公司金融化投资之谜:盈余管理抑或金融套利?

Financialization of the Company's Investment:Earnings Management or Financial Arbitrage?

近年来,上市公司金融化现象愈演愈烈,本文以2003~2015年A股非金融上市公司为样本研究金融化的驱动因素。结果表明,扭亏和平滑利润的盈余管理动机是公司金融化的驱动因素之一;金融业超出实业的经营利润差吸引实体公司投资金融业务进行套利,是驱动公司金融化的重要因素;而金融投资收益未必反哺主业经营。进一步研究发现,公司金融化程度越高,应计操控性盈余管理水平越低,表明金融化一定程度上替代了应计盈余管理,是一种真实盈余管理方式。公司存在利用增加负债加杠杆的方式博取金融收益的行为。公司金融化在市场化程度相对低的中西部区域更明显,这表明公司金融化存在区域性差异。本文研究为当前整饬金融行业乱象提供了微观企业层面的证据支持。其政策含义是,为防止公司主营业务空心化,需要破除金融行业获得超额收益的各种制度安排和土壤,方可促使上市公司回归主业经营,实现从套利型向创新型的转变。

The financialization of listed companies has become increasingly fierce in recent years. This article takes a sample of A-share non-financial listed companies from 2003 to 2015, investigates the driving factors of financialization. The empirical results show that earnings management motivation is one of the driving factors of financialization. The interest rate spread of the financial industry beyond the entity industrial attracts the entity company to make financial investment for arbitrage, which is an important driving factor for company＇s financialization. The financial investment income does not necessarily feed entity operation back. Further study shows that the higher degree of company financialization, the lower level of accrual earnings management. This shows that financialization partly replaces accrual earnings management and is a way of real earnings management. The company has the tendency to increase the liabilities for financial benefits. In the central and western regions where the degree of marketization is relatively low, the financialization phenomenon is more obvious. That indicates that there are regional differences in the financialization. The article provides the microscopic evidence to rectify excessive financialization. The policy implication is that it needs to break the pattern of financial monopoly, thus it can prompt the company to return to core business and make the transition from arbitrage to innovation.