Financial Reporting and Disclosure Practices in China

Abstract

We provide survey-based evidence on financial reporting and disclosure practices in China. We use the items in prior studies surveying U.S. CFOs (Graham, Harvey, and Rajgopal, 2005; Dichev, Graham, Harvey, and Rajgopal, 2013) to benchmark our results against the findings from U.S. firms. We highlight some major differences in the perceptions on financial reporting and disclosure at Chinese firms. For example, Chinese firms do not consider analyst consensus forecasts as important earnings benchmarks, do not believe that voluntary disclosures reduce the cost of capital, and do not exhibit incentives to disclose bad news faster than good news. The follow-up questionnaires and on-site interviews corroborate our main findings and explore the potential explanations for the differences.