IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2023i4p2770-d1057664.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can Government Environmental Auditing Help to Improve Environmental Quality? Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Xiaoyu Li

    (School of Accounting, Chongqing Technology and Business University, Chongqing 400067, China
    Research Center for Economy of Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River, Chongqing Technology and Business University, Chongqing 400067, China)

  • Jiawei Tang

    (School of Accounting, Chongqing Technology and Business University, Chongqing 400067, China)

  • Chao Feng

    (School of Economics and Business Administration, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030, China)

  • Yexiao Chen

    (School of Accounting, Chongqing Technology and Business University, Chongqing 400067, China)

Abstract

Promoting environmental governance to achieve green and low-carbon development is the focus of attention from all walks of life. As a policy tool to control environmental pollution, the effectiveness of environmental audits remains to be verified. Based on China’s provincial data from 2004 to 2019, this paper aims to examine the impact and mechanisms of government environmental auditing on environmental quality. Results show that government environmental auditing helps to improve overall environmental quality, but there is a certain lag effect occurring. The heterogeneity test suggests that the impact of environmental auditing on comprehensive environmental quality is more significant when the government competition is smaller, the financial situation is better, and the institutional environment is weaker. Our analysis provides empirical evidence for understanding the role and function of government environmental auditing in environmental governance.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiaoyu Li & Jiawei Tang & Chao Feng & Yexiao Chen, 2023. "Can Government Environmental Auditing Help to Improve Environmental Quality? Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-21, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:4:p:2770-:d:1057664
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/4/2770/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/4/2770/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Besley, Timothy & Case, Anne, 1995. "Incumbent Behavior: Vote-Seeking, Tax-Setting, and Yardstick Competition," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(1), pages 25-45, March.
    2. repec:eme:maj000:maj-08-2019-2378 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Biddle, Gary C. & Hilary, Gilles & Verdi, Rodrigo S., 2009. "How does financial reporting quality relate to investment efficiency?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(2-3), pages 112-131, December.
    4. Farman Ullah Khan & Junrui Zhang & Nanyan Dong & Muhammad Usman & Sajid Ullah & Shahid Ali, 2021. "Does privatization matter for corporate social responsibility? Evidence from China," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 11(3), pages 497-515, September.
    5. Cao, Hongjie & Li, Meina & Lu, Yuqi & Xu, Yang, 2022. "The impact of strengthening government auditing supervision on fiscal sustainability: Evidence from China's auditing vertical management reform," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 47(PB).
    6. Fan, Joseph P.H. & Wong, T.J. & Zhang, Tianyu, 2007. "Politically connected CEOs, corporate governance, and Post-IPO performance of China's newly partially privatized firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 330-357, May.
    7. Fawad Rauf & Cosmina L. Voinea & Nadine Roijakkers & Khwaja Naveed & Hammad Bin Azam Hashmi & Tayyaba Rani, 2022. "How executive turnover influences the quality of corporate social responsibility disclosure? Moderating role of political embeddedness: evidence from China," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 12(3), pages 527-551, September.
    8. Grossman, G.M & Krueger, A.B., 1991. "Environmental Impacts of a North American Free Trade Agreement," Papers 158, Princeton, Woodrow Wilson School - Public and International Affairs.
    9. Barbetta, Gian Paolo & Canino, Paolo & Cima, Stefano, 2015. "The impact of energy audits on energy efficiency investment of public owners. Evidence from Italy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 93(P1), pages 1199-1209.
    10. Wenfeng Wu & Chongfeng Wu & Oliver M. Rui, 2012. "Ownership and the Value of Political Connections: Evidence from China," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 18(4), pages 695-729, September.
    11. Mallick, Hrushikesh & Padhan, Hemachandra & Mahalik, Mantu Kumar, 2019. "Does skewed pattern of income distribution matter for the environmental quality? Evidence from selected BRICS economies with an application of Quantile-on-Quantile regression (QQR) approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 120-131.
    12. Huanhuan Xiong & Yi Li & Jialin He, 2022. "Construction and Application of the Evaluation System of Natural Resources Asset Accountability Audit of Officials: A Case Study of Jiangxi, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-20, January.
    13. Usman Mehmood & Salman Tariq & Zia ul Haq & Ephraim Bonah Agyekum & Solomon Eghosa Uhunamure & Karabo Shale & Hasan Nawaz & Shafqat Ali & Ammar Hameed, 2022. "Financial Institutional and Market Deepening, and Environmental Quality Nexus: A Case Study in G-11 Economies Using CS-ARDL," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-19, September.
    14. Gene M. Grossman & Alan B. Krueger, 1995. "Economic Growth and the Environment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(2), pages 353-377.
    15. Meng Luo & Shengwei Zhang & Lei Huang & Zhiqiang Liu & Lin Yang & Ruishen Li & Xi Lin, 2022. "Temporal and Spatial Changes of Ecological Environment Quality Based on RSEI: A Case Study in Ulan Mulun River Basin, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-19, October.
    16. He, Jie & Wang, Hua, 2012. "Economic structure, development policy and environmental quality: An empirical analysis of environmental Kuznets curves with Chinese municipal data," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 49-59.
    17. Sayed Saghaian & Hosein Mohammadi & Morteza Mohammadi, 2022. "The Effects of Agricultural Product Exports on Environmental Quality," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-11, October.
    18. Eric Avis & Claudio Ferraz & Frederico Finan, 2018. "Do Government Audits Reduce Corruption? Estimating the Impacts of Exposing Corrupt Politicians," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 126(5), pages 1912-1964.
    19. Ziqin Yu & Xiang Xiao, 2022. "Shadow banking contraction and innovation efficiency of tech-based SMEs-based on the implementation of China’s New Asset Management Regulation," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 12(2), pages 251-275, June.
    20. Gu, Guangtong & Zheng, Haorong & Tong, Lingyun & Dai, Yaxian, 2022. "Does carbon financial market as an environmental regulation policy tool promote regional energy conservation and emission reduction? Empirical evidence from China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    21. Zhang, Hua & Xu, Tiantian & Feng, Chao, 2022. "Does public participation promote environmental efficiency? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment of environmental information disclosure in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    22. Xiting Wu & Qun CAO & Xiaoping Tan & Liang Li, 2020. "The effect of audit of outgoing leading officials’ natural resource accountability on environmental governance: evidence from China," Managerial Auditing Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 35(9), pages 1213-1241, November.
    23. Zongke Bao, 2016. "Innovative behavior and the Chinese enterprise survival risk: an empirical research," China Finance and Economic Review, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 1-20, December.
    24. Li, Hongbin & Meng, Lingsheng & Wang, Qian & Zhou, Li-An, 2008. "Political connections, financing and firm performance: Evidence from Chinese private firms," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 283-299, October.
    25. Lin, Xiaowei & Chen, Sicen & Cheng, Xin & Wang, Jinmei, 2022. "Local government audit and municipal debt risk: Evidence from audit reform in China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    26. Li Feng & Ziming Chen & Haisong Chen, 2022. "Does the Central Environmental Protection Inspectorate Accountability System Improve Environmental Quality?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-16, May.
    27. Yongbin Zhang & Tanglei Song & Jihao Fan & Weidong Man & Mingyue Liu & Yongqiang Zhao & Hao Zheng & Yahui Liu & Chunyu Li & Jingru Song & Xiaowu Yang & Junmin Du, 2022. "Land Use and Climate Change Altered the Ecological Quality in the Luanhe River Basin," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-22, June.
    28. Wang, Miao & Feng, Chao, 2021. "The win-win ability of environmental protection and economic development during China's transition," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    29. Huixiang Zeng & Xuemei Li & Qiong Zhou & Lin Wang, 2022. "Local government environmental regulatory pressures and corporate environmental strategies: Evidence from natural resource accountability audits in China," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(7), pages 3060-3082, November.
    30. Huan Zhang, 2021. "Technology Innovation, Economic Growth and Carbon Emissions in the Context of Carbon Neutrality: Evidence from BRICS," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-22, October.
    31. Mounir Belloumi & Atef Alshehry, 2020. "The Impact of International Trade on Sustainable Development in Saudi Arabia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-18, July.
    32. Ren, Shenggang & He, Duojun & Yan, Ji & Zeng, Huixiang & Tan, Justin, 2022. "Environmental labeling certification and corporate environmental innovation: The moderating role of corporate ownership and local government intervention," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 556-571.
    33. Xi Zhang & Jiayu Zheng & Ligang Wang, 2022. "Can the Relationship between Atmospheric Environmental Quality and Urban Industrial Structure Adjustment Achieve Green and Sustainable Development in China? A Case of Taiyuan City," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-17, May.
    34. Nan Li & Beibei Shi & Rong Kang, 2023. "Analysis of the Coupling Effect and Space-Time Difference between China’s Digital Economy Development and Carbon Emissions Reduction," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-25, January.
    35. Liu, Ying & Feng, Chao, 2023. "Promoting renewable energy through national energy legislation," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    36. Lee, Chien-Chiang & Chiu, Yi-Bin & Sun, Chia-Hung, 2010. "The environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis for water pollution: Do regions matter?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 12-23, January.
    37. Haiyan Lu & Yanqiang Wei & Suchang Yang & Yunwei Liu, 2020. "Regional spatial patterns and influencing factors of environmental auditing for sustainable development: summaries and illuminations from international experiences," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 3577-3597, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Scott Colin & MacCarthaigh Muiris, 2023. "Ireland’s first state agency: A century of change in the range and scope of functions of the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General," Administration, Sciendo, vol. 71(4), pages 5-23, December.
    2. Liu, Junxian & Nie, Song & Lin, Tiantian, 2024. "Government auditing and urban energy efficiency in the context of the digital economy: Evidence from China's Auditing System reform," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 296(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sam, Abdoul G. & Zhang, Xiaodong, 2020. "Value relevance of the new environmental enforcement regime in China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    2. Jin, Xuejun & Chen, Zhenhao & Luo, Deming, 2019. "Anti-corruption, political connections and corporate responses: Evidence from Chinese listed companies," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    3. Matias Piaggio & Emilio Padilla & Carolina Roman, 2015. "The long-run relationshiop between C02 emissions and economic activity in a small open economy: Uruguay 1882-2010," Working Papers wpdea1506, Department of Applied Economics at Universitat Autonoma of Barcelona.
    4. Sabuj Kumar Mandal & Devleena Chakravarty, 2017. "Role of energy in estimating turning point of Environmental Kuznets Curve: an econometric analysis of the existing studies," Journal of Social and Economic Development, Springer;Institute for Social and Economic Change, vol. 19(2), pages 387-401, October.
    5. Haoran Zhao & Sen Guo & Huiru Zhao, 2018. "Characterizing the Influences of Economic Development, Energy Consumption, Urbanization, Industrialization, and Vehicles Amount on PM 2.5 Concentrations of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-19, July.
    6. Chen, Yunsen & Huang, Jianqiao & Xiao, Sheng & Zhao, Ziye, 2020. "The “home bias” of corporate subsidiary locations," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    7. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Haouas, Ilham & Hoang, Thi Hong Van, 2019. "Economic growth and environmental degradation in Vietnam: Is the environmental Kuznets curve a complete picture?," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 197-218.
    8. Hao, Yu & Zhang, Zong-Yong & Liao, Hua & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2015. "China’s farewell to coal: A forecast of coal consumption through 2020," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 444-455.
    9. Cull, Robert & Li, Wei & Sun, Bo & Xu, Lixin Colin, 2015. "Government connections and financial constraints: Evidence from a large representative sample of Chinese firms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 271-294.
    10. Li, Qian & Wang, Shihao & Song, Victor, 2023. "Product competition, political connections, and the costs of high leverage," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    11. Fawad Rauf & Cosmina L. Voinea & Nadine Roijakkers & Khwaja Naveed & Hammad Bin Azam Hashmi & Tayyaba Rani, 2022. "How executive turnover influences the quality of corporate social responsibility disclosure? Moderating role of political embeddedness: evidence from China," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 12(3), pages 527-551, September.
    12. Cao, Xiaping & Pan, Xiaofei & Qian, Meijun & Tian, Gary Gang, 2017. "Political capital and CEO entrenchment: Evidence from CEO turnover in Chinese non-SOEs," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 1-14.
    13. George Marbuah & Ing-Marie Gren, 2015. "Carbon Emissions and Social Capital in Sweden," Working Papers 2015.14, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    14. Zhang, Wenwen & Chiu, Yi-Bin, 2020. "Do country risks influence carbon dioxide emissions? A non-linear perspective," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    15. Eriko Miyama & Shunsuke Managi, 2014. "Global environmental emissions estimate: application of multiple imputation," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 16(2), pages 115-135, April.
    16. Fayrouz Bencheikh & Neila Boulila Taktak, 2017. "Political Connections and Debt Access: The Case of Tunisian Firms," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 7(3), pages 180-185.
    17. Zhang, Qianxue & Liao, Hua & Hao, Yu, 2018. "Does one path fit all? An empirical study on the relationship between energy consumption and economic development for individual Chinese provinces," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 527-543.
    18. Ali, Qamar & Yaseen, Muhammad Rizwan & Anwar, Sofia & Makhdum, Muhammad Sohail Amjad & Khan, Muhammad Tariq Iqbal, 2021. "The impact of tourism, renewable energy, and economic growth on ecological footprint and natural resources: A panel data analysis," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    19. Chiu, Yi-Bin, 2017. "Carbon dioxide, income and energy: Evidence from a non-linear model," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 279-288.
    20. Dellachiesa, Alejandro E. & Myint, Aung P., 2016. "Trade openness and the changing water polluting intensity patterns of ‘dirty’ and ‘clean’ industrial sectors," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 143-151.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:4:p:2770-:d:1057664. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.