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This paper aims to investigate to what extent and for which reasons the codes of conduct and social audits of multinational corporations (MNCs) have failed to change practices within Chinese factories. A special attention is given to the social compliance initiatives (SCIs) and multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) which did not overcome the main obstacles of the compliance approach.

This research is based on a fieldwork in China, including 36 semi-constructed interviews with practitioners involved in corporate social responsibility (CSR), participant observation in the CSR programme of the International Labour Organisation office in Beijing and several visits of factories involved in CSR programmes. Secondary sources are used to estimate the distribution of value added along global value chains (GVCs).

The codes of conduct and social audits tend to reproduce the domination of MNCs within GVCs. This paper highlights some obstacles – and opportunities – for CSR appropriate to the Chinese context.

Only a few MNCs agreed to meet the author and speak openly. No one allowed the author to visit their suppliers’ factories.

The findings of this study suggest that the most widespread approach to CSR by MNCs is flawed. More attention should be given to specific institutional contexts and to workers’ participation.

CSR discourse and practices in China are put in the context of GVCs and in the transformation of Chinese industry and labour relations. This method allows going beyond a case study approach. Instrumentations of several SCIs and MSIs are also analysed in detail.

This chapter examines corporate governance–related financial reporting issues in the context of globalization. Over the past few decades, the process of globalization has substantially altered the fields of corporate governance and accounting. More specifically, Anglo-American models of corporate governance and financial reporting have received increasing momentum in emerging economies, including China. However, a review of relevant studies suggests that there is limited research examining the implementation of Anglo-American concepts in various countries regardless of their growing acceptance. This monograph extends the existing literature by comprehensively investigating the adoption of internationally acceptable principles and standards in China, the largest transitional economy that has different institutional context from Anglo-American countries. In addition, the review has a number of implications for developing the theoretical framework, and determining the research methodology for the monograph.

The purpose of this paper is to examine attitudes of undergraduate and graduate business students in China and the USA with regard to business codes of ethics.

Respondents were instructed to assume that an Ethical Practices Code had been drawn up by firms operating in the industry in which they intended to work and were asked to indicate their levels of disagreement/agreement with seven statements relating to the possible consequences of such a code. Tests of significance were used to analyze responses for the USA and Chinese groups. In addition, the effect on responses of a course in ethics was examined.

Despite the recent attention focused on corporate irresponsibility and the possible adverse effects on US consumers of outsourcing to China, the findings indicate that, with one exception, attitudes toward codes of ethics were not significantly different between the Chinese and USA respondents.

Future researchers may wish to replicate this study using management and student samples randomly drawn from diverse geographical areas in each country and track changes that may occur over time.

The findings should prove useful in helping government and business understand attitudes toward codes of ethics and aid in the development of such codes.

At a time of growing concern about corporate social responsibility, the findings should prove especially useful to those concerned with the increasingly important issue of ethics in business operations. Given the cultural distance and history of years with little interaction between China and the USA, studies such as this provide insight and help build mutual understanding between the people of these two countries.

Purpose – The paper presents a content analysis of the 2009 Exposure Draft of Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants in China. It aims to investigate how equivalently the Chinese Institute of Certified Public Accountants (CICPA) adopts the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) Code with certain adjustments due to specific national circumstances. The investigation is intended to highlight the principles-based conceptual framework approach to settlement of ethical standards and regulation for professional conduct.

Design/Methodology/Approach – Regarding the codes of ethics for professional accountants as a genre of discourse text, this paper applies a content analysis method to the investigation of how the newly revised Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants in China adopts the IFAC Code of the same type. Both semantic content and presentation format are considered in the content analysis.

Findings – This study puts forward the argument that even though CICPA claims to have equivalently adopted the principles-based conceptual framework of the IFAC ethical codification, the rigid legalistic presentation format might, however, deviate from the newly revised codification of CICPA from ethical principles to regulatory rules. Our findings prove a practical and nation-specific form of combining direct import and legal enhancement at a time when the Chinese accounting profession is on its way to converging with the IFAC Code of Ethics.

Research limitations/Implications – One limitation of the current study is the lack of information about the motivation of CICPA in adopting the principles-based conceptual framework approach to ethical codification, besides the pragmatic needs of global economic and business environments. Also, the current study focuses its comparison on IFAC and CICPA, without limited consideration of differences in cultural traits.

Practical implications – Content analysis results and conclusions of the study might render pragmatic the implications for future adoptions of the IFAC Code by various national or regional professional bodies.

Originality/Value – This paper proposes a content analysis, in terms of semantic units and legislative formats in ethical codification documents, to identify the principles-based conceptual framework approach in the IFAC and CICPA codes of ethics.

In response to stakeholder concerns for social responsibility in global supply chains, companies have implemented codes of conduct in outsourcing activities. The purpose of this paper is to examine empirically how a multinational buying office implements its social responsibility and the codes in purchasing activities in the Hong Kong and Pearl River Delta (HK/PRD) region.

This paper reports a case study that reviews the experience from three sourcing projects of a multinational buying office in the HK/PRD region. This company has successfully adopted purchasing social responsibility (PSR) practices for years.

The results show that the environment, ethics, health and safety, and human rights are more important than diversity, community, and financial responsibility in PSR practices in the HK/PRD region. The benefits of adopting PSR include reduced operating costs, enhanced brand image and reputation, increased sales and customer loyalty, increased productivity and quality, increased ability to attract and retain employees, and risk management. The challenges include the cost of compliance, communication with uneducated workers, conflicts among different codes of conduct and sub‐contracting.

The paper reflects the recent PSR situation in the HK/PRD region, primarily giving new insights for future research.

The paper provides empirical evidence on PSR implementation in the HK/PRD region, proposing seven core/non‐core dimensions of PSR and identifying the benefits and obstacles to its implementation. The paper provides academic and managerial guidelines for implementing PSR practices in the HK/PRD region.

This chapter analyzes and discusses the empirical results of the study. The discussion is organized under the following themes: independent director, audit committee, auditor independence, corporate code of conduct, adoption of IFRS, and measures for improvement. Three main findings emerge from the analysis. First, the current institutional environment does not yet fully support the Anglo-American practices. Second, in recent years the quality of financial reporting has improved considerably, which is largely attributable to strengthened accounting rules and regulations. However, the imported Anglo-American models of corporate governance and financial reporting, except for enhancing auditor independence, have had only a minor impact on financial reporting quality. Third, although the imported practices are not working as intended, the vast majority of interviewees stated that it was appropriate to move toward internationally acceptable principles and standards. Improving laws and regulations seems to be the main measure for rendering the institutional environment in China more supportive of Anglo-American models of corporate governance and financial reporting.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the results of a cross‐sectional survey of Chinese auditors that examines their views about independence and client relationship issues associated with the current Code of Professional Conduct. The paper also compares the findings with attitudes about the perceived ethical environment of their workplaces.

During late 2006, 578 useable questionnaires were obtained from members of the Chinese Institute of Public Accountants registered with four regional chapters. The empirical research was exploratory and involved the construction of a scale for measuring attitudes towards independence issues and a modified version of the Corporate Ethical Values scale.

It was found that auditors clearly identify with the importance of codes of practice and indicate that their views are significantly affected by observations about the ethical climates associated with their immediate workplaces. Codes of practice are seen to be relevant the greater the concern about the ethicality of their workplaces, although attitudes were tempered when client relationship matters are considered, suggesting that some degree of cultural tolerance of questionable activities is inevitable, and that tolerance increases with age.

The paper is the first to directly access Chinese practitioners in order to measure attitudes towards western‐based standards of practice in association with their workplace conditions. It is a sizable survey, providing useful insights into how practitioners are coping with the demands of their profession in China.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

China has recently introduced a new audit law that aims to increase the scope of audit supervision and raise the standards for preventing risks in auditing national public projects. This paper presents a systematic research study on the causes of audit risks in national public projects and discusses the process by which these causes contribute to the emergence of such risks. Furthermore, the paper investigates the core risk sources in various types of national construction project audit. This paper aims to provide theoretical support for auditors of national construction projects in risk avoidance when conducting audits.

In this study, the authors carefully selected five national public audit projects from China and performed a comprehensive analysis of 85 relevant audit documentation. The textual analysis was conducted using Nvivo12 software, and the grounded theory approach was adopted for generalization purposes.

Based on the research results, the findings suggest that there are five key causes contributing to the audit risk of national construction projects: professional competence, risk awareness, management capacity, level of attention and deliberate fraud. The most critical factor identified is management capability, with 59.93% of the data supporting this view. This conclusion was based on an analysis of state-owned enterprises, administrative organs and public institutions. Building upon this, a framework titled “the mechanism of audit risk factors with management capability as the core” was constructed.

This paper employs qualitative analysis methods to examine national construction projects in China, contributing new literature to the theoretical study of audit risk management. The article also provides practical recommendations for auditors on how to mitigate audit risks and improve the quality of audit services in national project governance.

Investigates the differences in protocols between arbitral tribunals and courts, with particular emphasis on US, Greek and English law. Gives examples of each country and its way of using the law in specific circumstances, and shows the variations therein. Sums up that arbitration is much the better way to gok as it avoids delays and expenses, plus the vexation/frustration of normal litigation. Concludes that the US and Greek constitutions and common law tradition in England appear to allow involved parties to choose their own judge, who can thus be an arbitrator. Discusses e‐commerce and speculates on this for the future.