Accounting failures in Chinese listed firms: Origins and typology

Abstract

Since its reopening in the early 1990s, the stock market has gained considerable momentum in China. In less than 15 years, the Chinese stock exchange has grown into the eighth largest in the world, with market capitalisation of over US$500bn. This expansion, however, has been accompanied by frequent discoveries of accounting malpractice at Chinese listed firms. This paper begins by tracing the origins of these accounting failures through analysis of the Chinese stock market's institutional context, and goes on to classify 11 cases of accounting failures into various categories.