AC 4304 Financial Reporting Theory Hong Kong Should Regulate More Transparency Dennis Kwok...
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Transcript of AC 4304 Financial Reporting Theory Hong Kong Should Regulate More Transparency Dennis Kwok...
AC 4304Financial Reporting Theory
Hong Kong Should Regulate More Transparency
Dennis Kwok (50189955)
Nicolas Wong (50185380)
Wilson Wong (50189236)
Introduction
• Regulate towards more transparency does not mean more useful information is provided
• Beneficial to companies?
Introduction
• Companies lose competitive advantages
• High uncertainties and misleading for expectations
• Disclose moreCost higher
Introduction
• Ethical problems
• Managers intense to manipulate accounts
• Extra and redundant audit work is needed
• Public will doubt the present regulations: trust and credibility
Competitive advantages
• Even strong companies do not willing to disclose too much:
– For flexibility: companies can change their strategies easily
Loss competitive advantages
• Competitors can set:– Lower cost
– Lower price
– More favor promotion
– Similar strategy
• Potential competitors can:– Lower cost of suppliers
– licensed
– More focus on targeted customers
Loss competitive advantages
• Hostile takeover may exist
• Outsiders recognize the risk and return of companies
• Companies may lose controlling power
Who protect minority interests?
Loss competitive advantages
Example:
• Cheung Kong Holdings acquired Hutchison Whampoa
• Hutchison Whampoa could not afford the financial costs
• Hutchison Whampoa owned plants and docks which is valuable
Uncertain expectations
• Strategies can be changed– E.g. Dr. Ho in Macau
• Operating environment may be changed
• Earnings cannot be sure
Conclusion: not reliable and misleading
Everything is money!!
Information disclose increase
Management prepare more
disclosure
Auditors’ work done and time cost
increaseAdministration cost increase
Audit fee increase
Company’s burden increase
Ethical issue
• For ethical & responsible management:– Disclose information which is significant for
outsiders’ decision making in voluntary basis
• For unethical management:– Even forced to disclose by regulation,
reliability of disclosure is doubtful– Private-interest Theory
Ethical issue
• For ethical & responsible management:– Disclose information which is significant for
outsiders’ decision making in voluntary basis
• For unethical management:– Even forced to disclose by regulation,
reliability of disclosure is doubtful– Private-interest Theory
Private-interest Theory
• George Stigler (1971)
• Regulatory activities reflect relative political power between interest groups
• Interest group (e.g. business executives) rationally self-interested
• Politicians seek to maximize their chance of future electoral success
Private-interest Theory
Business executives Politicians
Electoral contribution
Consideration in establishing regulations
Regulations bias to business executives’ interest
Usefulness of disclosure
• Users would have expectations on the company’s performance after considering the information in the disclosures
Usefulness of disclosure
• High expectation:– Increase management’s pressure– May have intention to manipulate
• Low expectation:– Affect investors’ & creditors’ willingness to
invest and grant loan to company– Disclosure is not fairly represent the
expectation and situation of management still useful?
Social Responsibility
• Hide the bad news?
• Income warning– Responsible to social and shareholders– Lower impact to the share price– Give confidence for the future operations of the
company
Auditors role
• Auditors: act as the role of monitoring
• Self-regulationuse professional judgment to ensure there are no significant misstatement and misrepresentation
• Good self-regulatory system in HK: up to now there are not many fault cases
Audit efficiency
• If regulatedmore redundant and useless information may be asked to discloseincrease auditors’ workload
• From 145 annual reports (1993, English version only):
TIME DIMENSION
NO. OF REDUNDANCIES
%
Expectational 83 21.3
Present 268 68.7
Historical 39 10.0
Total 390 100.0
Conclusion
• Cost and benefit relationship: – Regulations will cost more, but make similar benefit to
society as voluntary disclosures
• Regulations will have negative impact:– Lose of the competitive advantage
– Management will have more intention to manipulate the accounts
– Audit efficiency
Conclusion
• Present regulations are enough
• Trust of management and auditors– Management have social responsibility– Auditors are monitoring the disclosure:
sufficient to prevent any misstatement or omission of any important information