IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finana/v79y2022ics1057521921003112.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Audit firm's Confucianism and stock price crash risk: Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Fan, Yunqi
  • Xu, Zijing

Abstract

This study examines the association between audit firm's Confucianism and stock price crash risk. We postulate that Confucian moral standards predict a mixed relationship between audit firm's Confucianism and stock price crash risk. Using a large sample of listed firms in China during 2006–2018, we find that audit firm's Confucianism is positively related with client's future stock price crash risk, implying that Confucianism of audit firm aggravates client's bad news hoarding behavior. The effect is more pronounced for client without female auditors and/or with closer personal relationship with auditors. Mechanism analysis shows that audit firm's Confucianism exacerbates crash risk by worsening audit quality and information transparency. Political discipline and external monitoring help to alleviate the negative influence of audit firm's Confucianism on stock price crash risk.

Suggested Citation

  • Fan, Yunqi & Xu, Zijing, 2022. "Audit firm's Confucianism and stock price crash risk: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finana:v:79:y:2022:i:c:s1057521921003112
    DOI: 10.1016/j.irfa.2021.101995
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1057521921003112
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.irfa.2021.101995?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chen, Yunsen & Xie, Yuan & You, Hong & Zhang, Yanan, 2018. "Does crackdown on corruption reduce stock price crash risk? Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 125-141.
    2. Boubacar Diallo, 2021. "Do National Cultures Matter for External Audits? Evidence from Eastern Europe and the Middle East," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 172(2), pages 347-359, August.
    3. Jun Chen & Kam C. Chan & Wang Dong & Feida (Frank) Zhang, 2017. "Internal Control and Stock Price Crash Risk: Evidence from China," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(1), pages 125-152, January.
    4. Xu, Nianhang & Li, Xiaorong & Yuan, Qingbo & Chan, Kam C., 2014. "Excess perks and stock price crash risk: Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 419-434.
    5. Cao, Xiaping & Wang, Yuchen & Zhou, Sili, 2018. "Anti-corruption campaigns and corporate information release in China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 186-203.
    6. Xingqiang Du, 2016. "Does Confucianism Reduce Board Gender Diversity? Firm-Level Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 136(2), pages 399-436, June.
    7. Po Ip, 2009. "Is Confucianism Good for Business Ethics in China?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 88(3), pages 463-476, September.
    8. Kim, Jeong-Bon & Li, Yinghua & Zhang, Liandong, 2011. "Corporate tax avoidance and stock price crash risk: Firm-level analysis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(3), pages 639-662, June.
    9. Hutton, Amy P. & Marcus, Alan J. & Tehranian, Hassan, 2009. "Opaque financial reports, R2, and crash risk," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(1), pages 67-86, October.
    10. Jebran, Khalil & Chen, Shihua & Ye, Yan & Wang, Chengqi, 2019. "Confucianism and stock price crash risk: Evidence from China," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    11. Chen, Tao & Harford, Jarrad & Lin, Chen, 2015. "Do analysts matter for governance? Evidence from natural experiments," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(2), pages 383-410.
    12. Khan, Mozaffar & Watts, Ross L., 2009. "Estimation and empirical properties of a firm-year measure of accounting conservatism," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(2-3), pages 132-150, December.
    13. Xingqiang Du, 2013. "Does Religion Matter to Owner-Manager Agency Costs? Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 118(2), pages 319-347, December.
    14. Dimson, Elroy, 1979. "Risk measurement when shares are subject to infrequent trading," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 197-226, June.
    15. Cragg, John G. & Donald, Stephen G., 1993. "Testing Identifiability and Specification in Instrumental Variable Models," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(2), pages 222-240, April.
    16. Kung, James Kai-sing & Ma, Chicheng, 2014. "Can cultural norms reduce conflicts? Confucianism and peasant rebellions in Qing China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 132-149.
    17. Lei Chen & Zhi Jin & Yongqiang Ma & Hui Xu, 2019. "Confucianism, openness to the West, and corporate investment efficiency," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 25(3), pages 554-590, June.
    18. Peter Woods & David Lamond, 2011. "What Would Confucius Do? – Confucian Ethics and Self-Regulation in Management," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 102(4), pages 669-683, September.
    19. Lei Wang & Heikki Juslin, 2009. "The Impact of Chinese Culture on Corporate Social Responsibility: The Harmony Approach," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 88(3), pages 433-451, October.
    20. Xingqiang Du, 2015. "Does Confucianism Reduce Minority Shareholder Expropriation? Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 132(4), pages 661-716, December.
    21. Ball, Ray & Shivakumar, Lakshmanan, 2005. "Earnings quality in UK private firms: comparative loss recognition timeliness," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 83-128, February.
    22. Li, Wanli & Xu, Xixiong & Long, Zhineng, 2020. "Confucian Culture and Trade Credit: Evidence from Chinese Listed Companies," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    23. Cao, Chunfang & Xia, Changyuan & Chan, Kam C., 2016. "Social trust and stock price crash risk: Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 148-165.
    24. Callen, Jeffrey L. & Fang, Xiaohua, 2015. "Short interest and stock price crash risk," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 181-194.
    25. Deng, Xiaohu & Gao, Lei & Kim, Jeong-Bon, 2020. "Short-sale constraints and stock price crash risk: Causal evidence from a natural experiment," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    26. Feng Chen & Songlan Peng & Shuang Xue & Zhifeng Yang & Feiteng Ye, 2016. "Do Audit Clients Successfully Engage in Opinion Shopping? Partner‐Level Evidence," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 79-112, March.
    27. Hyun A. Hong & Jeong‐Bon Kim & Michael Welker, 2017. "Divergence of Cash Flow and Voting Rights, Opacity, and Stock Price Crash Risk: International Evidence," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(5), pages 1167-1212, December.
    28. Basu, Sudipta, 1997. "The conservatism principle and the asymmetric timeliness of earnings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 3-37, December.
    29. Ahsan Habib & Mostafa Monzur Hasan, 2016. "Auditor-provided tax services and stock price crash risk," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(1), pages 51-82, January.
    30. Xingqiang Du, 2014. "Does Religion Mitigate Tunneling? Evidence from Chinese Buddhism," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 125(2), pages 299-327, December.
    31. Callen, Jeffrey L. & Fang, Xiaohua, 2015. "Religion and Stock Price Crash Risk," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 50(1-2), pages 169-195, April.
    32. Callen, Jeffrey L. & Fang, Xiaohua, 2013. "Institutional investor stability and crash risk: Monitoring versus short-termism?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 3047-3063.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xiao, Zhongyi & Huang, Xinfei & Chen, Haitao, 2024. "The impact of corporate ESG performance on buyers’ bargaining power in the industrial chain: Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    2. Xixiong Xu & Maochuan Wang, 2024. "Confucianism and employee treatment: Evidence from China," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(4), pages 2649-2669, July.
    3. Min Huang & Mengyao Li & Cailing Huang, 2024. "Confucianism culture and green innovation: Evidence from Chinese industrial firms," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(5), pages 4862-4877, September.
    4. Chen, Jing & Zhao, Deqiang & Liu, Xinghe & Xu, Cheng & Liu, Luyao, 2022. "Home Sweet Home: Do Local CEOs Curb Stock Price Crash Risk?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    5. Yan Yu & Yi-Tsung Lee, 2022. "Do Inquiry Letters Curb Corporate Catering Motives of High Sustainable R&D Investment? Empirical Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-17, June.
    6. Clément Imbert & Joan Monras & Marlon Seror & Yanos Zylberberg, 2023. "Floating Population: Migration With(Out) Family and the Spatial Distribution of Economic Activity," Working Paper Series 2023-26, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
    7. Hou, Fei & Shen, Huayu & Wang, Ping & Xiong, Hao, 2023. "Signing auditors' cultural background and debt financing costs," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jebran, Khalil & Chen, Shihua & Ye, Yan & Wang, Chengqi, 2019. "Confucianism and stock price crash risk: Evidence from China," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    2. Kim, Jeong-Bon & Liao, Shushu & Liu, Yangke, 2021. "Married CEOs and Stock Price Crash Risk," QBS Working Paper Series 2021/09, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's Business School.
    3. Sun, Sophia Li & Habib, Ahsan & Huang, Hedy Jiaying, 2019. "Tournament incentives and stock price crash risk: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 93-117.
    4. Hu, Juncheng & Li, Xiaorong & Duncan, Keith & Xu, Jia, 2020. "Corporate relationship spending and stock price crash risk: Evidence from China's anti-corruption campaign," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    5. Wang, Meng & Goodell, John W. & Huang, Wei & Jiang, Ying, 2023. "Trade credit provision and stock price crash risk," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    6. Chen, Jing & Liu, Xinghe & Ou, Fenghao & Lu, Meiting & Wang, Peipei, 2023. "Green lending and stock price crash risk: Evidence from the green credit reform in China," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    7. Meng, Yongqiang & Shen, Dehua & Xiong, Xiong, 2023. "When stock price crash risk meets fundamentals," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    8. repec:mth:ijafr8:v:8:y:2018:i:3:p:174-211 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Cao, Feng & Zhang, Xueyan & Yuan, Rongli, 2022. "Do geographically nearby major customers mitigate suppliers’ stock price crash risk?," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(6).
    10. Ji, Qiong & Quan, Xiaofeng & Yin, Hongying & Yuan, Qingbo, 2021. "Gambling preferences and stock price crash risk: Evidence from China," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    11. Zhou, Jingting & Li, Wanli & Yan, Ziqiao & Lyu, Huaili, 2021. "Controlling shareholder share pledging and stock price crash risk: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    12. Long, Wenbin & Tian, Gary Gang & Hu, Jun & Yao, Daifei (Troy), 2020. "Bearing an imprint: CEOs' early-life experience of the Great Chinese Famine and stock price crash risk," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    13. Dang, Viet Anh & Lee, Edward & Liu, Yangke & Zeng, Cheng, 2022. "Bank deregulation and stock price crash risk," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    14. Lin, Tse-Chun & Liu, Jinyu & Ni, Xiaoran, 2022. "Foreign bank entry deregulation and stock market stability: Evidence from staggered regulatory changes," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 185-207.
    15. Loureiro, Gilberto & Silva, Sónia, 2022. "Earnings management and stock price crashes post U.S. cross-delistings," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    16. Min Jung Kang & Y. Han (Andy) Kim & Qunfeng Liao, 2020. "Do bankers on the board reduce crash risk?," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 26(3), pages 684-723, June.
    17. Srinidhi, Bin & Liao, Qunfeng, 2020. "Family firms and crash risk: Alignment and entrenchment effects," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2).
    18. Zuo, Jingjing & Qiu, Baoyin & Zhu, Guoyiming & Lei, Guangyong, 2023. "Local speculative culture and stock price crash risk," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    19. Xing, Jieli & Zhang, Yongjie & Xiong, Xiong, 2023. "Social capital, independent director connectedness, and stock price crash risk," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 786-804.
    20. Ma, Rui & Guo, Fei & Li, Dongdong, 2024. "Can public data availability affect stock price crash risk? Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    21. Zuo, Junqing & Zhang, Wei & Hu, Mingya & Feng, Xu & Zou, Gaofeng, 2022. "Employee relations and stock price crash risk: Evidence from employee lawsuits," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:finana:v:79:y:2022:i:c:s1057521921003112. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620166 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.