Financial policy competition neutrality and cost of financing–An empirical study based on A-share listed companies

Abstract

The problem of expensive financing for firms, especially the high cost of financing, has become a major concern and research topic in the academic community. However, existing research has paid limited attention to the mechanism of financing cost reduction. Particularly, there is a lack of in-depth research into practical factors that can effectively reduce the financing cost of enterprises and enhance their financing efficiency. Based on the perspective of internal control quality, this paper empirically finds that competitive financial policy neutrality significantly reduces firms' financing costs, and meanwhile, the quality of internal control strengthens such inhibitory mechanism.