University Finance Report: Critical Review of CER in China Study

This report critically reviews an academic article examining Corporate Environmental Reporting (CER) in China. The report delves into the research questions, which center on the data conveyed to international stakeholders and the credibility of environmental reports. It highlights the interesting factor of China's transition from bureaucratic secrecy to openness and the resulting increased demand for transparency in corporate affairs. The outcomes of the research are assessed, along with the author's motivation, which stemmed from changes in Chinese CER reporting. The study's theoretical framework is identified as corporate environmental reporting, and the key motivating literature is cited. The research methods, including interviews, surveys, and analysis of corporate reports, are discussed, along with the sample size and the validity and reliability of the paper. The analysis of the results, based on various accounting theories, is also provided.

Running head: FINANCE
Finance
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Research Question...........................................................................................................................2
Interesting factor about the article...................................................................................................3
Are the outcomes important?...........................................................................................................3
Research philosophy or motivation of the author............................................................................4
Theory that underpins the research..................................................................................................4
Key motivation literature on which the study depends...................................................................5
Research method..............................................................................................................................5
Sample size......................................................................................................................................6
Validity and reliability of the paper.................................................................................................6
Analysis of the results......................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
The article that has been chosen for the purpose of the critical review is Yang, H.H.,
Craig, R. and Farley, A., (2015). A review of Chinese and English language studies on corporate
environmental reporting in China. This particular academic journal aims to review the aspect of
Corporate Environmental Reporting in China and the role of the Government in the driving the
alterations in the CER. They reflect the fact that the prevalent accounting theory in the Chinese
corporate economy has been the Agency theory. Moreover, it has been found out that the
corporate environmental reporting in China should be sensitive to a higher degree. This
particular article aims to incorporate the institutional theory for the purpose of framing the
analysis of the Chinese corporate environmental reporting.
This particular study aims to carry out a critical review of the chosen article in terms of
the determination of the research question, the outcomes of the article and the theoretical
framework that underpins the research.
Research Question
The research problem or question that has been reflected in the selected academic journal
essentially refers to the issues related to the crucial data that needs to be conveyed to the
international stakeholders of business. This can be further defined by the fact that China has been
long facing the issue of obtaining economic growth by incurring a gradually declining quality of
the environment and increasing levels of inequity in the social strata. These issues have focused
more on the framework of corporate environmental reporting that should be carried out by the
business entities in China. Therefore, the particular research question that can be developed in
this particular case is that the finding of the particular method in which the international
stakeholders in regards to the special Corporate Environmental Reporting (CER) issues like the
issues that have been raised in relation to the environmental components like carbon or water in
China (Flick 2014).
Moreover, the second issue in regards to which the second research question can be
framed is that the credibility of the environmental reports that are prepared by the Chinese
business entities need to be properly evaluated and analyzed. There is no particular framework

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for measuring the effectiveness of the environmental reports. Moreover, no particular guideline
has been provided in regards to the amount and kind of disclosures that should be included in the
environmental reports by the listed entities. Therefore, the research question can be framed as t
what is the particular way in which the credibility of the environmental report can be determined
(Patten 2016).
Therefore, these are the research questions that can be developed from the academic
journal.
Interesting factor about the article
This particular article aims to define the institutional transition of China from the
bureaucratic secrecy to openness. The policies and the guidelines that have been guiding the
politics, society and economics of China including the accounting regulations have been secretly
maintained and regulated for a long time. The Governmental bodies in China or the bureaucracy
had been controlling the flow of information in regards to the internal issues of the nation to the
outside world. This further made it easy for the government executives and the CPC to control
and maintan the political power. Moreover, the practice of maintaining secrecy helped the
controlling or the governmental bodies in China to suit the needs in regards to the centrally
planned economy. However, this practice was gradually changed when the transition of a
market-oriented economy had started in China. This challenged the nation’s policy of secrecy in
large because of the particular that the maintenance of institutionalized secrecy would lead to
corruption and fraud in the general structure of business (Best and Kahn 2016).
Moreover, the discontent that had been growing in the population of the nation on
account of environmental degradation has resulted in the increased demand for transparency in
the corporate affairs related to the environment. The governmental body ruling China (CPC) and
the central government in China were heavily pressurized for the purpose of promotion of the
aspect of transparency and awareness of the public in regards to the environmental operations of
the Chinese business entities.

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Are the outcomes important?
The outcome of the public discontent had been that the business institutions had been
more open in nature. They have been pressurizing the Chinese academics to publish the
requirements. This resulted in the analysis of the Chinese academics that revealed the fact that
the pressure was the highest in regards to the work related stress factor. Furthermore, the Chinese
government reviewed the academic journals for the purpose of checking their political
correctness. This ultimately resulted in the emergence of the research in regards to the Corporate
Environmental Reporting (Bryman 2015).
Research philosophy or motivation of the author
The particular reason that motivated the author to conduct the required research is that the
changing trend in regards to the political and economic transition had resulted in the change in
the Chinese Corporate Environmental Reporting. It had been the financial years of 2006 and
2007, when the corporate entities in China had started incorporating the particular approach in
regards to CER in the sustainability reports of the business entities. Furthermore, it had been
mentioned in the article that the it was the year of 2008, that marked the rapid growth in the CER
reporting by the Chinese business entities. Such an improvement in regards to the economy in
China motivated the author to write this particular academic journal (Huertas 2016).
Theory that underpins the research
The theoretical framework that underpins the research is the Corporate Environmental
Reporting. The aspect of corporate environmental reporting refers to the different means via
which the corporate entities disclose the related information in regards to the environmental
activities undertaken by the organization (Domhoff and Fox 2015).
The corporate environmental reports can be categorized as a singular form of
environmental reporting. It is one of a kind report that is issued by the companies publicly for
letting the stakeholders and the external world know about its achievements in regards to its
environmental activities. This is the primary theory that had been underpinning the research as
the emergence of the corporate environmental reporting in China has been discussed in details in
cit chosen article.

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Key motivation literature on which the study depends
The key motivating pieces of literature that on which the study depends are citations from
the academic journals that have been used by the authors. The academic journals that have been
utilized are in the nature of citation. These key pieces of literature can be listed down as follows:
 Yin, YJ. A comparative study of the peer review system of academic journals between
China and the West. Journal of Zhejiang University (Humanities and Social Sciences ）
2012; 42 (4), 201-16
 Yang XS, Zhang GF, Liu X, Yu YC, Feng CY. Analysis of the effectiveness of Chinese
accounting research: A review of accounting papers published from 1980 to 2002 in
Accounting Research (）计研研). Accounting Research 2005; (3), 76-84.
 Li X, Jiang Y, Gao H. Thirty years (1978–2008) of financial accounting theoretical
studies in China: Review, reflection and future development. In W. Liu & J.M. Liu
(Eds.), Thirty Years of Chinese Accounting Reform (pp. 411–423). Beijing: China
Finance and Economics Publishing; 2009
Research method
A variety of research methods have been utilized in conducting the research in regards to
this particular case study. The different methods that have been adopted are face-to-face
interviews, surveys, questionnaires, detailed analysis of the corporate sustainability reports,
detailed analysis of the corporate environmental report, corporate environmental reporting
disclosures that are available on the internet and the ascertainment of the quantitative features of
the sustainability reports of the companies.
The research studies that had been utilized for the preparation of the chosen article has
been ranging between the time period of 1997 and 2005. These research papers in turn have
acquired the required data or information by the particular technique of publishing of
questionnaires to the management bodies like the business managers and the accountants of the
organizations. Moreover, relevant data has also been obtained from the annual reports of the
companies. It must be noted here that a major portion of the financial data has been obtained
from the annual financial reports. Therefore, it can be evidently concluded that the nature of data
that has been collected for the purpose of constructing the research has been secondary. This

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means that the data has been collected from already existing resources and not from any kind of
direct source. Thus, it can be concluded that the source of the data has been secondary in nature
(Hair 2015).
Sample size
The aspect of sample size refers to the most important feature of an empirical study. The
primary objective of targeting a sample size is that the inferences of the research study are to be
made in regards to a particular group of the population from a sample. A sample size that is used
in case of a particular research study might be based upon expense in regards to the collection of
data and the requirement to have statistical power. In case of the chosen article the time period
that has been taken as a sample size is the time period ranging between 1992 to 2007 (Hair
2015).
Validity and reliability of the paper
The aspect of validity and reliability are the most important characteristics of a research
study. It must be noted here that the aspect of validity refers to the presented information or
analysis that is carried out in the selected study is valid. This is because a research study that is
published, is often used as a secondary source by other users for the purpose of further study.
Validity of a research study is one of the primary features of a research paper that is demanded
by the users of these papers. The aspect of validity of a research paper depends on the validity of
the resources from which the relevant data has been collected (Sekaran and Bougie 2016).
Reliability, on the other hand, refers to the degree to which the findings or conclusion of
the research study that have been acquired on the basis of the conducted analysis can be trusted
to an optimum degree or level (Sekaran and Bougie 2016).
The chosen piece of literature is featured with an optimum degree of validity and
reliability. However, the only issue with the study is that the references that have been utilized
are too old. This means that the data or the academic journals that has been referred to, dates
back to 1997. The utilization of more current references would be proper.

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Analysis of the results
The results obtained have been analyzed on the basis of different accounting theories like
the agency theory, legitimacy theory. stakeholder theory, positive accounting theory and
institutional theory. There has been no weakness in regards to the process that has been
employed in analyzing the obtained results. Moreover, the utilization of the different accounting
theories make the findings more relevant and applicable.
It can be further concluded that has been no separate section in regards to the conclusion
of the selected piece of literature. However, in the ‘concluding remarks’ section of the study it
can be evidently stated that the findings, the agency and positive accounting theory dominate the
CER in China, has been properly concluded.

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References
Best, J.W. and Kahn, J.V., 2016. Research in education. Pearson Education India.
Braun, R., Benedict, M., Wendler, H. and Esswein, W., 2015, May. Proposal for requirements
driven design science research. In International Conference on Design Science Research in
Information Systems (pp. 135-151). Springer, Cham.
Bryman, A., 2015. Social research methods. Oxford university press.
Domhoff, G.W. and Fox, K.C., 2015. Dreaming and the default network: A review, synthesis,
and counterintuitive research proposal. Consciousness and cognition, 33, pp.342-353.
Flick, U., 2014. An introduction to qualitative research. Sage.
Hair, J.F., 2015. Essentials of business research methods. ME Sharpe.
Huertas, A., 2016. Decision support system for feeding policy selection in production settings:
Research proposal.
Padgett, D.K., 2016. Qualitative methods in social work research (Vol. 36). Sage Publications.
Patten, M.L., 2016. Proposing empirical research: A guide to the fundamentals. Taylor &
Francis.
Sekaran, U. and Bougie, R., 2016. Research methods for business: A skill building approach.
John Wiley & Sons.
Thomas, J.R., Silverman, S. and Nelson, J., 2015. Research methods in physical activity, 7E.
Human kinetics.