喻园管理论坛2024年第24期(总第956期)

演讲主题: Green Transition and Information Verification Costs

主 讲 人: 钟覃琳，复旦大学管理学院副教授

主 持 人: 李安泰，计算金融系讲师

活动时间: 2024年4月2日（周二）10:30-12:00

活动地点: 管院大楼107室

主讲人简介：

钟覃琳，复旦大学管理学院会计学系副教授。目前主要从事信息披露，公司治理，资本市场监管等方向的研究。主要研究成果发表于《Journal of Accounting and Economics》，《The Accounting Review》,《Contemporary Accounting Research》，《管理世界》，《管理科学学报》，《金融研究》及《会计研究》等国内外重要期刊。

活动简介：

This paper examines whether and how the green transition affects the information verification costs of firms in high-polluting industries. By leveraging China’s Green Audit of Outgoing Officials (GAOO) policy and employing audit fees as a proxy for verification costs, we observe a significant reduction in these costs for high-polluting firms during the economic transition toward green practices. The decrease is stronger among firms located in regions with departing public officials and for firms with more green information to be verified. We identify two channels driving this trend: (1) Auditors rely on public information generated from intensified governmental efforts, thereby economizing on the private verification of green information (i.e., a substitution effect); (2) High-polluting firms improve their environmental performance, leading to diminished client risk and lower verification demand. Additional analyses show that reduced audit fees are not accompanied by a deterioration in audit quality. Overall, our study indicates that the green transition can reduce information verification costs of high-polluting firms.