Research On Existence And Influence Factors Of Cost Stickiness And Cost Anti-stickiness Of Listed Manufacturing Enterprises In China

Cost behavior theory is the classical theory of management accounting, which assumes a strict linear relationship between cost and volume. According to cost behavior theory, the cost of enterprise and its business volume increase or decrease proportionally balanced. However, as further research into cost behavior step by step,the asymmetric cost phenomenon has become a new focus in the field of modern management accounting research. Cost asymmetry describes a nonlinear relationship between cost and volume, it includes cost stickiness and cost anti-stickiness. Cost stickiness refers to cost increase as business volume increase is greater than cost decrease as equivalent business volume decrease; cost anti-stickiness refers to cost increase as business volume increase is less than cost decrease as equivalent business volume decrease. Both cost stickiness and cost anti-stickiness challenge the traditional cost behavior assumption greatly, which pressurizes in-step improvement of traditional cost behavior theory so as to expand its scope of application.In order to explore the existence and the influence factors of cost asymmetry, this article selects manufacturing listed companies in China as research samples and gathers their related data information between 2010 and 2014 as the research object on the basis of literature review and theoretical analysis. The main conclusions are as follows:(1) Manufacturing industry in China show total cost stickiness, operating cost stickiness and General & Administrative Expenses stickiness, and the degree of them are different. The degree of General & Administrative Expenses stickiness is strongest,the degree of total operating cost stickiness ranks second, the degree of operating cost stickiness is the weakest.(2) With the change of time, the degree of cost stickiness present a volatility characteristics, and the amplitude of them are different. The volatility of General & Administrative Expenses stickiness degree is the largest, the volatility of operating cost stickiness degree is the least, the volatility of total operating cost stickiness degree is mediate.(3) Cost stickiness and cost anti-stickiness phenomenon exist in manufacturing listed companies in China. Overall, the number of companies that show the cost stickiness phenomenon is more, but cost anti-stickiness phenomenon should be also paid attention.(4) The larger the fixed assets ratio is, the larger degree of cost stickiness is, and the larger degree of cost anti-stickiness. Thelarger the fixed asset turnover ratio is, the smaller degree of cost stickiness is, and the smaller degree of cost anti-stickiness. The larger the employee intensity is, the larger degree of cost stickiness is, and the employee intensity and the degree of cost anti-stickiness there is no significant linear correlation. The larger the ownership concentration is, the small degree of cost stickiness is, and the employee intensity and the degree of cost anti-stickiness there is no significant linear correlation.