Stepwise regression for accrual quality in 2019.

Given the growing importance of environmental protection in China, this study investigated the determinants of the financial reporting quality of environmental, social and governance (ESG) firms listed in China. The quality of financial reporting shows how informative the accounting numbers are for decision-making. Because business outlook can influence financial reporting quality, this study examined predictable, moderately predictable and unpredictable business outlooks. The study randomly selected 100 firms from the 2021 China ESG Top 500 Outstanding Enterprises published by the Sina Finance ESG Rating Centre and then analysed those firms in 2018, 2019 and 2020. It investigated determinants (financial health, governance and earnings management), controlling for the influence of known variables (firm age and firm-specific risk) on financial reporting quality measured as accruals quality and earnings smoothness. Ordinary robust least square regression was conducted. Financial health had a negative influence, but governance variables and earnings management did not affect financial reporting quality. Firm-specific risk had a positive effect, but firm age did not influence financial reporting quality. Changes in business outlook had no impact on the determinants’ effect on financial reporting quality. The study found that ESG firms did not engage in earnings management and aggressively manage earnings, pointing to ethical behaviour. This is the first study to contribute to understanding the financial reporting quality of ESG firms listed in China. It examined different business outlooks to understand ESG firms’ behaviour towards financial reporting quality. The findings invite replicable studies outside China to understand the contextual validity and reliability of the financial reporting quality of ESG firms, and to investigate the effect of determinants not examined in this study.鉴于中国环境保护的重要性与日俱增，本研究针对中国境内上市的环境、社会及治理（Environmental, Social and Governance, ESG）企业的财务报告质量影响因素展开了探究。财务报告质量反映了会计信息在决策制定过程中的有用性程度。由于企业经营前景会对财务报告质量产生影响，本研究分别考察了可预期、中度可预期以及不可预期的经营前景三类情况。本研究从新浪财经ESG评级中心发布的《2021中国ESG优秀企业500强》中随机抽取了100家企业，并对其2018年、2019年及2020年的相关数据展开分析。本研究探究了财务健康状况、公司治理与盈余管理三类影响因素，并在分析中控制了已知变量——企业年龄与企业特质风险——对以应计质量和盈余平滑度衡量的财务报告质量的影响。研究采用了稳健普通最小二乘回归法进行分析。结果显示，财务健康状况对财务报告质量具有负向影响，而公司治理变量与盈余管理并未对财务报告质量产生显著影响。企业特质风险则对财务报告质量具有正向影响，而企业年龄未对财务报告质量产生显著作用。经营前景的变化并未对各类影响因素与财务报告质量之间的关联产生调节作用。本研究发现，中国上市ESG企业并未开展盈余管理及激进式盈余操纵行为，体现出其伦理合规的经营特征。本研究是首项针对中国境内上市ESG企业财务报告质量展开系统性探究的学术研究，通过考察不同类型的经营前景，深入剖析了ESG企业在财务报告质量方面的行为特征。本研究的结论可为中国境外的可复制性研究提供参考，以验证ESG企业财务报告质量的情境有效性与可靠性，并探究本研究未涉及的其他影响因素的作用效果。