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Hometown favoritism and the quality of government monitoring: Evidence from rotation of Chinese auditor

Author

Listed:
  • Jian Chu

    (Nanjing University)

  • Raymond Fisman

    (Boston University)

  • Songtao Tan

    (Renmin University of China)

  • Yongxiang Wang

    (University of Southern California, Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai)

Abstract
Audits are a standard mechanism for reducing corruption in government investments. The quality of audits themselves, however, may be affected by relationships between auditor and target. We study whether provincial chief auditors in China show greater leniency in evaluating prefecture governments in their hometowns. In city-fixed-effect specifications – in which the role of shared background is identified from auditor turnover – we show that hometown auditors find 38 percent less in questionable monies. This hometown effect is similar throughout the auditor’s tenure, and is diminished for audits ordered by the provincial Organizations Department as a result of the departure of top city officials. We argue that our findings are most readily explained by favoritism rather than an endogenous response by local officials to concerns of better enforcement by hometown auditors. We complement these city-level findings with firm-level analyses of earnings manipulation by state-owned enterprises via real activity manipulation (a standard measure from the accounting literature), which we show is higher under hometown auditors.

Suggested Citation

  • Jian Chu & Raymond Fisman & Songtao Tan & Yongxiang Wang, 2020. "Hometown favoritism and the quality of government monitoring: Evidence from rotation of Chinese auditor," Boston University - Department of Economics - The Institute for Economic Development Working Papers Series dp-343, Boston University - Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:bos:iedwpr:dp-343
    as

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    File URL: http://faculty.marshall.usc.edu/Yongxiang-Wang/Audit_AEJ_r1wtables.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    2. Raymond Fisman & Jing Shi & Yongxiang Wang & Rong Xu, 2018. "Social Ties and Favoritism in Chinese Science," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 126(3), pages 1134-1171.
    3. Eric Avis & Claudio Ferraz & Frederico Finan, 2018. "Do Government Audits Reduce Corruption? Estimating the Impacts of Exposing Corrupt Politicians," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 126(5), pages 1912-1964.
    4. Era Dabla-Norris & Jim Brumby & Annette Kyobe & Zac Mills & Chris Papageorgiou, 2012. "Investing in public investment: an index of public investment efficiency," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 235-266, September.
    5. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/sj22pruud8a7b8cdlvom4sbtp is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Raymond Fisman & Daniel Paravisini & Vikrant Vig, 2017. "Cultural Proximity and Loan Outcomes," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(2), pages 457-492, February.
    7. Quoc-Anh Do & Kieu-Trang Nguyen & Anh N. Tran, 2017. "One Mandarin Benefits the Whole Clan: Hometown Favoritism in an Authoritarian Regime," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(4), pages 1-29, October.
    8. Roychowdhury, Sugata, 2006. "Earnings management through real activities manipulation," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 335-370, December.
    9. Claudio Ferraz & Frederico Finan, 2011. "Electoral Accountability and Corruption: Evidence from the Audits of Local Governments," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(4), pages 1274-1311, June.
    10. Esther Duflo & Michael Greenstone & Nicholas Ryan, 2013. "Truth-telling by Third-party Auditors and the Response of Polluting Firms: Experimental Evidence from India," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 128(4), pages 1499-1545.
    11. Guan, Yuyan & Su, Lixin (Nancy) & Wu, Donghui & Yang, Zhifeng, 2016. "Do school ties between auditors and client executives influence audit outcomes?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 506-525.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Patrick Francois & Francesco Trebbi & Kairong Xiao, 2023. "Factions in Nondemocracies: Theory and Evidence From the Chinese Communist Party," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 91(2), pages 565-603, March.
    3. Li, Nian & Xu, Nianhang & Dong, Rui & Chan, Kam C. & Lin, Xiaowei, 2021. "Does an anti-corruption campaign increase analyst earnings forecast optimism?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    4. Bo, Shiyu & Wu, Yiping & Zhong, Lingna, 2020. "Flattening of government hierarchies and misuse of public funds: Evidence from audit programs in China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 141-151.
    5. Chen, Shuo & Qiao, Xue & Zhu, Zhitao, 2021. "Chasing or cheating? Theory and evidence on China's GDP manipulation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 657-671.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Social Ties; Audit quality; State-owned enterprise; Government investment; China;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D73 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Bureaucracy; Administrative Processes in Public Organizations; Corruption
    • G3 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance
    • M42 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Auditing
    • H83 - Public Economics - - Miscellaneous Issues - - - Public Administration

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