IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v70y2024ics1544612324013618.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Who really cares? Climate change exposure and auditor conservatism: Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Yang, Chao
  • Song, Di

Abstract

This study examines the association between climate change exposure and auditor conservatism, indicating that firms with high climate change exposure demonstrate a higher level of auditor conservatism. The mechanism analysis reveals that climate change exposure reinforces auditor conservatism partly through the combined effects of earnings management and investor sentiment. Multiple robustness checks confirm the validity of main results. Given the growing interest in climate change and its associated risks in both practice and research, as well as the expected increasing significance of these risks, our findings are timely to a broad audience, including investors, regulators, auditors, managers, and scholars.

Suggested Citation

  • Yang, Chao & Song, Di, 2024. "Who really cares? Climate change exposure and auditor conservatism: Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:70:y:2024:i:c:s1544612324013618
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2024.106332
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612324013618
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2024.106332?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. Zacharias Sautner & Laurence Van Lent & Grigory Vilkov & Ruishen Zhang, 2023. "Firm‐Level Climate Change Exposure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 78(3), pages 1449-1498, June.
    2. Joseph V. Carcello & Dana R. Hermanson & Terry L. Neal & Richard A. Riley, 2002. "Board Characteristics and Audit Fees," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(3), pages 365-384, September.
    3. Palmrose, Zv, 1986. "Audit Fees And Auditor Size - Further Evidence," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(1), pages 97-110.
    4. Yang, Xin & Wei, Luohan & Deng, Rantian & Cao, Jie & Huang, Chuangxia, 2023. "Can climate-related risks increase audit fees?–Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    5. Marshall Burke & Solomon M. Hsiang & Edward Miguel, 2015. "Global non-linear effect of temperature on economic production," Nature, Nature, vol. 527(7577), pages 235-239, November.
    6. Trinh, Vu Quang & Trinh, Hai Hong & Nguyen, Thi Hong Hanh & Vo, Xuan Vinh, 2023. "Board gender diversity and firm-level climate change exposure: A global perspective," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 55(PB).
    7. Ferdous, Lutfa Tilat & Atawnah, Nader & Yeboah, Richard & Zhou, Yifan, 2024. "Firm-level climate risk and accounting conservatism: International evidence," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 95(PC).
    8. Timothy B. Bell & Rajib Doogar & Ira Solomon, 2008. "Audit Labor Usage and Fees under Business Risk Auditing," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(4), pages 729-760, September.
    9. Yang, Chao & Song, Di & Su, Yuhan, 2024. "The Low-carbon city pilot policy and trade credit financing: Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    10. Lasse Niemi & W. Robert Knechel & Hannu Ojala & Jill Collis, 2018. "Responsiveness of Auditors to the Audit Risk Standards: Unique Evidence from Big 4 Audit Firms," Accounting in Europe, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(1), pages 33-54, January.
    11. Burke, Marshall & Hsiang, Solomon M & Miguel, Edward, 2015. "Global non-linear effect of temperature on economic production," Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt3g72r0zv, Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
    12. Choi, Sanghak, 2024. "Climate change exposure and the use of short-term debt," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Hao, Jie & Pham, Viet Tuan, 2024. "Stuck in traffic: Do auditors price traffic congestion?," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(2).
    2. Arteaga, Julián & de Roux, Nicolás & Gáfaro, Margarita & Ibáñez, Ana María & Pellegrina, Heitor, 2025. "Farm Size Distribution, Weather Shocks, and Agricultural Productivity," Documentos CEDE 21308, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    3. Serhan Cevik, 2024. "Climate change and energy security: the dilemma or opportunity of the century?," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 26(3), pages 653-672, July.
    4. Ghafran, Chaudhry & O'Sullivan, Noel, 2017. "The impact of audit committee expertise on audit quality: Evidence from UK audit fees," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(6), pages 578-593.
    5. Nurul Nazlia Jamil, 2020. "The Power of Political Connections: Review on the Impacts of Audit Committee and Corporate Governance," Journal of Public Administration and Governance, Macrothink Institute, vol. 10(1), pages 333347-3333, December.
    6. Bhuiyan, Md. Borhan Uddin & Rahman, Asheq & Sultana, Nigar, 2020. "Female tainted directors, financial reporting quality and audit fees," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2).
    7. Yuan, Zhengrong & Ding, Hai & Yu, Qiuzuo, 2024. "High temperature, bargaining power and within-firm wage inequality: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    8. George Drogalas & Michail Nerantzidis & Dimitrios Mitskinis & Ioannis Tampakoudis, 2021. "The relationship between audit fees and audit committee characteristics: evidence from the Athens Stock Exchange," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 18(1), pages 24-41, March.
    9. Tamim, Abdulrazzak & Smith, Emma & Palmer, I. Bailey & Miguel, Edward & Oparina, Ekaterina & Rozo, Sandra V. & Stillman, Sarah, 2025. "Housing Subsidies for Refugees: Experimental Evidence on Life Outcomes and Social Integration in Jordan," IZA Discussion Papers 17622, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Chen, Zhenzhu & Li, Li & Tang, Yao, 2024. "Weather, credit, and economic fluctuations: Evidence from China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 221(C), pages 406-422.
    11. Nguyen, Ha Minh, 2024. "Beyond the annual averages: Impact of seasonal temperature on employment growth in US counties," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    12. Dai, Zhifeng & Zhu, Haoyang, 2024. "Climate policy uncertainty and urban green total factor productivity: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PA).
    13. Guimbeau, Amanda & Ji, Xinde James & Menon, Nidhiya, 2024. "Climate Shocks, Intimate Partner Violence, and the Protective Role of Climate-Resilience Projects," IZA Discussion Papers 17529, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Linsenmeier, Manuel, 2021. "Temperature variability and long-run economic development," SocArXiv xvucn_v1, Center for Open Science.
    15. Thiede, Brian C. & Robinson, Abbie & Gray, Clark, 2022. "Climatic Variability and Internal Migration in Asia: Evidence from Integrated Census and Survey Microdata," SocArXiv hxv35_v1, Center for Open Science.
    16. Francesco Jacopo Pintus & Jan P.A.M. Jacobs & Elmer Sterken & Jan Jacobs, 2024. "Fiscal Impacts of Climate Anomalies," CESifo Working Paper Series 11548, CESifo.
    17. Ongsakul, Viput & Papangkorn, Suwongrat & Jiraporn, Pornsit, 2023. "Estimating the effect of climate change exposure on firm value using climate policy uncertainty: A text-based approach," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 40(C).
    18. Lehr, Jakob & Rehdanz, Katrin, 2024. "The effect of temperature on energy related CO2 emissions and economic performance in German industry," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    19. Aatishya Mohanty & Nattavudh Powdthavee & Cheng Keat Tang & Andrew J. Oswald, 2024. "Temperature Variability and Natural Disasters," Papers 2409.14936, arXiv.org.
    20. Broeders, Dirk & Dimitrov, Daniel & Verhoeven, Niek, 2025. "Climate-linked bonds," Working Paper Series 3011, European Central Bank.

    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:finlet:v:70:y:2024:i:c:s1544612324013618. 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/frl .

    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.