Title: Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility Assurance: Evidence from China Speaker: Yuyu Zhang, Queensland University of Technology, Australia

Host: Lin Liao, Associate professor, RIEM

Time: 14:30-16:00, Jan.9, Friday

Venue: H515 Yide Hall, Liulin Campus



Abstract: This paper investigates the association between corporate governance characteristics and the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) assurance decision in the setting of the China market. By examining 2,054 firm-years of Chinese listed companies with CSR reports from 2009 to 2013, we find the evidence that a firm’s CSR assurance decision is positively and significantly associated with board size and female directors. However, there is no evidence that the board independence is significantly related to CSR assurance. With regarding to CSR assurance providers, boards with large size and more female directors are more likely to choose auditing profession as CSR assurance provider. Furthermore, in the Chinese setting, State-owned enterprises (SOEs) and Non-SOEs have different patterns in CSR assurance decision.