| Strategic positioning is the most important part of the corporate management activities,and it is vital to the corporate survival and sustainable development.In recent years,with the deepening of economic globalization and internationalization of resources,the competitive environment facing capital markets around the world has become increasingly fierce,the role of strategic positioning in corporate management activities has become increasingly important,especially in the core of corporate development and in the process of competitiveness and access to competitive advantage,the decisive role played by scientific and rational strategic positioning has become increasingly prominent.In the process of growth and development,any industry will gradually accumulate a conventional industry strategy model that represents the overall development direction of the industry.When the corporate deviates from the industry's conventional strategic direction in the strategic positioning process and chooses the industry different strategy model,the strategic differences will be generated.In other words,corporate strategic differences refer to the degree to which the corporate strategic positioning deviates from the industry's conventional strategic model,that is,the degree of deviation of the corporate selected industry different strategy relative to the industry's conventional strategic model.It is worth noting that strategic difference is a “double-edged sword” for corporate business development,it has high-yield and high-risk coexistence characteristics,corporate may obtain high-yield returns from it,and may also obtain extremely low returns,even strategic positioning will be failed due to high risk,and make the corporate encounter "Waterloo".In view of the importance of strategic differences in the corporate business development,more and more scholars begin to explore the economic consequences of corporate strategic differences.The current literature focuses on the influence of corporate strategic differences on business performance,financing activities,analyst behavior,auditor decision-making,etc.,and the results are fruitful,and draws valuable conclusions.Some scholars have begun to explore the corporate financial accounting behavior in the important scenario of strategy.Among them,the research on the influence of corporate strategic difference on the accounting information quality is one of the important topics.Previous studies have directly or indirectly examined the topic from the perspectives of earnings quality,corporate violations,financial fraud,accounting information value relevance,earnings management and accounting conservatism,but there are still some areas to be further improved and expanded,mainly reflected in two aspects: on the one hand,intrinsic influence mechanism of the corporate strategic differences on accounting information quality and the mechanism between the two are still unclear;on the other hand,the previous literature only examines the influence of corporate strategic disparity on certain characteristics of accounting information quality.For example,the influence of corporate strategic disparity on accounting information value relevance and accounting conservatism,but few scholars examine the influence of corporate strategic disparity on multiple characteristics of accounting information quality,and from the perspective of accounting information quality characteristics,empirical research of exploring influence effect,path mechanism and influence mechanism of the corporate strategic differences on the accounting information quality comprehensively and systematically is more scarce.Exploring the above issues will help to further clarify the relationship between corporate strategic differences and accounting information quality,and will provide empirical evidence for decision-making by policy makers,regulators and external investors.Based on this,the paper selects China's Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed companies as research samples from 2007 to 2016.Based on the previous studies,combined with China's unique capital market environment,the combination of theoretical research and empirical research will be used,and the two basic quality characteristics of reliability and relevance,as well as comparability and timeliness,are included in the empirical research framework of accounting information quality,and from the perspective of accounting information quality characteristics,explore the influence of corporate strategic differences on the accounting information quality comprehensively and systematically.Specifically,the paper firstly analyzes the domestic and international literature on the economic consequences of corporate strategic differences,the influencing factors of accounting information quality,and the relationship between corporate strategic differences and accounting information quality,and grasps the research trends and development trends in related fields,identify the entry points for the study.Secondly,it expounds the basic connotation,measurement method and theoretical basis of the corporate strategic differences and accounting information quality.Thirdly,theoretical analysis and empirical analysis of the influence of the corporate strategic differences on the accounting information reliability,relevance,comparability and timeliness.Finally,based on the empirical results,it will obtain the conclusions,implications,contributions and limitations of the research,and policy recommendations and future prospects are proposed.Overall,the paper receives four aspects of research conclusions as follows:Firstly,the influence of corporate strategic differences on the accounting information reliability.The absolute value of the manipulative accrual profit estimated by the cross-section correction Jones model,the mean square error of accounting income and real income are simultaneously measured to measure the accounting information reliability,and the influence of corporate strategic differences on the accounting information reliability is investigated.We find that:(1)the corporate strategic differences and the accounting information reliability is significantly negatively correlated,that is,the greater the corporate strategic differences,the higher degree of accrued earnings management,the greater the mean square error between accounting income and real income,and then the lower the accounting information reliability,this means the corporate strategic differences have a significant negative influence on the accounting information reliability.(2)the corporate strategic differences can influence the accounting information reliability by increasing non-efficiency investment,and reduce the accounting information reliability mainly by increasing the degree of under-investment,that is,under-investment is the intermediary path of the corporate strategic differences affecting accounting information reliability.(3)high-quality audit and analyst tracking effectively mitigate the negative influence of corporate strategic differences on the accounting information reliability,and higher environmental uncertainty exacerbates the negative influence.(4)using propensity score matching method(PSM),heckman two-stage method and explanatory variable lag phase one for endogeneity test,and changing key variable measurement method and changing sample scope,re-examine the relationship between corporate strategic differences and accounting information reliability,the test results are consistent with the main regression results.Secondly,the influence of corporate strategic differences on the accounting information relevance.Based on the persistence of accounting earnings,accounting earnings persistence is used to measure the accounting information relevance,and the influence of corporate strategic differences on the accounting information relevance is investigated.We find that:(1)the corporate strategic differences and the accounting information relevance is significantly negatively correlated,that is,the greater the corporate strategic differences,the weaker the accounting surplus,and then the weaker the accounting information relevance,this means the corporate strategic differences have a significant negative influence on the accounting information relevance.(2)the corporate strategic differences can influence the accounting information relevance by increasing the operate risk,that is,the operate risk is the intermediary path of the corporate strategic differences affecting accounting information relevance,and the corporate strategic differences and the accrued sustainability as well as the cash flow sustainability are significantly negatively correlated,and it has a greater significant negative influence on the accrued earnings persistence,this means the corporate strategic differences have a significant influence on the accounting earnings structure.(3)high-quality audit and analyst tracking effectively mitigate the negative influence of corporate strategic differences on the accounting information relevance,and higher environmental uncertainty exacerbates the negative influence.(4)using the fixed-effect regression and difference equations for endogeneity test,and changing key variable measurement method and further controlling the earnings management method,re-examine the relationship between the corporate strategic differences and accounting information relevance,the test results are consistent with the main regression results.Thirdly,the influence of corporate strategic differences on the accounting information comparability.The corporate individual level accounting information comparability measure method is used to calculate the accounting information comparability index,and the influence of corporate strategic differences on the accounting information comparability is investigated.We find that:(1)the corporate strategic differences and the accounting information comparability is significantly negatively correlated,that is,the greater the corporate strategic differences,the accounting information comparability is significantly lower than other corporates in the same industry,this means the corporate strategic differences have a significant negative influence on the accounting information comparability.(2)the corporate strategic differences can influence the accounting information comparability by increasing the agency cost of management,that is,the management agency cost is the intermediary path of the corporate strategic differences affecting accounting information comparability.(3)high-quality audit and analyst tracking effectively mitigate the negative influence of corporate strategic differences on the accounting information comparability,and higher environmental uncertainty exacerbates the negative influence.(4)using propensity score matching method(PSM),heckman two-stage method and explanatory variable lag phase one for endogeneity test,and changing key variable measurement method,changing sample scope and further controlling the earnings management method,re-examine the relationship between corporate strategic differences and accounting information comparability,the test results are consistent with the main regression results.Fourthly,the influence of corporate strategic differences on the annual report disclosure timeliness.The actual disclosure time-delay method is used to calculate the annual report disclosure timeliness,and the influence of corporate strategic differences on the annual report disclosure timeliness is investigated.We find that:(1)the corporate strategic differences and the annual report disclosure timeliness is significantly negatively correlated,that is,the greater the corporate strategic differences,the longer the actual disclosure time lag of the annual report,and then the weaker the annual report disclosure timeliness,this means the corporate strategic differences have a significant negative influence on the annual report disclosure timeliness.(2)the corporate strategic differences can influence the annual report disclosure timeliness by increasing the time lag of the audit report,that is,the time lag of the audit report is the intermediary path of the corporate strategic differences affecting annual report disclosure timeliness.(3)high-quality audit and analyst tracking effectively mitigate the negative influence of corporate strategic differences on the annual report disclosure timeliness,and higher environmental uncertainty exacerbates the negative influence.(4)using propensity score matching method(PSM),heckman two-stage method and explanatory variable lag phase one for endogeneity test,and changing the key variable measurement method,quantile regression method,and further controlling the earnings management and audit opinion type method,re-examine the relationship between corporate strategic differences and annual report disclosure timeliness,the test results are consistent with the main regression results.According to the conclusions,the paper puts forward the policy recommendations from four levels as follows:Firstly,from the government level,relevant government departments should provide targeted strategic management guidance and strategic management policy publicity services according to the development characteristics of local listed companies.At the same time,we should consider the impact of industry differences on the corporate strategic management,conduct strategic management guidance in different industries,and actively play the fundamental role of the market in resource allocation,curb unfair competition behavior,and create good industry development and fair competitive environment for companies in various industries.Secondly,from the regulatory level,related regulatory agencies such as the CSRC should further improve the accounting information disclosure mechanism of listed companies,and focus on the accounting information quality of companies with greater strategic differences.At the same time,it is necessary to further standardize,guide and strengthen the important non-financial information disclosure behavior of the company's strategic information.For example,encourage companies to vigorously disclose more detailed and complete strategic information,and to make strategic information disclosure problems for companies with greater strategic differences special provisions,penalties for strategic deviations that do not have industry normativeness and legitimacy etc.,to avoid or reduce the corporate aggressive strategic model to obtain excess profits and damage corporate value and investor interests,and ultimately mitigate the negative influence of corporate strategic differences on the accounting information quality.Thirdly,from the corporate level,senior leaders should comprehensively consider factors such as internal and external resource advantages,capability conditions,and industry development environment in strategic positioning decisions,and choose scientific and effective strategic models to avoid or reduce managers' private interests maximize considerations and damage corporate value and investor interests.At the same time,in order to alleviate the negative impact of the corporate strategic differences on the quality of accounting information,the corporate should improve the quality of external audit,strengthen external supervision of management,and actively improve the information environment attracts more analysts to track the number and improve the external environment.Fourthly,from the investment level,external investors should pay attention to the corporate strategic related information and give full play to the reference role of strategic information in investment decisions.At the same time,external investors should rationally and dialectically understand the relationship between corporate strategic differences and accounting information quality.When investing the corporate which has greater strategic differences,they should choose the corporate which has higher audit quality,more analysts tracking and less environmental uncertainty to invest.The main contributions of the paper are as follows:Firstly,from the perspective of the relationship between corporate strategic differences and accounting information reliability,although the previous studies examined the influence of corporate strategic differences on earnings management behavior,they did not examine the influence and the mechanism of corporate strategic differences on the accounting information reliability.At the same time,the paper selects two indicators of accrued earnings management and information objectivity to measure accounting information reliability,and verifies the influence of corporate strategic differences on the accounting information reliability,and uses the intermediary effect method to verify the mediating effect of non-efficiency investment on the relationship between corporate strategic differences and accounting information reliability,and uses the adjustment effect method to verify the high-quality audit,analyst tracking and environmental uncertainty to adjust the relationship between corporate strategic differences and accounting information reliability,thus reveals the internal influence mechanism of the corporate strategic differences on the accounting information reliability,and complements and expands the related research of predecessors.Secondly,from the perspective of the relationship between corporate strategic differences and accounting information relevance,the predecessors' research examined from the perspective of stock pricing,but they did not examine from the perspective of accounting earnings persistence.The paper verifies the influence and mechanism of corporate strategic differences on the accounting information relevance from the perspective of accounting earnings persistence,and uses the intermediary effect method to verify the mediating effect of the operate risk on the relationship between corporate strategic differences and accounting information relevance,as well as verifies the influence of corporate strategic differences on the accounting earnings structure,and uses the adjustment effect method to verify the high-quality audit,analyst tracking and environmental uncertainty to adjust the relationship between corporate strategic differences and accounting information relevance,this will help to make up for the shortcomings of existing research.Thirdly,from the perspective of the relationship between corporate strategic differences and accounting information comparability,there is no literature to examine the relationship between the two.Based on the principal-agent theory,the paper firstly validates the influence of the corporate strategic differences on the accounting information comparability,and integrates the corporate strategic differences,management agency cost and accounting information comparability into the same research framework,and uses the intermediary effect method to verify the mediating effect of management agency cost on the relationship between corporate strategic differences and accounting information comparability,and uses the adjustment effect method to verify the high-quality audit,analyst tracking and environmental uncertainty to adjust the relationship between corporate strategic differences and accounting information comparability,thus reveals the internal influence mechanism of the corporate strategic differences on the accounting information comparability from the perspective of principal-agent,and complements the related research literature on the relationship between corporate strategic differences and accounting information comparability.Fourthly,from the perspective of the relationship between corporate strategic differences and annual report disclosure timeliness,there is no literature to examine the relationship between the two.The paper uses the annual report actual disclosure time lag to measure annual report disclosure timeliness,and validates the influence of the corporate strategic differences on annual report disclosure timeliness for the first time,and incorporates the corporate strategic differences,audit report time lag and annual report disclosure timeliness into the same research framework,and uses the intermediary effect method to verify the mediating effect of audit report time lag on the relationship between corporate strategic differences and annual report disclosure timeliness,and uses the adjustment effect method to verify the high-quality audit,analyst tracking and environmental uncertainty to adjust the relationship between corporate strategic differences and annual report disclosure timeliness,this will expands the related research of economic consequences of the corporate strategic differences and the influencing factors of the annual report disclosure timeliness. |
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