| At present,China is in an important period of economic transformation,the capital market is not fully developed,and financing channels are not smooth enough.Many enterprises in the initial stage of expansion cannot meet a large number of external financing needs,and financing constraints are common in enterprises.The change of China’s macroeconomic policy further aggravates the complexity of the external financing environment of enterprises.Due to the serious financing constraint problem prevailing in the market,it is often difficult to achieve the goal of maximizing the investment efficiency of enterprises,which leads to inefficient investment.As an important corporate governance mechanism,accounting conservatism will have an impact on the relationship between corporate financing constraint and its inefficient investment,namely: High accounting conservatism can alleviate the agency conflict between creditors and corporate management,thus improving external creditors’ trust in the company,reducing corporate financing costs,easing corporate financing constraints,and thus affecting corporate inefficient investment.At the same time,the investment and financing behavior of enterprises will inevitably be affected by the macro-economic environment.Especially when the macro-economic development speed slows down,the accounting conservatism level of enterprises will change,which will further affect the relationship among the financing constraints of enterprises,accounting conservatism and inefficient investment.Since 2008,due to the impact of the global financial crisis,the overall GDP growth rate of China has dropped from the original continuous growth rate of more than 10% to less than 7% in recent years,and the macroeconomic development speed has slowed down.Under the background of macroeconomic downturn,how does the financing constraint of listed companies affect the inefficient investment of enterprises? Accounting conservatism,as a key factor reflecting the quality of accounting information,will inevitably increase the complexity of the relationship between financing constraints and inefficient investment of listed companies.At this point,if the government releases economic stimulus policies,will the accounting conservatism level of enterprises be affected,and then the relationship between financing constraints,accounting conservatism and inefficient investment of listed companies change? In order to answer the above questions,this paper,based on the empirical data of A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2008 to2019,empirically tests the relationship between financing constraints of listed companies,accounting conservatism and firms’ inefficient investment.This paper further subdivides the research interval into two different periods with and without economic policy stimulus,and examines whether the stimulus of economic policy will affect the accounting conservatism level of listed companies,and then changes the relationship among financing constraints,accounting conservatism and inefficient investment of listed companies.The main conclusions of this paper are as follows:(1)Financing constraints significantly affect the inefficient investment of listed companies.Under the background of macroeconomic downturn,financing constraint has a negative correlation with over-investment of listed companies,and a positive correlation with under-investment of listed companies.On the one hand,when over-invested enterprises lack sufficient funds,enterprise managers are motivated to reduce their investment scale out of safeguarding their own interests and reduce the investment in negative net present value projects,so as to alleviate their over-investment.On the other hand,underinvested enterprises are often restricted by their own financing constraints to give up investment in some projects,thus exacerbating their underinvestment.(2)Accounting conservatism has a moderating effect on the relationship between financing constraints and inefficient investment of listed companies.When the speed of macroeconomic development slows down,banks tend to tighten lending scale and raise loan interest rate,making it more expensive for enterprises to borrow.Since the financing cost is crucial to the survival or development of enterprises,enterprises usually choose to improve the accounting conservatism level to reduce the borrowing cost of enterprises.In addition,banks usually require enterprises to have a higher level of accounting soundness to guarantee their credit security.Therefore,when macroeconomic growth slows,accounting conservatism of enterprises tends to be higher.Higher accounting conservatism will also enable enterprises to obtain more funds,thus easing their financing constraints.For over-invested enterprises,more credit resources will further aggravate their over-investment behavior.For underinvested enterprises,the easing of financing constraints will enable them to expand their existing investment scale.In conclusion,higher accounting conservatism will weaken the negative correlation between financing constraints and over-investment,and also alleviate the positive correlation between financing constraints and under-investment.(3)To further observe whether economic policy stimulus will affect the relationship between financing constraints,accounting conservatism and inefficient investment of listed companies,this paper finds that: Under the background of macroeconomic downturn,compared with the period with economic policy stimulus,the accounting conservatism of listed companies in the period without economic policy stimulus is higher,and the higher accounting conservatism weakens the negative correlation between financing constraint and over-investment,and also alleviates the positive correlation between financing constraint and under-investment.When the overall growth rate of the macro economy slows down,the country usually adopts economic stimulus policies to recover the economy.Stimulated by economic policies,the credit supply market is loose and the interest rate of corporate loans is reduced.At this time,enterprises can obtain the required funds without higher accounting conservatism.In contrast,in the period without economic policy stimulus,the threshold for enterprises to obtain financing is high and the financing cost is correspondingly increased.However,a higher level of accounting conservatism will reduce the financing cost of enterprises and ease the degree of financing constraints.Therefore,compared with the period with economic stimulus policies,the accounting conservatism level of enterprises is often higher in the period without economic stimulus policies,and higher accounting conservatism will alleviate the negative correlation between financing constraints and over-investment,and further weaken the positive correlation between financing constraints and under-investment.The empirical results can,to some extent,provide reference for listed companies to ease their financing constraints,effectively restrain their inefficient investment and improve the overall investment efficiency. |
