Using a sample of audit firm mergers in China's audit market, this paper provides evidence on the way auditor independence can be improved following audit firm mergers as a result of a change in the aggregate quasi rents that are exposed to risk (i.e., the quasi rents at stake). This setting...

We examine the relevance of the disclosure of internal control weaknesses (ICWs) by target firms for acquirers in making their merger-and-acquisition (M&A) decisions. Based on a sample of M&A transactions in 2005–2018, we find that acquirers offer lower premiums for targets that disclose ICWs...

This paper examines the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate tax in an environment where we expect this relation to be affected by the degree of market and institutional developments. Taking advantage of substantial crossregional variations in institutions in...

This study examines whether auditor opinions are affected by political and economic influences from governments. We use auditor locality (local versus non-local) to capture such influences from local governments in China. Based on data from China's stock markets for the period 1996-2002, we find...