The Impact of Accounting Information Quality on Corporate Labor Investment Efficiency: Evidence from China

Abstract

As an important part of the enterprise information system, accounting information plays a significant role in enterprise management decision-making. This study investigates the impact of accounting information quality on corporate labor investment efficiency. Using a sample of Chinese listed firms, we show that higher accounting information quality is associated with higher labor investment efficiency (i.e., a lower deviation of labor investment from the expected employment level justified by economic fundamentals). Firms with higher accounting information quality reduce underinvestment and overinvestment in labor by alleviating financial constraints and agency conflicts. Cross-sectional tests indicate that this effect is more pronounced among non-state-owned enterprises and firms with higher labor adjustment costs. The robustness test shows that our results are robust to alternative proxies, endogeneity concerns, and controls for non-labor investments. This study sheds light on how enterprise information systems influence management decision-making practices from the perspective of accounting information quality.

Keywords

Accounting information quality / labor investment efficiency / financial constraints / agency conflict / property rights / labor adjustment costs

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