主讲人Speaker: 黄昊  教授  香港科技大学

时间Date & Time: 2025年10月9日（周四），10:00--11:30

地点Venue:粤海校区汇星楼565会议室

内容简介/ Abstract:

We introduce new evidence on how financial ratio-based thresholds, an increasingly common feature of credit rating disclosures since the Great Financial Crisis, affect firm behavior and market perceptions. Using a novel dataset extracted from over 20,000 S&P credit reports from 2008 to 2020, we show that these thresholds, now disclosed in 75% of all credit rating reports, are neither mechanical nor symbolic. First, threshold levels reflect both firm fundamentals and credit rating agency (CRA) incentives: they are tighter for riskier firms and looser when CRAs’ reputational concerns are lower or conflicts of interest are more salient. Second, thresholds influence real outcomes: firms facing tighter benchmarks cut leverage, preserve equity, and improve performance, especially among speculative-grade issuers. Third, threshold breaches are meaningful signals that predict negative rating actions. These findings demonstrate that ratio-based thresholds, although non-binding, serve as soft constraints and public signals, offering a key mechanism through which CRAs discipline issuers and coordinate expectations in capital markets.

主讲人介绍/Biography of the speaker：

Allen Huang黄昊教授，香港科技大学商学院副院长、会计系系主任、Karen Lee学生指导中心主任、商业与社会分析中心副主任。2011年和2012年分别获得香港科技大学十佳教师称号，2012年和2018年分别获得富兰克林卓越教学奖。在Journal of Finance, Management Science, The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting Research, Journal of Accounting and Economics, Review of Accounting Studies, and Contemporary Accounting Research等国际顶尖会计学和金融学期刊上发表了多篇学术论文，两次荣获MIT Asia Conference in Accounting最佳论文奖，相关研究被CFA Digest, CFO, Harvard Business Review, Harvard Law School Forum, Vox and Financial Times等知名媒体转载报道。目前担任Review of Accounting Studies的副主编和Journal of Business Finance and Accounting的主编。