衍生工具、公司治理和盈余质量

Derivatives,Corporate Governance and Earnings Quality

衍生工具在国内外日益受到实务界和学术界的关注。本文以我国2007年至2013年间具有潜在风险敞口的A股非金融类上市公司为样本,研究企业应用衍生工具对盈余质量的影响及公司治理在两者关系中的作用。研究结果表明,应用衍生工具企业的操纵性应计利润显著增加,并且市场做出负向反应,盈余反应系数显著下降,可能的原因包括管理层的投机行为及套期保值会计制度的影响;进一步检验公司治理的作用,发现衍生工具对盈余质量的负面作用主要表现在公司治理水平较低的企业。这一结果说明公司治理差的企业应用衍生工具更倾向于投机,或者在套保认定为无效的情况下操纵盈余,对盈余质量产生负面影响。

Derivatives received increasing attention both from business and academia at home and abroad.Based on a sample of A-shares non-financial firms during 2007-2013 with potential risk exposures,this paper investigates the effect of derivatives usage on earnings quality and the moderating effect of corporate governance.We find that the use of derivatives is associated with higher discretionary accrual and lower earnings response coefficient.Potential causes include managers’speculation behavior and the complexity of accounting rules.Further test involving the role of corporate governance shows that the significant negative relationship between derivatives and earnings quality mainly exists in the firms with poor corporate governance.This result demonstrates that firms with ineffective corporate governance are inclined to speculate with derivatives,or manipulate earnings when the hedging is considered ineffective.