Impact of an official accountability audit on industrial structure adjustment:a case study of environmental regulation in China

As a unique environmental regulation in China,the official accountability audit was piloted in 2014.With a focus on prioritizing the ecological environment,officials in pilot districts have implemented economic construction,adjusted industrial structures,and promoted coordinated development between the economy and environment.The effects of implementation have garnered widespread attention from society.However,there is limited research on the impact of an accountability audit on industrial structure adjustments.Using the“Accountability Audit of Officials for Natural Resource Assets(Trial)”released in 2015 as a quasi-natural experiment,this study collected panel data from 279 cities between 2013 and 2017.It then empirically analyzed the impact mechanism and effects of the accountability audit on industrial structure adjustment using the Propensity Score Matching and Difference-in-Differences model.The research findings indicate that the accountability audit directly impacted industrial structure adjustment,promoting the upgrading of the primary industry to the secondary industry and restricting the development of the tertiary industry.In addition,the audit is beneficial for enterprise entry,but not conducive to technological innovation,and has no significant impact on foreign direct investment.This conclusion fills a gap in the existing research and provides valuable insights for policymakers.

Environmental Accounting Audit Decision and Firm Performance： An Empirical Investigation

The objective of the study is to examine the relationship between environmental accounting audit decision and firm＇s profitability in Nigeria. Specifically, the authors hypothesize that profitability is a determinant of company＇s decision to disclose quantitative environmental information for external audits. The population of this research is made up of both quoted and non-quoted companies. The sample size for this study was selected using the simple random sampling technique. The selected companies included companies from the following sectors： agriculture, automobile and tyre, breweries, building materials, chemical and paints, conglomerates companies, food/beverages and tobacco, construction, healthcare, industrial/domestic products, packaging, printing and publishing, textiles, petroleum marketing companies, banking, insurance, and others. A sample of 160 companies with audited final accounts for 2009 financial year was eventually selected. The binary logit regression technique was utilized as the data analysis method. The finding reveals that profitability is a positive and significant determinant in evaluating the probability that a firm includes environmental information for external audits. The study concludes that finn-specific factors may provide incentives for corporate environmentalism in Nigeria.

Lessons from ＂Audit Storm＂ in China

The phenomenon of ＂Audit Storm＂ in China shows that transparency in government audit has been improved and increasing attention from the public has been paid to it, as government auditing and the mass media in China make joint effort to become a powerful source of supervision of government financial administration. Lessons drawn from Audit Storm show that more need to be done to systematically ensure public accountability in China, including improving the independence of China National Audit Office （CANO）, strengthening the manning of Chinese National People＇s Congress （NPC） and Ministry of Finance （MoF）, improving NPC and MoF joint cooperation with CNAO, insisting on more transparency in public funds allocation and management, the introduction of an effective responsibility system, and so on.

Linking Accounting/Auditing Environment and the Remittances of Africans in Diaspora

This paper investigates empirically the link between the inflow of Diasporas remittances and the environment of accounting/auditing in 10 African countries. The result using Spearman＇s rank correlation indicates the existence of a positive relationship （correlation coefficient rs is 0.36）, but the strength of the relationship is weak （significant level of 0.05）. The quality of accounting and auditing as represented by their environment is a stimulus that could enhance the inflow of Diasporas remittances. The study therefore recommends that African countries should strategically and proactively refocus attention on developing accounting/auditing environment in order to attract reasonable volume of remittances.