“非清洁”内控审计意见、资本成本与企业技术创新——基于投资者风险识别与补偿视角

“Unclean” Internal Control Audit Opinion, Cost of Capital, and Firm Technological Innovation: From the Investor Risk Identification and Compensation Perspective

基于投资者信息风险识别与补偿视角,以2010—2021年中国沪深A股企业为样本,研究“非清洁”内控审计意见对企业技术创新的影响及作用机制,结果发现,“非清洁”内控审计意见可以传递信息风险,与企业技术创新存在负相关关系,且对探索性技术创新的影响更显著。机制分析表明,投资者可以识别“非清洁”内控审计意见的信息风险并寻求价格补偿,通过提高资本成本,从而抑制企业技术创新。相较于债务资本成本,“非清洁”内控审计意见对权益资本成本的影响更显著。进一步研究发现,环境不确定性会强化“非清洁”内控审计意见与技术创新的负相关关系,而产品市场竞争缓解了这一关系。研究结果为投资者判定企业风险提供了依据,为认识“非清洁”内控审计意见在国家创新战略层面的信息风险价值提供了经验证据。

This study used a sample of Chinese A-share listed firms in Shanghai and Shenzhen between 2010 and 2021 to examine the impact that an “unclean” internal control audit opinion has on a firm’s technological innovation and the mechanism by which it achieves this innovation from the perspective of investors’ ability to identify and mitigate risk.This study found that an “unclean” internal control audit opinion can convey information risk and has a negative correlation with firm technological innovation, with its effect on exploratory technological innovation being more significant.The mechanism analysis revealed that investors can identify information risk from an “unclean” internal control audit opinion and seek price compensation, which in turn inhibits firm technological innovation through increased cost of capital.The impact on the cost of equity from an “unclean” internal control audit opinion is larger than the impact on the cost of debt.The negative relationship between an “unclean” internal control audit opinion and technological innovation was further investigated, and it was found that environmental uncertainty amplifies this relationship, while product market competition mitigates it.In addition to providing a foundation on which investors can evaluate firm risk, this study’s results also provide empirical evidence for assessing the information risk value of an “unclean” internal control audit opinion in the context of national innovation strategies.