Research On The Impact Of Government Regulation And Internal Control On Voluntary Environmental Information Disclosure

In recent years,with the frequent occurrence of environmental pollution problems,the Chinese government has become more and more aware of the role of environmental information disclosure in environmental protection and governance.The "13th Five-Year Plan" clearly stated that it is necessary to strengthen the construction of ecological civilization and put forward the requirements for strengthening supervision and improving the system.Since the introduction of?the Guidelines for Environmental Information Disclosure of Listed Companies?,more and more heavily polluting enterprises have actively disclosed environmental information,which has increased the public's awareness of the public.From the perspective of enterprises,internal control is not only a self-discipline system of enterprises,but also an institutional system.It contains various spillover effects,whether this effect can be applied to corporate environmental information disclosure is a meaningful research topic.On the basis of previous research,this paper regards government supervision as an important factor affecting the voluntary environmental information disclosure of enterprises,and further examines the mediating effect of internal control effectiveness on the relationship between the two,so as to deepen theoretical understanding,it provides recommendations for internal control mechanisms and improved levels of environmental information disclosure.The research in this paper takes a sample of A-share listed companies in the heavily polluting industries of Shanghai and Shenzhen in 2011-2017,using literature research and econometric analysis.Through reviewing the literature on government regulation and voluntary environmental information disclosure,based on legality theory,social responsibility theory,stakeholder theory,public stress theory and principal-agent theory,construct a framework for government regulation,internal control,and voluntary environmental information disclosure.Based on the hypothesis of setting up a test model,the two variables of government regulation and internal control are combined to study the relationship between government regulation and voluntary environmental information disclosure,and whether the effectiveness of internal control has a mediating effect in the relationship between the two.Through the analysis of sample regression,mediation effect test and robustness test of the main variables,the empirical research results of this paper show that:Thehigher the government's supervision level of environmental information disclosure,the greater the possibility of the company's voluntary environmental information disclosure;Government regulation can promote the effectiveness of internal corporate control;The effectiveness of internal control plays a mediating role in the impact of government regulation on the disclosure of voluntary environmental information.In other words,government regulation as an external governance mechanism cannot directly exert the effectiveness of corporate governance.It needs to act on the company's internal governance mechanism to influence the effectiveness of internal control,which in turn enables the company to spontaneously improve environmental behavior and voluntary disclosure of environmental information.Finally,based on the above conclusions,the following suggestions are proposed:government regulatory authorities should strengthen the improvement of environmental information disclosure system and implement incentives and punishments;Enterprises should strengthen the construction and improvement of the internal control system of environmental management;Improve public awareness of environmental protection and effectiveness of social regulation.The research conclusions of this paper provide empirical evidence for stakeholders to understand the current implementation of corporate environmental responsibility and the government's effectiveness in defining its environmental control policies.It also enriches the academic literature in the field of corporate investment research and expands the research perspective of environmental information disclosure.