PurposeThis study examines the effect of audit quality on earnings management to beat earnings targets among Chinese listed firms, taking into account the firms’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) practice.Design/methodology/approachThe sample consists of all A-shares listed in the Chinese stock market from 2001 to 2019, except firms in the financial industry. Probit estimator is employed to observe the effect of audit quality, proxied by a binary variable indicating whether a firm is audited by a Big 4 audit firm, on the behavior of earnings management to beat earnings targets. Industry and year fixed effects are incorporated into the models to control for differences among industries and time periods.FindingsThe result of this study reveals that audit quality disciplines earnings management to beat earnings targets in Chinese firms. This result holds across different specification and endogeneity tests. The authors further find that auditors seem to be more tolerant to earnings-managed firms that actively disclose CSR activities. However, this moderating effect of CSR disclosure only exists among firms that manage earnings less aggressively.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study suggest that market participants should be mindful of the earnings management phenomenon and make their investment decisions after carefully dissecting and confirming the truthfulness of firms’ financial reporting. Regulators should raise the requirement on the capacity of auditing services to ensure the quality of the audit outcome.Originality/valueThis study is the first to investigate the effect of audit quality on earnings management to beat earnings targets in Chinese firms. Moreover, this study pioneers in observing the moderating effect of CSR disclosure on the relationship between audit quality and earnings management.

The research aims to investigate the impact levels of determinants on the loyalty of accountants to FDI firms underlying investment management in Thanglong Industrial Park in Hanoi, Vietnam. We conducted a questionnaire consisting of 31 observation variables with a 5-point Likert scale. Independent variables were measured from 1 "without effect" to 5 "strongly". The method of data collection was done through the survey and subjects are accountants in FDI firms doing business in Thanglong Industrial Park in Hanoi. After checking the information on the votes, there are 120 questionnaires with full information for data entry and analysis, This study employs Cronbach"s Alpha test, and regression model. The results show that seven determinants including Working environment, The characteristics of working; Training, promotion prospects and development; Income, Personal characteristic, Collective work together and The method of leading had positive relationships with the loyalty of accountants. Based on the findings, some recommendations are given related to such determinants to improve the loyalty of accountants of FDI firms in general and FDI firms in Thanglong Industrial Park in Hanoi in particular. With which, those firms can enhance performance, reduce financial strain, saving on investment in the recruiting process of new staff, increase profitability to ensure investment management.

The FDI-entrepreneurship nexus has received growing attention over the last decade. However, the empirical findings on their relationship have been inconsistent at best. This study seeks to examine how the inflows of Greenfield investment influence entrepreneurship of the host country. Using panel data from 110 countries during the period 2001-2018, we find that growing level of Greenfield investment brings detrimental impact on the level of total and opportunity-driven entrepreneurial activities in the host countries while the impact on necessity-driven entrepreneurship have been mixed. The results regarding the impact of Greenfield investment on total entrepreneurial activities and opportunity-based entrepreneurial activities are robust across different econometric settings, different time span and different categories of control variables.

We examine the stock market performance of Vietnam’s listed firms in response to the country’s approval of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Employing an event study methodology, we first calculate the abnormal returns of all listed Vietnamese firms around the CPTPP’s approval date. Then, we attempt to link these abnormal returns to firms’ characteristics. We find evidence that the announcement of the CPTPP’s approval is associated with positive abnormal returns for Vietnam’s listed firms. We also find considerable heterogeneity in the magnitude and pace of the impacts of the CPTPP’s approval on market returns across Vietnam’s two stock exchanges. However, we fail to reject the null hypothesis that the market did not react to the CPTPP’s approval at the sectoral level.