoidance. In cross-sectional tests, we find that effects are increasing in firms that grant fewer employee stock options and industry regulation, consistent with deterrence increasing …

Monitoring Incentives And Tax Planning: Evidence From State-Owned Enterprises, Eva Eberhartinger, David M. P. Samuel

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This study provides new evidence on the association of state ownership and tax planning by showing that a state owner’s monitoring incentives affect a firm’s tax planning. Using the setting of a developed market economy, Germany, we distinguish between state owners that directly benefit from state-owned enterprises’ (SOEs’) income tax payments and those that do not. Our results indicate that state ownership is not associated with less tax planning unless the state owner directly benefits from higher tax payments. These results are robust to various specifications and suggest that shareholders’ monitoring incentives are a determinant of a firm’s tax planning …

Smu Appoints Professor Zhang Liandong As New Dean Of School Of Accountancy, Singapore Management University

SMU Press Releases and News

The Singapore Management University (SMU) has appointed Professor Zhang Liandong [张连栋教授] as the new Dean of its School of Accountancy (SOA), effective 1 July 2025. With over seven years of leadership experience at SOA, Professor Zhang will lead strategic initiatives to elevate the School’s academic reputation and impact.

How Industrial Clusters Affect Technological Innovation: Evidence From Vanyang Small & Micro Industrial Park, Jianming Wu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This study focuses on the mechanism through which industrial clusters enhance technological innovation among micro and small enterprises. Using the VanYang Micro-Enterprise Park in Zhejiang Province as a representative case, the research integrates perspectives from industrial cluster theory, innovation theory, and spatial economics to explore how clustered environments influence enterprise innovation performance through resource integration, knowledge spillovers, and organizational collaboration. Departing from traditional static comparative methods, this study adopts an event study approach to dynamically capture the impact trajectory and temporal structure of enterprise innovation performance, with "entry into the park" serving as the key event.

Based on panel data …

Research On Dual Performance Of Industrial Parks Driven By Big Data: Fsqca Analysis Using Resource-Based View, Xionghong Jiang

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Digital economic industrial parks serve as significant vehicles for the development of the digital economy, as highlighted in the national 14th FiveYear Plan for Digital Economy Development (hereinafter referred to as "the Plan"). The Plan identifies the digital transformation of industrial parks and clusters as a key task in the broader industrial digital transformation. Intelligent parks represent the future trend of park development. Current data reveals that there are over 80,000 industrial parks across China, with revenues of the top 100 parks in 2023 reaching RMB 37.9 trillion. In 2022 alone, investment in intelligent parks exceeded RMB 300 billion, a …

A Study On The Impact Of Second-Generation Involvement On Digital Transformation In Family Firms And Its Contingency Effects, Wenwu Shao

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Family firms, as a vital component of the global economy, dominate China's private sector. However, amid the global digital wave, they face dual challenges of generational transition and digital transformation. The involvement of second-generation successors profoundly influences strategic decision-making and digital transformation in family firms. Yet, existing research lacks a systematic theoretical framework and empirical evidence on the relationship between second-generation involvement and digital transformation in family firms, as well as its underlying mechanisms. The study thus examines the impact of second-generation involvement on digital transformation in family firms and its contingency effects.

Focusing on China's A-share listed family firms, …