School of Accounting, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
School of Accounting, Guangxi Financial Vocational College, Nanning, Guangxi, China.
PLoS One. 2024 Mar 7;19(3):e0299643. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0299643. eCollection 2024.
We collect Chinese A-share listed companies from 2013 to 2022 as samples and use the multi-period difference-in-difference model (DID) to study the impact of multilingual ESG report disclosure on the enthusiasm of foreign investors. We find that Chinese companies disclose ESG reports in both Chinese and English stimulate the enthusiasm of foreign investors to hold shares. The main manifestations are the expansion of the company's foreign shareholding quota and the increase in the number of shareholders. Further research show that disclosure of multilingual ESG reports makes up for the readability of company annual reports for foreign investors. In the case of companies with poor analyst attention and comparability of accounting information, and companies that hire non-big four auditing firms to audit financial reports, multilingual ESG report disclosures are more positive for foreign shareholdings. The participation of the central investor service center in corporate governance is weak, the degree of regional cultural integration is low, and the disclosure of English ESG reports by Chinese enterprises is conducive to promoting the enthusiasm of foreign shareholding. The research conclusions provide theoretical guidance and empirical reference for enterprises to expand information disclosure methods to foreign investors and attract overseas capital investment.
我们收集了 2013 年至 2022 年的中国 A 股上市公司作为样本，采用多期双重差分模型（DID）研究多语言 ESG 报告披露对外国投资者持股热情的影响。我们发现，中国企业同时用中文和英文披露 ESG 报告，会激发外国投资者持有股票的热情。主要表现为公司的外资持股比例扩大，股东人数增加。进一步研究表明，多语言 ESG 报告的披露弥补了公司年报对外国投资者的可读性。在分析师关注度和会计信息可比性差的公司，以及聘请非四大审计公司审计财务报告的公司中，多语言 ESG 报告的披露对外资持股更为积极。中央投资者服务中心参与公司治理的程度较弱，区域文化融合程度较低，中国企业披露英文 ESG 报告有利于促进外资持股。研究结论为企业向外国投资者扩大信息披露方式、吸引海外资本投资提供了理论指导和经验参考。
