Accounting integrity, borrowing capacity and corporate R&D input: Evidence from China

• Published in: Finance research letters 2024-04, Vol.62, p.105164, Article 105164
• Main Authors: Chen, Hanfang, Wang, Zhongjie, Chen, Zhangchi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Accounting integrity; Borrowing capacity; Corporate innovation; R&D input
• ISSN: 1544-6123; 1544-6131
• DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2024.105164

•Improving accounting integrity ensures the quality of accounting information in enterprises.•The facilitation effect of accounting integrity on corporate R&D input shows a single threshold effect, and the improvement of accounting integrity is increasingly conducive to corporate R&D input.•Accounting integrity increases enterprises’ chances of getting a bank loan and provides enterprises with financial support for R&D activities and innovation. Accounting integrity regulates market order, enhances corporate financial credit, and empowers corporate innovation. This paper explores how the construction of an accounting integrity system in micro entities affects and plays a role in enterprises’ R&D input policies and uses a panel threshold regression model to study the nonlinear relationship between the two empirically. By constructing a mediation model, we examined the mediating effect of borrowing capacity on the impact of accounting integrity on corporate R&D input and performed a robustness test. Our findings include: (1) improving accounting integrity ensures the quality of accounting information in enterprises; (2) the facilitation effect of accounting integrity on corporate R&D input shows a single threshold effect, and the improvement of accounting integrity is increasingly conducive to corporate R&D input; and (3) accounting integrity increases enterprises’ chances of borrowing capacity, alleviating the financing constraints of enterprises, and promoting enterprise innovation.