I. Dr. Huiqiang Wang Publishes Research in the Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation

In January 2026, Dr. Huiqiang Wang from the Department of Intelligent Accounting at the Business School of Soochow University, along with Dr. Wenzhi Wu from Hunan University of Finance and Economics, and Dr. Zeng Liu from Zhejiang Normal University, jointly published a paper titled "Customer Concentration and Firm Value: Evidence from China" in the Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation. This journal was founded in 1992 and is an internationally renowned publication in the field of accounting.

Customer concentration could have a risk effect or a value-creation effect. Leveraging a dataset of Chinese A-share listed firms spanning 2007 to 2020, we find that higher customer concentration is positively associated with firm value. This relationship remains robust to propensity score matching, instrumental variable estimation, and a battery of robustness checks. Further analysis suggests that the value-creation effect operates through the signaling of value to external stakeholders and through improved managerial efficiency. Cross-sectional evidence indicates that this positive effect is more pronounced among non-state-owned firms, smaller firms, those in relatively less competitive positions within their industry, those located in central and western China, and those with lower levels of supply chain transparency. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of how supplier-customer dynamics influence firm performance in emerging markets.

II. Dr. Huiqiang Wang Publishes Research in Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting

In March 2026, Dr. Huiqiang Wang from the Department of Intelligent Accounting at the Business School of Soochow University, along with Dr. Zeng Liu from Zhejiang Normal University, and Associate Professor Qiankun Gu from Soochow University, jointly published a paper titled "ESG and trade credit: evidence from an emerging market" in the journal Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting. This journal was founded in 1991 and is an internationally renowned publication in the fields of finance and accounting.

We propose that ESG-advantaged companies can obtain financing support from formal finance, which improves external financing needs and thus reduces the need for trade credit. We use a sample of Chinese public companies from 2009 to 2020 to explore the role of ESG performance in firms’access to trade credit. We find a negative association between ESG performance and trade credit financing. The potential mechanism shows that ESG-advantaged firms have access to cheap external financing and abundant long-term bank loans, which crowd out demand for trade credit. This effect is more pronounced in state-owned firms, firms located in the region with a high level of financial marketization, firms in the external environment with low economic uncertainty, and firms in heavily polluting industries. Our findings enrich the existing studies on the economic consequences of ESG performance.

Huiqiang Wang, a Doctor of Economics, is an outstanding young scholar (lecturer) at Soochow University. He graduated from the School of International Economics and Trade, University of International Business and Economics,in June 2023, majoring in Finance. His main research interests lie in initial public offerings (IPOs) and corporate finance. His research has been published in journals such as the Journal of Financial Research (In Chinese), Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Applied Economics, and Finance Research Letters.