28 January 2019, AT 2:30 PM
ESCP - Campus République - room

Yin WU, doctorant du programme Ph.D. ESCPYin WU, PhD candidate in the PhD program ESCP will publicly defend his PhD thesis in Management Sciences.
Thesis Title:
The Convergence of Chinese Accounting Standards with International Accounting Standards
 

Jury 

Thesis directors:

  • Pr. Léon LAULUSA,
    Professor, ESCP

Referees:

  • Pr. Lionel ESCAFFRE,
    Professo, Université d'Angers
  • Pr. Olivier RAMOND,
    Professor, Université Paris-Dauphine

Suffragants :

  • Pr. Gilles DAVID,
    Professor, Université de Bourgogne
  • Pr. Yvon PESQUEUX
    Professor, Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers

Abstract

The objective of this study is to answer the overall research question: What is the effect of IFRS convergence in China? In order to achieve this goal, we seek to investigate two series of questions, the first is: Does convergence of accounting standards lead to the convergence of accounting practices in China? And the second is: To what extent the current accounting standards in mainland China is better suited to China’s domestic conditions than the IFRS is? Due to the fact that the majority of publicly listed Chinese firms are controlled by the Chinese government, we limit our sample to state-controlled Chinese firms that are listed on both the mainland China and Hong Kong capital markets (commonly referred to as AH-share firms) to avoid complications associated with mixing firms with different ownership structures. My thesis is to propose a comprehensive framework based on the qualitative characteristics to assess the accounting information quality of Chinese listed State-owned companies, and then directly compare accounting figures and financial reporting quality under two accounting systems, IFRS and new Chinese GAAP, in one regulatory environment.

Our empirical investigation comprises two basic sets of analyses. The first set of analyses examines the accounting differences between IFRS and new Chinese GAAP on key accounting measures such as book value of equity and net income. The result of our empirical tests shows that both the difference of net income and the difference in asset recognition across the two systems are not significant, which implies the good convergence of accounting numbers reported under new Chinese GAAP and under IFRS. These findings make exactly a good answer to our first research question. The second set of analyses compares the financial reporting quality under new Chinese GAAP and IFRS. The results of our hypotheses tests show that, consistent with the different objectives of two accounting systems (new Chinese GAAP puts strong emphasis on reliability and prudence whereas IFRS is more investor-oriented), IFRS provide more value relevant and predictive accounting information than new Chinese GAAP (weak evidence), whereas there is more earnings smoothing, less discretionary accruals, more observed conservative accounting approaches, more timely recognition of losses and more comparative accounting information under new Chinese GAAP than those under IFRS (strong evidence). Furthermore, our results are in line with IFRS being balance sheet- and fair value-orientated and new Chinese GAAP being prudent, income smoothing- and historical cost-oriented. The findings provide an affirmative answer to our second research question.

Given the influential status of China as an emerging economy, the findings of our study have important implications for other emerging economies around the world. And also, our results inform Chinese and international standards setters China’s IFRS harmonization (convergence) strategies in the future.

Location

Organiser:

Paris - France

Map

Date

Start date: 28/01/2019

Start time: 2:30 PM

End time: 6:30 PM