实际控制人居于“幕后”会提高盈余管理程度吗——来自民营上市公司的证据

Will the Actual Controller Staying behind the Curtain Increases the Degree of Earnings Management? Evidences from Private Listed Companies

有关企业实际控制人行为的研究很多,然而,鲜有研究考虑实际控制人形式上不在公司担任高管但实际上居于“幕后”控制公司的特殊情况对公司盈余管理的影响。利用我国A股民营上市公司的数据,研究了实际控制人不担任公司高管对盈余管理的影响。研究发现,实际控制人不担任公司高管对真实盈余管理程度有显著的正向影响,而对应计盈余管理程度无影响。作用渠道检验表明,实际控制人增加现金分红、占用公司的资金和提高高管的在职消费会提高企业的真实盈余管理程度。进一步研究发现,在法制化水平较低地区的民营企业和媒体关注度较低、股权激励程度较低的民营企业中,实际控制人不担任公司高管对真实盈余管理程度的正向影响更显著。因此,监管机构要持续完善《公司法》中有关实际控制人权利与义务的条款,加强对实际控制人的监管力度和对实际控制人违规行为的处罚力度;利益相关者要主动识别和监督退居“幕后”的实际控制人的行为。

There are many literatures on the behavior of actual controllers in enterprises, but few studies take the impact of the special situation on the corporate earnings management into consideration, i.e., the actual controller does not formally serve as an executive in the company but in fact staying behind the curtain to control the company. Based on the data of China’s A-share private listed companies, this paper studies the impact of the actual controller not serving as a senior executive on the earnings management. The findings show that the actual controller not serving as a senior executive has a significantly positive impact on the real earnings management level, while no impact has been found on accrued earnings management. The result of the acting channel test shows that the actual controller will improve the company’s real earnings management level through increasing cash dividends, taking up the funds of the company, and increasing the on-the-job consumption of the senior executives. Further research finds out that the positive impact of the actual controller not serving as the senior executive in the company on the real earnings management level is more significant in the private enterprises with lower legal management or in the private enterprises with lower media attention and lower equity incentive level. Therefore, the regulatory agencies should continuously improve the clauses concerning the rights and obligations of the actual controllers in The Company Law,and strengthen the supervision on the actual controller and the intensity of punishment on the illegal behaviors of the actual controller. The stakeholders should also take the initiative to identify and supervise the behaviors of the actual controllers who are behind the scenes.