중국 상장기업의 ESG 경영과 이익조정에 관한 연구

Abstract

This study analyses the relationship between ESG activities and earnings management of Chinese listed companies, using a sample of 2,054 firm-year observations of companies listed on the Chinese stock exchange A market from 2004 to 2018. The study conducts a multiple regression analysis for ESG index provided by Bloomberg and the level of earnings management measured through discretionary accruals. As a result of the analysis, it is found that the higher the ESG index of Chinese listed companies, the lower the level of earnings management. In addition, ESG is subdivided into three dimensions: environmental, social, and governance. As a result of analyzing the relationship between the evaluation index and earnings management for each dimension, it is found that the higher the environmental or governance index, the lower the level of earnings management. However, social index is not statistically related to the level of earnings management. This indicates that the relationship between ESG activities and earnings management can differ depending on the sub-dimensions. In the case of Chinese listed companies, in particular, among ESG activities, environmental and governance dimensions appear to be closely related to the financial reporting decision-making. This study is the first to empirically analyze the relationship between ESG activities and earnings management of Chinese listed companies. The results of this study suggest that although ESG in Chinese listed companies was recently introduced, the government's top-down policy promotion has an overall effect on the actual implementation of ESG activities.