Strengthening the Rule of Law, Social Network and Accounting Information Quality of Charitable Organizations: Evidence from the Enforcement of the Charity Law

Abstract

Abstract: The Charity Law of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the Charity Law) implemented in 2016 is the first comprehensive basic law for the development of philanthropy, which has ushered in a new era of governance of philanthropy according to law in a real sense. However, the impact of the legalization of philanthropy on the behavior of charitable organizations and the subsequent development of philanthropy has become a big concern to all sectors of society. The answer to this question can not only enrich the research horizon of the factors affecting the accounting information quality of charitable organizations, but also provide empirical evidence for the positive economic consequences of the legalization of philanthropy.
Using the enforcement of the Charity Law as an exogenous shock,this paper investigates the link between the rule of law and the accounting information quality of charitable organizations with a difference-in-differences model. The results show that the implementation of the Charity Law significantly strengthens the construction of the rule of law for charity, and greatly improves the accounting information quality of public-raising charitable organizations by 1.34%. The level of the accounting information quality increases more significantly when public-raising charitable organizations have fewer social network connections. Further analysis suggests that the positive impact of the Charity Law is more significant for charitable organizations with inadequate government supervision, social supervision, internal governance and self-supervision as well as charitable organizations which are more likely to fall into financial distress when found violating laws and regulations. Finally, the evidence indicates that the accounting information quality does affect the credibility of charitable organizations and further influence donors' donation decisions.
This paper has certain policy implications for the healthy development of philanthropy in the new era. Firstly, strengthening the rule of law in philanthropy helps to govern charity and reduce illegal behaviors of charitable organizations. Secondly, the strengthening of the rule of law and social network of charitable organizations have a certain substitution effect. Strengthening the rule of law can also make up for the lack of government supervision and social supervision, realize the interconnection of various external governance mechanisms, help the law enforcement and supervision departments to give full play to the advantages of various constraints or supervision mechanisms, and further restrict the accounting information manipulation behavior of charitable organizations. Thirdly, the strengthening of the rule of law helps charitable organizations to strengthen internal governance and self-supervision, and actively resolve the potential factors that may lead to financial distress. Finally, the improvement of the accounting information quality promoted by philanthropy rule of law helps to reshape the credibility of charitable organizations, give full play to the important role of philanthropy in the third distribution, and promote the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity.

Key words: Strengthening the Rule of Law, Social Network, Charity Law, Accounting Information Quality

摘要： 本文以2016年《慈善法》的实施为准自然实验,构建双重差分模型考察法治强化对慈善组织会计信息质量的影响。研究结果显示,《慈善法》的实施加强了慈善法治建设,使公开募集型慈善组织的会计信息质量显著提升了约1.34%。在社会网络关系较少的公开募集型慈善组织,会计信息质量提升的效果更加显著。进一步分析表明,慈善法治强化的积极影响主要体现在政府监督、社会监督、组织内部治理与自我监督不足的慈善组织,以及被发现违法违规行为时更有可能陷入财务困境的慈善组织。经济后果检验发现,会计信息质量确实有助于提升慈善组织的公信力,影响捐赠人的捐赠决策。本文为慈善事业法治化的积极经济后果提供了经验证据。

关键词: 法治强化, 社会网络, 慈善法, 会计信息质量

CLC Number:

F234.4

YANG Zhenzhen, CHANG Li. Strengthening the Rule of Law, Social Network and Accounting Information Quality of Charitable Organizations: Evidence from the Enforcement of the Charity Law[J]. Collected Essays on Finance and Economics, 2023, 39(5): 57-67.

杨真真, 常丽. 法治强化、社会网络与慈善组织会计信息质量——来自《慈善法》实施的准自然实验证据[J]. 财经论丛, 2023, 39(5): 57-67.

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