Ownership structure plays a critical role in the incentives and behaviors of business organizations. The literature has focused on the effects of firm ownership dispersion across managers and investors. We extend the literature by examining the roles of ownership structure within a controlling family. Specifically, we focus on the family trust structure, which is a popular vehicle for holding family ownership around the world. The trust structure typically locks controlling ownership within a family for a very long period. Although it ensures family control, the share transfer restriction may induce family shirking problems, make family conflicts difficult to resolve, and distort firm decisions. Based on a sample of publicly traded family firms in Hong Kong, we report that trust-controlled firms that are more susceptible to these problems tend to pay higher dividends, invest less in the long term, and experience worse performance. The costs of using a trust structure are more significant when the family stakes have been locked inside the trust for a longer period and when a larger amount of family ownership is held by the trust.
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- BBA in Finance, CUHK
- PhD in Accountancy, CUHK
- Fellow Member of Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants (HKICPA)
- Fellow Member of The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)
- Fellow Member of The Institute of Certified Management Accountants (CMA, Australia)
- Associate Member of The Taxation Institute of Hong Kong (TIHK)
Dr. Winnie Leung joined HKU in 2010. She is a CPA in Hong Kong with practical experience in banking and accounting. Dr. Leung is passionate towards teaching and learning. She has taken several initiatives in eLearning and experiential learning. She launched an online course of “Introduction to Financial Accounting” on Moodle in early 2013. She has been the Programme Coordinator of “Business Consulting Practicum” (for 3 years from 2011 to 2013) which provides real-life consulting experience to undergraduate students. Beyond the classroom, Dr. Leung has been the mentor of different student knowledge exchange projects. One of the pioneered projects is “Business Ethics – Pathway to Future Leaders” which aims to promote business ethics to local secondary school students, with the support of HKU Student Knowledge Exchange Project Grant Scheme for two consecutive years in 2012-13. Dr. Leung’s enthusiasm and devotion in teaching and learning has earned her high recognition for teaching excellence. She was given the Outstanding Teacher Award (Undergraduate Teaching) by the Faculty of Business and Economics (HKU Business School) in 2012 and 2018. Dr. Leung’s research interests include Financial Accounting, Corporate Governance and Family Firms.
Dr. Leung has taken up the role of Assistant Dean (Undergraduate) since January 2020. She mainly oversees the enrichment programmes for undergraduate students, including overseas exchange programmes, international case competitions, corporate / professional training programmes and other enrichment activities.
Current Teaching:
- Financial Accounting Foundation MACC7001 (Postgraduate course)
- Advanced Financial Accounting ACCT4104 (Undergraduate course)
Past Teaching:
- Advanced Financial Accounting (Postgraduate course)
- Financial Statement Analysis and Business Ethical Standards (Postgraduate course)
- Intermediate Accounting I (Undergraduate course)
- Introduction to Financial Accounting (Undergraduate online course)
- Business Consulting Practicum (Undergraduate Experiential Learning course)
- Financial Reporting
- Corporate Governance
- Family Firms
Research Paper
- Chen C., W. S. C. Leung, X. Tao, & H. Wang, 2023. The impact of financial reporting flexibility on auditor risk judgement: Evidence from the implementation of FIN 46R, Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, forthcoming.
- Fan, J. P. & W. S. C. Leung, 2020. The impact of ownership transferability on family firm governance and performance: The case of family trusts, Journal of Corporate Finance, 61: 101409.
- Chyz, J., W. S. C. Leung, O. Z. Li, & O. M. Rui, 2013. Labor unions and tax aggressiveness, Journal of Financial Economics, 108: 675-698.
Case Studies
- Financial Analysis of Ocean Park – The Theme Park that Survived on Government Bailout, Asia Case Research Centre, HKU Business School, Ref. No.: 20/673C, 2020.
- Cathay Pacific: Financial Impact and Challenges in Adopting the New Lease Accounting Standard, Asia Case Research Centre, HKU Business School, Ref. No.: 20/666C, 2020.
- Richform Holdings Ltd – How a Hong Kong Small Enterprise Succeeded Using Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives (with Sammy Fung and W. H. Lo), Asia Case Research Centre, HKU Business School, Ref. No.: 12/520C, 2012.
- Formosa Plastics Group – Business Continuity Forever (with Joseph P.H. Fan and Li Jin), Harvard Business School, Case No. N9-210-026, 2010.
- Faculty Outstanding Teacher Award (Undergraduate Teaching) 2011 – 2012, 2017 – 2018
- Member, Faculty Scholarship Committee, HKU Business School (2014 – Present)
- Member, Faculty Curriculum Development Committee, HKU Business School (2020 – Present)
- Member, Staff-Student Consultative Committee, Master of Accounting Programme, HKU Business School (2018 – Present)
- Member, MAcct Curriculum Development Committee, Master of Accounting Programme, HKU Business School (2018 – Present)
- Academic Advisor, HKU Business School (2012 – Present)
- Member, ACCA Student Affairs Sub-Committee (2010 – Present)
- Member, Academic Advisory Panel of HKICPA Business Case Competition and Career Forum (2013 – Present)