融资约束、内部控制与企业避税

Financial Constraints,Internal Control and Corporate Tax Avoidance

当外源融资成本较高,而内部现金流又不充足,企业无法为有利的投资机会募集到所需资金不得不放弃部分投资项目时,便会陷入融资约束困境,导致管理层不得不削减现金支出或提高流动性。而避税在降低企业纳税义务的同时,伴随的是现金支出的降低。因此,企业可能会选择激进的避税,以缓解资金方面的困境。融资约束企业激进避税的动机可能会受到内部控制的约束,高质量内部控制可显著改善企业的信息环境、降低企业外源融资成本和管控税收违法风险,因而可能会弱化融资约束企业激进避税的动机。基于信息不对称理论,研究融资约束能否诱发企业激进的避税,考察内部控制能否抑制融资约束企业激进避税的动机。基于2008年至2014年中国上市公司的财务数据,以KZ模型度量融资约束,采用会计实际税率及其变体度量企业避税,采用普通最小二乘法多元回归方法实证检验融资约束能否诱发企业激进的避税,以及高质量内部控制能否抑制融资约束所导致的企业激进避税动机。研究结果表明,融资约束与企业避税程度显著正相关,在控制可能的内生性问题后,二者的正相关关系依旧显著;随着企业内部控制质量的改善,融资约束与企业激进避税之间的正向关系显著减弱。激进的避税是陷入融资约束困境企业改善资金短缺状况的替代选择,高质量内部控制能够有效抑制融资约束诱发的激进避税。从多个角度检验实证结果的稳健性,进一步分析发现,产权性质和金融环境的差别均不会影响上述结果。研究结果有助于学术界丰富和深化对融资约束经济后果、企业避税诱因以及内部控制作用机理等方面的认识,也能为税务机关、金融监管当局和企业提供有益的启示。政府应加快培育宽松和高效的金融环境,为企业和金融机构搭建有效的沟通渠道,拓宽企业融资渠道,简化企业融资手续,提高金融资源在企业间的配置效率;税务机关与融资约束企业之间应该建立灵活的协调沟通机制,理解和关怀融资约束企业面临的困境;推动内部控制制度在企业的全面实施,强化信息披露,改善信息环境。

When the cost of external financing is higher and internal cash flow is not enough,the firm might not raise enough funds for valuable investment opportunities and have to abandon some projects. Thus,firms with financial constraints might choose to cut cash expenditure or increase asset liquidity. Because tax avoidance is a poplar way of reducing cash expenditure,firms with financial constraints are more likely to adopt aggressive tax avoidance strategy. However,as formal system,internal control plays an important role in reducing firms＇ motivation of adopting aggressive tax avoidance. Because high quality internal control significantly can improve information environment,reduce external financing cost and decrease the risk of tax law violation,firms with high quality internal control should weaken the relationship between tax avoidance and financial constraints.Based on the theory of information asymmetry,this paper studies whether and how financial constraints is related to corporate tax avoidance,and explores whether internal control has a moderating role. Taking A-share companies listed on Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchange from 2008 to 2014 as the sample,using KZ model as a proxy for financial constraints and accounting effective tax rate for tax avoidance measurement,this paper tests whether financial constraints can induce corporate aggressive tax avoidance and investigates whether internal control can moderate the relationship between corporate tax avoidance and financial constraints. The research method is OLS multivariate regression.We find that financial constraints is significantly positively related to corporate tax avoidance,and the results is robust after controlling the potential endogeneity problem. With the improvement of firms＇ internal control quality,the positive relationship between financial constraints and tax avoidance becomes weaker. These results show that aggressive tax avoidance might be an alternative way for the firms trapped in financing difficulties,since high quality of internal control can significantly reduce the motivation of the firm to adopt aggressive tax avoidance strategy. We also test the robustness for above conclusions by various way. In addition,we find that both the difference of property rights and financial environment cannot affect above conclusions.This paper contributes to the literature on the economic consequences of financial constraints and provides an alternative explanation for the motivation of corporate tax avoidance and the function of internal control. It also has some implications for tax regulators,financial authorities and enterprises. The conclusion of the paper suggests that government should cultivate impartial and efficient financial environment,build effective communication channels for enterprises and financial institution. The government should also broaden the financing channels for enterprises to simplify the procedures,and improve the efficiency of resource allocation among enterprises. Tax regulators and firms with financing constraints should establish flexible coordination mechanism. Tax regulators should understand and help the firms facing financing constraints to solve the dilemma. It is also important to promote the implementation of internal control system,to increase the level of information disclosure and to improve information environment.