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This paper investigates whether the audit fees of Chinese listed firms are associated with the share pledging practice of the firm’s controlling shareholders.

This study uses the audit pricing model to estimate the association between the share pledging of listed firms and audit fees. Cross-sectional analysis is conducted on a large sample of Chinese listed firms during the period 2004 to 2019. The authors further test the moderating effects of listing on the Main Board, state ownership and abnormal audit report lag on the association between share pledging and audit fees. The results remain robust to various endogeneity tests including two-stage least squares instrumental variable analysis, entropy balancing analysis and difference-in-difference analysis.

The study finds that audit fees are positively associated with the proportion of shares pledged by the listed firm’s controlling shareholder in China. The results also provide new evidence that the positive association between audit fees and the share pledging of controlling shareholders could be mitigated if the firm is listed on the Main Board and/or it is a state-owned enterprise. In contrast, pledged firms with abnormal audit report lag are found to have higher audit fees than their pledged counterparts without the excessively long audit delay.

Findings of this study have important practical implications to those charged with governance, as boards need to comprehensively understand the adverse consequences of share pledging when pursuing it as the firm’s major source of financing. The study also has policy implications for stock market regulators such as the China Securities Regulatory Commission in China. Regulators could consider developing a threshold-based share pledging disclosure and pledge ratio requirements based on factors such as a firm’s listing status and ownership structure.

This study provides new evidence on the audit-related consequences of share pledging in a significant capital market. Findings of this study also enrich the existing audit literature by introducing the share pledging activities of controlling shareholders into the audit pricing decision-making model.

This study aims to examine whether earnings autocorrelation affects the risk of an accounting restatement.

This paper uses logistic regression and identifies restatements between 2004 and 2016. Following prior research, (Dao et al., 2012; Francis and Michas, 2013; Francis et al., 2013; Lennox and Li, 2014; Lobo and Zhao, 2013; Paterson and Valencia, 2011), this study allows time between the end of our sample period and the date that this study obtained the restatement data because it takes time for material misstatements to be identified.

Bryan et al. (2018) report a negative association between autocorrelation and audit fees, suggesting that auditors view lower autocorrelation as increasing inherent risk. This study finds that autocorrelation is negatively related to accounting restatements, implying that although auditors react to lower autocorrelation by increasing their risk assessments (Bryan et al., 2018), their risk response is not sufficient. This study finds that autocorrelation has a fairly large effect: a shift from the 75th to the 25th percentile of autocorrelation is associated with a 9.38% increase in the likelihood of a restatement.

This study contributes to the stream of research that investigates the determinants of restatements. Not only do this study identifies autocorrelation as a factor that contributes to restatements, but importantly, this study’s results reveal a fairly substantial effect size: a shift from the 75th to the 25th percentile of autocorrelation is associated with a 9.38% increase in the likelihood of a restatement. While Bryan et al. (2018) find that autocorrelation affects audit fees, this study links autocorrelation to a more drastic consequence: accounting restatements.

This paper aims to assess the effect of different leadership types, the client's identity and auditors' self-confidence on auditors' impartiality.

This paper is a descriptive-survey type, and the collected data are based on a predesigned questionnaire distributed in January 2020. The PLS software is used for data analysis, and the statistical population of this paper includes employed auditors in enlisted audit firms on the Official Association of Auditors. When the parameters were insignificant, the obtained probability from the model fitting was used for hypothesis testing, and the appropriateness of the model was assessed via the structural equations.

The results show a significant relationship between charismatic, transformational, participatory, delegating and bureaucratic leadership and auditors' impartiality. There is also an association between the client's identity and the auditor's impartiality. The client's identity mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and the auditor's impartiality. Moreover, there is a significant relationship between self-confidence and auditor's impartiality.

This paper enjoys an innovative method in the field of behavioural auditing. The effect of transformational leadership on auditor's impartiality with the mediatory role of the client's identity shows the in-depth client–auditor relationship has been taken for granted and not examined previously, so the results of this paper can lend a helping hand to audit firms to enhance the organisational performance.

This article seeks to address aviation as an emerging biofuel consumer and to discuss sustainability issues and consequences for feedstock production concepts. Biojet fuels have been identified as a promising, readily deployable alternative to fossil‐based aviation fuels. At the same time they are highly criticised as their production may have negative social and environmental impacts. Therefore, the paper aims to identify major sustainability issues and assessment challenges and relate these to the production of biojet fuel feedstock.

Two plant oil production concepts are presented that address the sustainability issues discussed. Both concepts are being investigated within the research project “Platform for Sustainable Aviation Fuels”. A literature‐based overview of sustainability issues and assessment challenges is provided. Additionally, conceptual insights into new plant oil production concepts are presented.

The use of biojet fuels is often hailed as a strategy for the aviation industry to become more sustainable. However, biofuels are not necessarily sustainable and their potential to reduce GHG emissions is highly debated. Several unresolved sustainability issues are identified highlighting the need for improved assessment methods. Moreover, the two concepts presented have the potential to provide sustainably grown feedstock, but further empirical research is needed.

This article addresses researchers and practitioners by providing an overview of sustainability issues and assessment challenges related to biojet fuels. Consequences are identified for two plant oil feedstock concepts: catch cropping in temperate regions and silvopastoral systems in tropical and subtropical regions.

Changes in climate may have both beneficial and harmful effects on crop yields. However, the effects will be more in countries whose economy depends on agriculture. This study aims to measure the economic impacts of climate change on crop farming in Bangladesh.

A Ricardian model was used to estimate the relationship between net crop income and climate variables. Historical climate data and farm household level data from all climatic zones of Bangladesh were collected for this purpose. A regression model was then developed of net crop income per hectare against long-term climate, household and farm variables. Marginal impacts of climate change and potential future impacts of projected climate scenarios on net crop incomes were also estimated.

The results revealed that net crop income in Bangladesh is sensitive to climate, particularly to seasonal temperature. A positive effect of temperature rise on net crop income was observed for the farms located in the areas having sufficient irrigation facilities. Estimated marginal impact suggests that 1 mm/month increase in rainfall and 10°C increase in temperature will lead to about US$4-15 increase in net crop income per hectare in Bangladesh. However, there will be significant seasonal and spatial variations in the impacts. The assessment of future impacts under climate change scenarios projected by Global Circulation Models indicated an increase in net crop income from US$25-84 per hectare in the country.

The findings of this study indicate the need for development practitioners and policy planners to consider both the beneficial and harmful effects of climate change across different climatic zones while designing and implementing the adaptation policies in the country.

Literature survey of the Web of Science, Science Direct and Google Scholar indicates that this study is the first attempt to measure the economic impacts of climate change on overall crop farming sector in Bangladesh using an econometric model.

This study examines how English teachers use culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) to support postsecondary readiness for underrepresented students in the context of dual credit (DC) coursework in the USA. Postsecondary readiness, termed “college readiness” in the USA, refers to the skills and knowledge students need to succeed at a university. DC courses are university-level classes delivered to high school students through partnerships with postsecondary institutions, most often two-year community colleges. The purpose of this study is to highlight practices and institutional conditions that enable English instructors to foster postsecondary opportunity for all.

Using an interpretive approach, this qualitative study analyzes data derived from in-depth interviews with five community college English instructors who teach DC to diverse high-school students and who apply CRP in their classroom practice.

Findings reveal that instructors used culturally relevant approaches not only to help students access dominant college-ready skills, but also to reimagine what constitutes college readiness to begin with. Instructors also took advantage of their unique positioning as postsecondary instructors working with secondary students, leaning on academic freedom to push boundaries with their curriculum.

This study shows how English instructors are uniquely positioned to enhance university preparation and build a more inclusive vision of postsecondary readiness for all students. The study also highlights institutional conditions, such as teacher autonomy, pedagogical training and administrator support, that can promote culturally relevant postsecondary preparation in English classrooms.