债券市场开放能提高信息披露稳健性吗

Does Bond Market Integration Enhance Disclosure Conservatism?

本文利用2017年7月债券通的实施这一准自然实验,从季度财务报告和管理层业绩预告两个方面,探究债券市场开放是否能提高信息披露稳健性。研究发现,债券市场开放后,标的公司公告盈余和预测盈余的稳健性均得到提升。机制检验表明,境外债券投资者通过直接诉讼威胁和间接吸引境外机构和媒体关注来影响标的公司。横截面分析表明,对于评级低、民营性质、规模小、债券发行期限更长、以及发行条件更宽松的发债公司,债券市场开放的影响更显著。进一步研究发现,由债券通引起的信息披露稳健性上升有助于降低债务融资成本。本文丰富了债券市场开放经济后果的相关研究,充实了债权人影响信息披露文献,对后续相关政策制定具有借鉴和参考价值。

Using a quasi-natural experiment setting,i.e.,Bond Connect program implemented in July 2017,we investigate whether bond market integration enhances disclosure conservatism of both quarterly financial reports and managerial earnings forecasts.We find that firms subject to the program significantly increased their disclosure conservatism.Path analyses suggest that foreign bond investors affect disclosure conservatism through direct litigation threat as well as indirect attention from oversea institutional investors and oversea media.Cross-sectional analyses indicate that the improvement in conservatism is concentrated in issuers with lower credit rating,in private and small firms,as well as issuers with longer bond maturity,or with poorer issuance status.Furthermore,the increase in conservatism caused by this program leads to a lower cost of debt.Overall,our study enriches the literature on the economic consequences of bond market integration,offers evidence on the role of the foreign bond investors in firms’disclosure policy,and provides reference for subsequent related policy making.