政府环境审计对企业环境治理的影响研究

The Research on the Effect of Government Environmental Auditing on Corporate Environment Governance

基于合规性理论和受托经济责任观理论,本文分析了政府环境审计对企业环境治理的影响。以沪深A股上市公司的研究样本,通过构建政府环境审计指数,实证检验了政府环境审计的微观环境治理效应。实证结果发现,政府环境审计显著促进了企业环保投资水平的提高;审计机关的层级越高、地区法治化水平越高,政府环境审计对提高企业环保投资的促进作用越大。进一步分析发现,在规模更大的企业、重污染行业企业、非国有企业、有政府环保财政补助的企业和环保压力更大的地区,政府环境审计对提高企业环保投资的促进作用更大;政府环境审计通过促进企业环保投资显著降低了企业的权益资本成本。研究结论为政府环境审计的微观环境治理效应提供了经验证据,为完善国家环境监管机制助推生态文明建设提供了政策启示。

Based on the theories of legitimacy and accountability,this paper analyses the effect of government environmental auditing(GEA,hereafter)on corporate environmental governance.Using the Chinese A-share listed companies as our sample and by building the GEA index,we find that GEA significantly boosts corporate environment investment(CEI,hereafter),and the above association is more pronounced when the level of government audit institution is higher and the legal environment in the provincial area is better.Further analysis reveals that the positive effect of GEA on CEI improvement is more significant in firms with larger size,non-state-owned ownership(non-SOEs),and government environmental subsidies,in the heavy-pollution industries,and in the provinces with greater pressure on environmental protection.In addition,we find that GEA reduces corporate cost of equity capital by improving the level of CEI.Overall,these findings provide empirical evidence on the micro-effect of GEA on environment governance and have great policy implications for improving governmental environment supervision system to promote ecological civilization construction.