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Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are an essential way for enterprises to achieve sustainable development. As large sums of money are typically involved in M&A transactions, financing is a vital factor in outcomes. This study examines the relation between equity and debt financing of M&A on subsequent performance, and the effect of ownership (state-owned enterprises versus private-owned enterprises) on M&A performance in China. We are motivated to examine the relation between financing methods and M&A performance in China because the differences in ownership, resource availability and policy support by the government for many firms may affect subsequent performance. Using a large sample of Chinese A-share listed companies between 2009 and 2016, we find that equity-financed M&A transactions lead to significantly better performance than debt-financed transactions. Equity-financed M&A transactions of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) perform significantly better as compared to debt-financed M&A, whereas equity-financed M&A transactions of private-owned enterprises (POEs) have little effect on their performance. This study extends our insights into the relation between M&A financing types and firm performance under different ownership types in the context of emerging markets.

This study examines the effects of guanxi and audit independence on the corporate tax aggressiveness of Chinese firms. Based on a survey completed by 174 respondents in 2013, we find that two types of guanxi: favour-seeking guanxi and rent-seeking guanxi are significantly associated with ethical judgments of corporate tax aggressiveness. Perceptions of audit independence in-fact are significantly negatively associated with these ethical judgments, whereas audit independence in-appearance is positively associated with them. Further, significantly positive associations exist between perceptions that tax-aggressive activities are good for the firm and its shareholders and favour-seeking guanxi and between these perceptions and stronger client-auditor relations. This study provides insights into the association between types of guanxi and the propensity of firm management to engage in corporate tax aggressiveness.

In this paper, the relationship between private placements of common stocks and cash dividendsfor Chinese listed firms is investigated. It finds that Chinese listed firms pay more cash dividendsafter private placements than do those that are not involved in placements. Firms with largeshareholders participating in private placements pay more cash dividends than those withoutlarge shareholder participation. These results indicate that the firms controlled by large shareholders have a high propensity for interests transfer in their cash dividend policies.

This paper reports the findings of a cross-sectional study of the moral belief systems of 368 Chinese accounting professionals (i.e. 186 auditors and 182 salaried accountants). It is a first study of the ethical intentions of local Chinese auditors and salaried accountants based on Ajzen's (1985) Theory of Planned Behaviour. A self-rated questionnaire is used to examine the antecedents to behavioural intention using a familiar scenario based vignette. A multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) was employed to validate each construct of TPB before a path analysis was performed. Salaried accountants were found to be significantly less conservative than auditors in their intention, when stating their agreement with the decision when faced with a moral dilemma about whether to reject a supervisor's directions to manipulate financial reports. The results of this study have also demonstrated that the TPB can be applied when studying the ethical behaviour of Chinese accounting professionals, and the findings supp01t that Chinese accounting professionals' attitude toward the ethical behaviour, their perceptions of subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control over of the behaviour are positively associated with their ethical behavioural intentions. However, Chinese auditor group reveals a 51 % of variance in the ethical intention which is significantly higher than the salaried accountant group (i.e. 38%).

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to determine how Western business practitioners, specifically Australian accounting professionals, identify with the Chinese value concept of guanxi and the impact of their perceptions of guanxi on their ethical decision-making. This objective is predicated by a belief that aspects of guanxi are similar to the Western concepts of social networking and would be identified by practitioners as an organizational process providing positive benefits to those associated with its application. Further, it is anticipated that concepts of guanxi influence the way Australian accountants form ethical judgements and intentions, precursors to acceptable moral behaviour. Design/methodology/approach – A cross-sectional questionnaire based on a survey of 111 usable Australian accounting professionals was completed during 2012. A confirmatory factor analysis was used to validate each construct of guanxi before a path analysis was performed.Findings – Australian accounting professionals associate well with the favour-seeking aspects of guanxi, suggesting an affiliation with Western concepts of social networking. Both groups (i.e. public accountants and private accountants) reject rent-seeking guanxi as clearly unethical. Rent-seeking guanxi is seen to directly influence ethical judgement and intention; however, their favour-seeking guanxi attitudes do not influence ethical judgement or intention, regardless of employment type. Public and private accountants apply guanxi in a differential manner when determining moral intention. Public accountants are viewed as acting spontaneously without adequately considering the consequences (via the judgement phase), which appears to be a function of the nature of their personal association with the case study applied in this research. Originality/value – The research provides evidence that Australian accounting professionals relate to favour-seeking guanxi as representative of a broader notion of social netwo

This study involves a first attempt to examine ethical climate types and corporate ethical values and their impacts on ethical decision-making of employees in the oil and gas industry in Australia. A survey methodology is used and results indicate that employees’ perceptions about their organizations’ extant moral tone and punishment systems significantly influence ethical judgments. However, there is no evidence that oil and gas company managers demonstrate unethical behaviour rather it appears that such behaviour is strongly admonished by management. Ethical climate types per se do not appear to be significantly.different from expectations for mature industry firms and are not associated with decision-making.

A cross sectional study of a sample of Australian accounting students during 2011 is used to test whether the relationship concept of guanxi is accepted as a social networking concept across cultures. While favour-seeking guanxi appears to be equally important across cultural groups (as a universal set of values), its negative variant, rent-seeking guanxi continues to be sanctioned to a greater extent by students holding temporary visas from Mainland China. Contrary to the findings of Fan, Woodbine, and Scully (2012) involving Chinese auditors, this study of Australian and Chinese students did not identify favour-seeking guanxi as a factor influencing ethical judgment, whereas rent-seeking guanxi was strongly significant as a predictor of judgment making for Australian students. Major concerns are expressed about the need to sensitize Chinese students to make them more aware of unethical practices prevalent in their home country. These findings have significant implications for educators delivering ethics courses to cohorts that include international students as well as the professional bodies involved in designing development programs.