時間：2022年10月23日（周日） 地點：騰訊會議
時間：9:00-10:00
主持人：孫健教授（副院長）
論文報告
報告1：Do Corporate Income Tax Assessments Affect Pricing Strategy?
報告人：徐實（香港中文大學）
摘要：Using scanner-level price data, we examine whether firms resort to cutting product prices to raise cash in order to meet tax obligations. We find product prices are negatively associated with both the level of, and additions to, unrecognized tax benefit reserves, and the amount of future tax settlements. The relations are more pronounced among financially constrained firms and for products with higher demand elasticity. In addition, the decline in product prices is concentrated among firms with both high current tax uncertainty and high future tax settlements. Consistent with managers’ reducing prices to liquidate inventory in the face of expected tax obligations, inventory growth is negatively associated with both the level of, and additions to, unrecognized tax benefit reserves, and the amount of future tax settlements. We mitigate omitted variable bias by demonstrating that firms operating in the countries targeted by the European Commission state aid investigations beginning in 2013 lowered their product prices in the period after the investigations began. Overall, we document a novel link between corporate income tax assessments and pricing strategy.
時間：10:00-11:00
報告2：Moving towards Principles-Based Accounting Standards: The Impact of the New Revenue Standard on the Quality of Accrual Accounting
報告人：賀惠宇（新加坡管理大學）
摘要：The new revenue standard (ASU 2014-09, codified in ASC 606 and ASC 340-40) establishes a comprehensive framework on accounting for contracts with customers and replaces most existing revenue recognition rules. It is an important milestone of moving towards the principles-based accounting standards proposed by SEC (2003). Using as-reported data from structured filings to construct aggregate accruals that are potentially affected by the new revenue standard (i.e., sales-related accruals), I find that the new revenue standard increases the quality of sales-related accruals, as measured by future cash flow predictability. The increased cash flow predictability comes not only from the guidance on contract revenue (ASC 606) but also from the guidance on contract costs (ASC 340-40). The effects are stronger for firms conducting long-term sales contracts, especially over longer forecast horizons. Further analysis shows that the new revenue standard also increases the combined information content of financial statements and the capital market efficiency. However, the new revenue standard is not immune to earnings management. Firms use the discretion within the principles-based standard to manage earnings when they face strong manipulation incentives.
時間：11:00-12:00
報告3：Video-Based Deception Detection and Financial Fraud
報告人：段丙蕾（北京大學）
摘要：We examine whether deception indicators based on video analyses predict fraud. Applying machine learning algorithms to firms’ IPO roadshow videos that are required to disclose in China, we construct a deception score that quantifies the probability of managers deceiving in the video. We show that the video-based deception score predicts fraud, after controlling for textual and audio deception indicators. The result is stronger for IPO firms backed by VCs or with greater management shareholdings. In addition, firms with higher deception scores exhibit higher returns between the IPO date and when the lock-up period expires, but experience higher managers’ stock sales and lower returns during a 5-day window immediately after the lock-up period expires. The evidence suggests that firms with higher deception scores during roadshows are able to achieve and maintain higher prices for their offered shares until insiders (pre-IPO shareholders/managers) are allowed to exit.
