法律環境和市場特性對於不對稱認列應計項目行為的影響：以中國市場為例

Are Asymmetrically Recognized Accruals Affected by Different Legal Environments or Market Characteristics? Evidence from China

本研究以中國上海與深圳的上市公司為研究對象，探討經濟狀況（經濟利得與經濟損失）對應計模型的影響。在應計模型中加入經濟狀況的影響因子後發現，中國企業提列應計項目時，會更快速的認列利得，與Ball and Shivakumar（2006）以美國公司為研究對象時，發現企業會更穩健的認列損失（更快速的認列損失）有所不同。造成此一結果的差異，可能肇因於中國市場和美國市場的法律環境不同所致，由於中國市場的法律環境對投資人的保護較不完善，因此，相較於美國企業，中國的上市公司有更多的機會，利用應計項目來操弄財務報表，調升公司的盈餘（更快速的認列利得），而較不會穩健保守的認列損失。本研究進一步探討中國企業及時認列利得的情形是否因會不同的市場特性而有所改變，結果顯示國營企業、財務艱困公司（ST板塊）、僅在A股市場上市的公司以及帳面價值市價比較高的公司會更快的認列利得。

This paper examines the role of economic gains and losses within the Chinese stock market, with the results of the accruals models indicating that firms in China demonstrate more timely recognition of gains than losses. This result differs significantly from the findings of Ball and Shivakumar (2006) who similarly examined US firms, with such disparity possibly arising from differences in the legal environments of China and the US. The reason for such diversity may be due to the differences in the legal environments of China and the US. Firms in China operate within a very loose legal environment with greater incentives to gloss over their financial statements and fewer incentives for conservatism in their recognition of accruals. We also explore whether the attitude towards the recognition of accruals in Chinese firms differs under various market characteristics. The results reveal that state-owned enterprises (SOEs), ‘special treatment' (ST) firms, those firms which are listed only in the domestic A share market and those firms with higher book-to-market ratios demonstrate more timely recognition of accrual gains than losses.