CSR Reports Disclosure,Accounting Information Quality And Financing Constraints

As a result of a series of documents released by the Shanghai Stock Exchange,the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and the SASAC,the listed companies in China have drawn much attention in fulfilling their social responsibilities and the number of CSR reports has also risen.Since financial reports are limited by their methods of identification,measurement and presentation,many important non-financial information can not be realized through financial reporting.The CSR Report is an important supplement to the financial report.It is a written expression vehicle for disclosure of corporate social responsibility such as environmental protection,production safety,and the protection of stakeholders' rights and interests.Both complement each other and jointly contribute to reducing information asymmetries between companies and stakeholders.In the imperfect capital market,the problem of risk premium caused by asymmetric information of funds and borrowers(that is,the high cost of financing)is a common predicament in the development of enterprises.Such a dilemma constitutes financing constraint,andfinancing constraint restricted the efficiency of enterprise resource allocation and value creation.According to the non-financial information disclosed by the enterprises,previous studies found that the disclosure of CSR information has a positive impact on establishing corporate image,maintaining corporate reputation,accumulating social capital,reducing financing costs and improving future business performance.It also plays a positive role in alleviating financing constraints.With the gradual development of China's market economy and the diversification and complication of economic activities,the correlation between accounting information and corporate macro-control and micro-management has become increasingly prominent.The influence of the quality of accounting information on the company's economic goals,plans,strategies,and decisions has also skyrocketed.High-quality accounting information can better help information users to make a comprehensive,reasonable and accurate evaluation on the business conditions and financial results of the enterprise,and restrict the management of the company from damaging various stakeholders,and improve the efficiency of capital allocation,and reduce the risk of uncertainty of the enterprise,andfacilitates corporate financing.Based on the above background and research results,this paper explores the relationship between the disclosure of CSR reports,the quality of accounting information and the financing constraints in order to give some suggestions to alleviate the financing constraints faced by enterprises.After seriously combing and summarizing relevant research literature of the predecessors,based on relevant theories,this paper takes a total of 10992 samples of listed A-share companies in China from 2011 to 2015 as the research object,and uses the cash-cash flow sensitivity model to make empirical analyze the impact of the disclosure of CSR reports reflecting non-financial information and the quality of accounting information reflecting financial constraints on financing constraints.The findings show that the disclosure of CSR reports can help to weaken the information asymmetry between the two parties,and strengthen the friendly cooperation between enterprises and various stakeholders,and maintain the corporate image and reputation,and enhance the competitiveness of products,and increase the investment of capital providers Enthusiasm,which can significantly ease the company's financial constraints.Due to the effectiveness of contracts and governance effects of accounting information quality,high-quality accounting information increases the authenticity and reliability of CSR reports,and accelerates the rate of external investors' perception and appraisal of CSR activities,and deepens the public recognition of CSR strategies,systems and practices,thereby enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of investors in grasping effective information in CSR reports,and improving the usefulness of decision-making on social responsibility information.Therefore,the positive interaction between the disclosure of CSR reports and the quality of accounting information shows a synergistic effect.That is,the negative correlation between the disclosure of CSR reports and financing constraints is strengthened with the improvement of accounting information quality.In addition,the same conclusion as the previous one is obtained after the robustness test of removing the sample of state-owned enterprises,using the other measure as the proxy variable of the financing constraint and adopting propensity score matching method to avoid the sample selection bias.Theconclusions drawn from this paper point out the direction for listed companies and regulators,and provide decision support for external investors.First,listed companies should enhance their awareness of CSR,and include social responsibilities in their corporate mission,culture,and strategy.They must also fully disclose their CSR reports while improving corporate social responsibility performance.Second,the government should promptly improve the disclosure system of CSR reports to ensure the comparability of disclosure information.Government regulatory authorities should establish uniform reference standards and consistent content formats as soon as possible to achieve meticulous management and standardized guidance on the disclosure of CSR reports,and require listed companies in different industries to disclose differentiated CSR reports.Third,the Company shall internally improve its CSR management system and establish a social responsibility supervision department or CSR committee to ensure the authenticity of the disclosure of CSR reportsat the source.At the same time,the company also introduce a social supervision mechanism and engage certified public accountants who have no interest relationship and relevant business capabilities to audit the CSR report to ensure that the disclosure of information is fair and fair.Fourth,enterprises should optimize the internal governance mechanism to promote the improvement of accounting information quality.Enterprises should establish a strict accounting information disclosure system and strengthen the professional ethics of accountants,and build a civil compensation system in the meantime and requirebusiness operators that provide false accounting information to make civil compensation for information users who suffer losses.