Sustainable Development and Accounting Conservatism

IF 1.2 Q3 BUSINESS, FINANCE
Hao Ren
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

At the corporate level, the role of sustainable development in financial reporting quality remains controversial. Drawing on stakeholder theory, this study examines a sample of Chinese A-share listed companies to investigate how sustainable performance, measured by firms’ environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance, impacts accounting conservatism. Using a firm-level measure of conditional conservatism based on asymmetric earnings timeliness, empirical evidence shows that firms’ ESG performance is associated with higher levels of conditional conservatism, as reflected in all three ESG dimensions. When testing alternative approaches, such as an accrual-based proxy for accounting conservatism, the Sino-Securities Index ESG rating as a substitute, and techniques like propensity score matching and Heckman's two-stage model to tackle endogeneity, the results remain robust. Overall, this study contributes to the existing literature on the linkage between sustainable performance and financial reporting quality, and the findings provide practical implications for firms in adopting conservative accounting practices in response to ESG initiatives.

Abstract Image

可持续发展与会计稳健性
在公司层面,可持续发展在财务报告质量中的作用仍然存在争议。利用利益相关者理论,本研究以中国a股上市公司为样本,探讨以公司环境、社会和治理(ESG)绩效衡量的可持续绩效如何影响会计稳健性。利用基于非对称盈余及时性的公司层面条件保守性测量,经验证据表明,公司的ESG绩效与较高水平的条件保守性相关,这反映在所有三个ESG维度上。当测试替代方法时,例如基于权责发生制的会计稳健性代理,中证指数ESG评级作为替代品,以及倾向得分匹配和Heckman的两阶段模型等技术来解决内生性问题,结果仍然稳健。总体而言,本研究对现有的关于可持续绩效与财务报告质量之间联系的文献做出了贡献,研究结果为企业采用保守会计实践以应对ESG倡议提供了实际意义。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
2.30
自引率
7.10%
发文量
69
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