Association Between Independent Auditor Fees and Firm Value： A Study of Brazilian Public Companies

This article investigates the relationship between fees for audit and non-audit services with Tobin＇s Q. Using a sample of Brazilian public companies in the period from 2009 to 2011, we estimate the association between Tobin＇s Q and the auditors＇ remuneration scaled by total assets. Additionally, to strengthen the conclusions, we present a second model with the remuneration of the auditors in absolute terms. The results suggest a significant relationship between Tobin＇s Q and audit and non-audit fees, positive and negative, respectively. Specifically, increases in audit fees and non-audit fees respectively increase and decrease the Tobin＇s Q of the audited company. The results of this study have important implications for those interested in good corporate governance practices. Managers and board members concerned with value carefully evaluate the remuneration and nature of services creation, when engaging independent auditors, should provided.

The study of technology acceptance for e-wallets application of clinic fees payment

The purpose of this study was to investigate the demand of application of e-wallet in domestic retail industry by examining the needs of adoption of small amount paying method and the reasons for customers’ using of IC stored value card in this industry and aimed at providing suggestions on the e-development of small amount paying methods for domestic retail and banking industries. This study was developed in a way that the model constructs in TAM were adapted to the context of using e-wallets for clinic fees. Scale items on the survey include those measuring perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, a user's attitude toward using and intention. The questionnaire contains no identifying information about the individual participants. A total of 320 Taipei City Hospital patients’ feedbacks were collected. Results indicate most of the relationships in the proposed model are statistically significant and in the predicted directions. Each observed variables influence with two ways: direct effect and indirect effect, and the total effect is the sum of direct effect and indirect effect. The Main effect of most of these observed variables is direct effect, but the information technology experience with the perceived usefulness. In this study, it could be finding that the perceived usefulness, the perceiver ease of use is positively associated with users’ attitude toward using, and the perceiver ease of use is positively associated with the perceived usefulness. It means the useful and easily operation of payment clinic fees with e-wallet products (such as Taipei Easy Card) is very important for the users. Besides, the easier for e-wallet using, the more people think it is usefulness. This suggestion is the same as the point at issue of Davis [1]. The users’ attitude toward using is positively associated with the intention using.

Audit Committee Attributes on Audit Fees： The Impact of Malaysian Code of Corporate Governance （MCCG） 2007

The evolution of corporate governance has created a competitive environment among the companies to catch the attention of investor＇s confidence. This paper aims to examine the relationship between the audit committee attributes and the audit fees. Specifically, this paper aims to examine the effects of audit committee expertise （number of financial-related director＇s trainings and experience） on audit fees. The data are obtained from annual reports of the population of Bursa Malaysia listed companies for both Main and Ace markets in year 2008. The results show that audit committee size is significant and has a positive association with audit fees. However, audit committee＇s financial related training is significant and has a negative association with audit fees. These results suggest that financial training of audit committee could have an impact on the lower audit fees. However, audit committee expertise is significant and has a positive association with audit fees. This suggests that financial-related training is needed in order to enhance the expertise of audit committee members.

Board of Directors, Independent Directors and Audit Fees： Based on the Empirical Data of the GEM of China

As one of the alternative variables of audit quality, audit fees have been researched widely in the Mainboard of China stock market, but empirical research based on the GEM （Growth Enterprise Market） of China is very few. From the perspective of GEM of China, this article observes and studies the impact of corporate governance structure represented by board of directors and independent directors on audit fees. This article selects the data of 348 listed companies in the GEM of China in 2012, proves that there is a positive correlation between the number of meetings, independent directors＇ salaries and audit fees through the use of multiple linear regression model, and accordingly proposed suggestions that improve the corporate governance structure of the GEM of China.

Should Apple Charge Fees for Tipping on Social Networking Apps?

Recently, Apple＇s decision to start taking a 30-percent cut on tips given by users of socia networking apps has sparked heated debates in China.

Impacts of equity structure on audit fees: Evidence from Chinese A-share listed companies in Shanghai Stock Exchange

Based on the data of 923 Chinese listed companies in 2013 to 2014, we investigated the impact of company equity structure on audit fees from the perspective of cross section and period duration. It is found that there is a positive correlation between the proportion of state-owned shares in listed companies and audit fees. To be more specific, there is a U-shaped relation between audit fees and equity concentration which is represented by the proportion of the largest shareholder. And the equity restriction ratio, represented by the sum of the proportion of the second largest shareholder to the tenth, has a positive effect on audit fees.

Audit fees and audit quality

The audit industry in China has developed rapidly in recent years, the formulation of national policy also needs the support of audit industry. The number of accounting firms has been increasing, and the final audit quality in the audit is one of the most concerned by the public. Any product quality and price are equivalent, the higher the cost of investment, the better the quality, the higher the price. The audit process is also the case. This paper is mainly based on the relevant audit fees and audit quality is the summary of the existing research results on the relationship between the two for further exploration, consider the audit pricing regulation and audit industry brand and scale effect, and put forward to improve the audit fees and audit quality relationship advice.

Spillover effect of digital transformation along the supply chain:From the perspective of suppliers’audit fees

This research contributes to understanding the spillover effect of customer digital transformation along the supply chain.We take a supply chain relationship perspective to explore the influence of customers’digital transformation on suppliers’audit fees and find a significant reduction in such fees when customers undergo digital transformation.An economic mechanism analysis reveals that this transformation reduces audit fees by lowering the risks and costs encountered by auditors.This is achieved by mitigating suppliers’business risks and improving earnings quality.Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the impact of customers’digital transformation on suppliers’audit fees is more pronounced when the supply chain is geographically distant,suppliers with more specific investments and with high levels of market competition.

Abnormal Audit Fees and Audit Opinion–Further Evidence from China's Capital Market

The existing literature on audit opinion shopping provides inconsistent evidence on whether such shopping has any association with abnormal audit fees. In this paper, we hypothesize that firms engage in audit opinion shopping and pay an abnormal audit fee only when their degree of accounting quality is low. To examine the issue, we group firms on the basis of their change in return on assets(ROA), and show that abnormal audit fees improve audit opinions only among firms that engage local auditors and have a low degree of ROA, but report a large increase in ROA, especially when the ROA change is the result of abnormal accruals. We find no association between abnormal audit fees and audit opinion improvement for other firms.

CFO narcissism and audit fees: Evidence from listed companies in China

This paper examines the effects of CFO narcissism on audit fees in China.Using the size of CFO signatures in annual audit reports to measure individual narcissism,we find that CFO narcissism is associated with higher audit fees.We find empirical evidence that CFO narcissism significantly increases the audit fees of listed companies,and this effect is stronger in state-owned enterprises.This paper also explores the mediating effects of financial information and the engagement of prestigious Big-4 and Big-10 firms.The results show that companies with narcissistic CFOs have lower quality financial information and prefer more prestigious firms,which leads to higher audit fees.This research highlights the importance of CFO narcissism in corporate performance and provides new evidence that will be useful for listed companies that plan to hire senior executives.

Corporate governance and audit fees:Evidence from companies listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange

This study uses data from companies listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange to investigate the relationship between corporate governance and audit fees. Full sample results reveal a significant negative relationship between corporate governance and audit fees, and subsample results further show that corporate governance's influence on audit fees is affected by corporate growth. The negative relationship between corporate governance and audit fees is economically and statistically significant in sample companies that grew moderately during the sample period, and mixed or insignificant in companies that experienced overly fast or negative growth.

Medical service fees-a key step forward

First,the MSF and a set of strategies have facilitated an orderly flow of patients and have remodeled the patient distribution configuration among different levels of hospitals.Efforts to increase financial and personnel support to community health service centers (CHSCs) have been implemented for many years.Unfortunately,the “inverted pyramid” distribution of patients has not been reversed.After the implementation of the MSF,the out-of-pocket cost for attending physicians was increased at tertiary hospitals and reduced or even free at primary hospitals and CHSCs.In contrast,the costs for deputy chief physicians (DCPs),chief physicians (CPs),or honor specialist physicians (HSPs) stayed the same at all levels of hospitals.

Tuition Fees for Higher Education and Intergenerational Mobility in China

This paper studies the impact of an increase in higher education tuition on intergenerational mobility in China.We develop a theoretical model for the parental decision about the investment on education of children to illustrate the impact from the perspective of borrowing constraint.We consider the Chinese college tuition and subsidy reform around 1986 as a quasi-natural experiment for identifying the policy effect of the reform on intergenerational educational mobility by using the data from the census of 2000 and the China Family Panel Studies(CFPS).We find that an increase in the education burden induced by the reform of college tuition has reduced intergenerational educational mobility,and it is more noticeable in regions with a relatively higher increment in the tuition fee.Our results are robust with consideration of the co-residence bias,government investment in elementary education,and the higher education expansion.

Does Government’s Waiving of Court Fees Interfere in the Judicial Process?

It isn’t often that officialdom helps fi-nance a businessperson’s court fees in a lawsuit where it is the accused.But that is exactly what happened in Chenghua District Chengdu,capital of Sichuan Province,where the local government recently took the sur-prising action of assisting plaintiff and auto parts manufacturer Gu Kui in fighting a court battle to sue itself.

喀斯特山区森林资源-环境-经济复合系统可持续发展评价体系构建——基于农户视角

[JP+1]针对随着工业化、城市化的加速,森林面积、森林蓄积量逐渐减少,使得森林有效供给与社会需求的矛盾日益突出,进一步破环了森林资源-环境-经济复合系统(FEES)结构平衡性的问题。从喀斯特山区FEES可持续发展的必要性、目标、原则和系统构成阐述其内涵,以科学性、可操作性和系统性为原则,结合贵州喀斯特山区禀赋,构建了基于农户视角的喀斯特山区森林资源-环境-经济复合系统可持续发展评价体系,为FEES可持续发展评价提供参考。[JP]

Impact Fees and Real Estate Prices： Evidence from 35 Chinese Cities

Local governments often charge developers impact fees to finance local public goods. This has been practiced in Chinese cities for more than two decades; however, no empirical studies have tested the effect of impact fees on real estate prices. Using a panel data set for 35 large- and medium-sized cities from 1998 to 2008, we find that impact fees lead to a significant increase in real estate prices. For a given city, an increase in impact fees by one yuan leads to an increase of about 5 yuan in the price of newly-built housing; a 1% increase in impact fees leads to an increase of 5 percentage points in the housing price index and 7 percentage points in the land price index.

江苏省森林资源—环境—经济复合系统可持续发展评价

在可持续发展理论指导下．以江苏省森林资源—环境—经济复合系统(FEES)的良性循环为目标．从森林资源与环境的协调、森林资源与经济的协调、以及环境与经济的协调3个方面综合考虑,构建了反映江苏省FEES可持续发展状况的评价指标体系；在此基础上对江苏省及苏南、苏中和苏北地区的FEES可持续发展状况进行了评价和分析,并用因子分析法对评价结果进行了验证。图1,表2,参6。

Tourists’Willingness to Pay for Recreation Services in Nyerere National Park,Tanzania:Are We Overvaluing or Undervaluing Our Nature Recreation Resources?

This study estimated tourists’Willingness to Pay(WTP)per day for recreation services in Nyerere National Park(NNP)and compared these values with daily travel costs that are incurred by tourists to visit NNP in order to inform whether recreation resources in the park are overvalued or undervalued.The study revealed that tourists’WTP per day for recreation services was estimated at$237.4 and$1521 for resident and non-resident tourists,respectively.The estimated tourists’WTP values exceed the daily travel costs currently incurred by tourists,which are$201.04 and$1517.97 for resident and non-resident tourists,respectively.This indicates that tourists are willing to spend more to enjoy recreation services in NNP,which signifies that recreation resources in NNP are slightly undervalued.In addi­tion,the findings disclosed that the largest share of tourist daily travel expenses is allocated to transportation services,and very little is paid to the park as a conservation fee.It was revealed that out of the daily travel expenses incurred by non-resident and resident tourists,only 4.62%and 2.23%are respectively paid directly to NNP as conservation fees.This study considers that allocation is not very fair;thus,NNP,in collaboration with TANAPA,needs to adjust the current entrance or conservation fee and reduce the transportation costs charged by tourist companies.The travel costs incurred by tourists,age,education,monthly income,site visited,substitute site,and quality of park were identified as significant factors in influencing tourists’WTP for recreation services in NNP.Thus,policies oriented to reduce tour­ists’transportation costs and improve the quality of national parks would attract more tourists to NNP.

BESⅢ飞行时间计数器前端电子学测试系统设计

BESⅢ的TOF前端电子学(Front End Electronic,FEE)共有488个通道,如何快速地测试所有的FEE通道是个亟待解决的问题。本文详细描述一个基于网络互联的虚拟仪器测试系统,利用该系统可以实现对TOFFEE进行测试,较快速地得出FEE的相关指标。

BESⅢ Muon鉴别器前端电子学读出系统

本文介绍了BESⅢ Muon前端电子学读出系统的结构,详细说明了依据菊花链方式的前端板和基于USB的读出板的设计和实现方法。该系统中较多地采用了FPGA技术,极大地降低了系统的复杂程度和建造成本。文章最后介绍了系统的自检方式,并给出了该系统在北京高能物理研究所谱仪大厅内的宇宙线测试结果,论证了系统的可靠性。