Since Fazzari et al.(1988),investment-cashflow sensitivity has been one of the most important indicators for testing and measuring the external financial constraints of corporations.This study analyzes the effect of changes in the relative cost of internal and external financing on investment decisions in response to tax changes.China's2004 VAT reform decreased companies' effective tax rates,leading to an increase in operating cashflow.This,in turn,reduced the internal cost of financing and the value of the tax shield and increased the cost of debt financing.This study shows that in the case of the VAT reform,investment-cashflow sensitivity increased significantly,whereas cash holdings-cashflow sensitivity and borrowing-slack sensitivity did not significantly change.We conclude that investment-cashflow sensitivity is not an effective measure of financial constraints under information asymmetry,but cash-cashflow sensitivity and borrowing-slack sensitivity may be useful alternatives.
稳健的会计信息报告环境是控制企业信息风险,进而维护投资者合理权益诉求的重要信息保障。利用Khan et al(2009)提出的衡量会计信息稳健性的C得分法,考察了会计信息发挥资本配置治理功能的制度环境基础。以投资者对企业现金资产定价衡量资本配置效率,研究发现会计信息披露越稳健的公司,投资者给予该公司持有的现金资产更高的市场定价,并且这一显著的正相关关系在处于发达金融发展环境地区企业中表现得尤为显著。研究表明,随着金融发展环境的改善,投资者更重视稳健的会计信息对资本配置效率基础性指导作用,该研究回答"谁需要稳健的会计信息"这一问题。
