On the morning of July 18, 2023, the 3rd Paper Workshop for 2023 of School of Accounting was successfully held in Room 245 of Quan Xue Building. This workshop was presented with the working papers by doctoral students Yi Zhang and Xiaonan Sun, and invited Professor In-Mu Haw from Texas Christian University in the United States as the guest reviewer.
Firstly, Dr. Yi Zhang presented a working paper titled 'Carryover or Contrast Effects in a Multiple-Client Audit Environment? Evidence from Shared Auditors with Bankrupt Firms'. Dr. Yi Zhang's paper is based on Piaget's constructivist theory and studies when providing audit services to a company's clients whether auditors' judgments will be influenced by other clients from the perspective of shared auditors. The research results indicate that when a client experiences bankruptcy, non-bankruptcy enterprises shared auditors with it are more likely to receive modified audit opinions. Furthermore, this result only exists at the audit partner level. After a series of robustness tests, the above conclusion still holds. Further cross-sectional analysis indicates that institutional ownership will reduce the above-mentioned migration effect.
Subsequently, Dr. Xiaonan Sun presented a working paper titled "Trust brings progress: The evidence from China’s Merchant Guild on firms’ digital transformation". The paper explores the impact of ancient Chinese culture of Merchant Guilds on the digital transformation of modern enterprises from the perspective of social trust. Research has found that Merchant Guilds culture can significantly promote digital transformation of enterprises. Further research has found that Merchant Guilds culture promotes digital transformation of enterprises by alleviating financing constraints and weakening agency conflicts. In addition, the promotion effect of Merchant Guilds culture on digital transformation of enterprises is more pronounced in regions with lower levels of marketization and digital economy. After distinguishing the types of Merchant Guilds culture formation, it was found that compared to Merchant Guilds culture formed by kinship, Merchant Guilds culture formed by geography has a greater promotion effect on the digital transformation of enterprises.
At the end of the forum, the teachers and students, including Professor In-Mu Haw, had exchanges and discussions with the two presenters, and the atmosphere on site was lively. The successful holding of this paper workshop fully leverages the rich academic resources of our discipline, creates a good academic atmosphere, and is of great significance for further improving the scientific research level and paper quality of our teachers and students.
