scholarly journals ARE CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ACTIVE FIRMS LESS INVOLVED IN EARNINGS MANAGEMENT? EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM CHINA

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 504-516
Author(s):  
Oleh Pasko ◽  
Fuli Chen ◽  
Nelia Proskurina ◽  
Rong Mao ◽  
Viktoriia Gryn ◽  
...  

This paper investigates whether corporate social responsibility active (CSR active) firms operate dissimilarly from other firms in their financial reporting. Specifically, we examine whether the corporate social responsibility (CSR) attitude of a firm sways its reporting incentives, in respect of the extent of earning management. To test our predictions, we use a sample of 25,861 year-company observations, corresponding to 3538 Chinese listed companies, for the period 2009–2019. We find a significant positive association between CSR activity and earning management assessed by the level of discretionary accruals in Chinese listed companies. Moreover, we document that Chinese CSR active firms engage more in earnings management through discretionary accruals than CSR inactive firms. These findings are consistent with the opportunistic financial reporting hypothesis: advances in CSR used by managers to safeguard their position by evading scrutiny from stakeholder activists. This study contributes to the growing awareness among investors, stakeholders and researchers that we should distinguish between CSR active firms and socially responsible firms and that being the latter entail something more than just mechanically produce CSR reports.

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 632-652 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haijing Liu ◽  
Hyun-Ah Lee

Purpose This paper aims to verify the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on Chinese listed firms’ earnings management and tax avoidance. Specifically, this study investigates whether government-guided CSR implementation indeed drives firms to behave in a responsible manner by constraining earnings management and tax avoidance. Design/methodology/approach The paper analyses a sample of Chinese listed companies that are confronted with the unique situation of CSR being developed at a rapid pace by government-led policy and regulation. The study further investigates whether the effect of CSR on earnings management and tax avoidance is different for state-owned and private enterprises by partitioning the sample into these two subgroups. Findings The findings of this study show that government-guided CSR could be effective in reducing the firms’ earnings management and tax avoidance, even though the effect is limited to state-owned enterprises. Originality/value This paper provides new evidence on the relation of CSR with earnings management and tax avoidance in the Chinese context and sheds light on the importance of differentiating between the state-owned and private enterprises when studying the corporate behaviors of Chinese firms.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Panagiotis E. Dimitropoulos

Purpose Over the past decades, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been considered as a significant corporate strategy and also has been documented as a main information dissemination mechanism of corporations to shareholders, creditors and other external stakeholders. This fact makes the CSR activities and CSR performance interconnected with the quality of firms’ financial reporting. The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of CSR performance on the earnings management (EM) behaviour using a sample from 24 European Union (EU) countries summing up to 121,154 firm-year observations over the period 2003–2018. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a multi-country data set with various dimensions of CSR performance including indexes regarding workforce, community relations, product responsibility and human rights protection. The empirical analysis is conducted with panel data regressions. Findings Evidence supports the negative association between CSR and EM indicating that high CSR performing firms are associated with less income smoothing and discretionary accruals, thus with higher financial reporting quality. Practical implications Regulatory agencies in the EU could use the findings of the study for the improvement of the accounting framework via enhancing the use and publications of social and environmental responsibility information and reports. Social implications Also, the current paper could be of interest not only to academic researchers but also to potential and existing investors in European corporations. The negative association between CSR performance and EM could be used by investors in assessing the risk of firms and the quality and reliability of their financial information. Originality/value This is the first study within the EU, which considers the multi-facet characteristics of CSR on the quality of accounting earnings and offers useful policy implications for regulators and investors.


Author(s):  
Chih-Yi Hsiao ◽  
Hao-Wei Chen

This study focuses on a sample of Chinese listed companies from 2019 to 2020 to explore the relationships among corporate social responsibility, financial constraints, and financial performance. In addition, we discuss five factors affecting financial constraints. We also analyze the types of enterprises that can improve their financial performance by implementing corporate social responsibility keeping in mind the factors that lead to a high degree of financial constraint. The results indicate that: 1. The degree of financial constraints has a negative and significant impact on financial performance; 2. There is a reverse relationship between the degree of financial constraints and the effectiveness of corporate social responsibility measures; 3. Enterprises with high financial constraints (due to lower financial slack and revenue growth rates) can significantly improve their financial performance through the implementation of effective corporate social responsibility programs. 4. Enterprises with high financial constraints, caused by financial slack and revenue growth rate, can significantly improve their financial performance by implementing corporate social responsibility programs.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 4549 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.A. Gulzar ◽  
Jacob Cherian ◽  
Muhammad Sial ◽  
Alina Badulescu ◽  
Phung Thu ◽  
...  

The primary objective of this paper is to empirically examine whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) influences corporate tax avoidance (CTA) of Chinese listed companies. The study is based on a sample of 3481 firm-year observations from 2009 to 2015 using CSR ratings from the Rankins (RKS) corporate social responsibility ratings agency in China, and all financial data extracted from the China Stock Market and Accounting Research (CSMAR). The authors foundthat CSR is negatively related to the current and cash effective tax rate (proxies of corporate tax avoidance), suggesting that responsible firms are more involved in tax avoidance as compared to less responsible firms. Their findings are robust against different control variables. Additionally, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the paper is one of the first to document an empirical association between CSR and corporate tax avoidance of Chinese listed companies.


2012 ◽  
Vol 87 (3) ◽  
pp. 761-796 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongtae Kim ◽  
Myung Seok Park ◽  
Benson Wier

ABSTRACT This study examines whether socially responsible firms behave differently from other firms in their financial reporting. Specifically, we question whether firms that exhibit corporate social responsibility (CSR) also behave in a responsible manner to constrain earnings management, thereby delivering more transparent and reliable financial information to investors as compared to firms that do not meet the same social criteria. We find that socially responsible firms are less likely (1) to manage earnings through discretionary accruals, (2) to manipulate real operating activities, and (3) to be the subject of SEC investigations, as evidenced by Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Releases against top executives. Our results are robust to (1) controlling for various incentives for CSR and earnings management, (2) considering various CSR dimensions and components, and (3) using alternative proxies for CSR and accruals quality. To the extent that we control for the potential effects of reputation and financial performance, our findings suggest that ethical concerns are likely to drive managers to produce high-quality financial reports. Data Availability: Data used in this study are available from public sources identified in the study.


2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 519-539
Author(s):  
Zhao Duan ◽  
Yajuan He ◽  
Yuan Zhong

Purpose Based on the text mining tools, this paper aims to propose a new method to evaluate the subjectivity and objectivity of corporate social responsibility information disclosure. Design/methodology/approach The authors build up a text subjectivity evaluation model of corporate social responsibility reports through meta-analysis; a text mining is conducted to all sample CSR reports released by Chinese listed companies untill March 2016[1]. Furthermore, the authors made an overall and quantitative analysis of the situation which contained changing state, characteristics and abnormal value on the subjectivity and objectivity of information disclosure. Findings The results show that the subjectivity scores of social responsibility reports of Chinese listed companies are generally in a normal distribution. The diagram turns out to be a rising trend over the years and increases linearly from 2011 to 2013. Also, the industry heterogeneity and policy control are the main reasons for the formation of the differences, which are significant between different industries and different years. Originality/value This paper provides not only an important empirical basis for the research of corporate social responsibility but also a new idea for the non-financial information disclosure as well as objective evaluation of normative text.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document