This study examines the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance and accounting conservatism from the perspective of the stakeholder theory and also investigates the effect of research and development (R&D) intensity on the CSR performance-conservatism nexus. Our findings show that CSR performance is positively associated with a higher level of accounting conservatism, in which this association increases for firms with a high level of R&D investment, suggesting that conservative accounting policies are likely driven by stakeholder demand for accounting quality. These results confirm that CSR firms motivated by a commitment to socially responsible causes are inclined to provide conservative financial reports in response to stakeholders' demands for accounting quality, and even more so in situations where they heavily invest in relationship-specific assets. Overall, our findings provide a better understanding of why and how CSR performance relates to the level of accounting conservatism.
本文旨在從利害關係人理論的觀點,探討企業社會責任績效與會計保守性之關聯。此外,本文亦同時檢測研究發展支出對企業社會責任績效與會計保守性二者關聯性之影響。研究結果顯示,企業社會責任績效愈佳的公司,其會計保守程度愈高。本文進一步分析研究發展支出對企業社會責任績效與會計保守程度關聯性的影響時則發現,當公司研究發展支出投入的比例愈高,企業社會責任績效強化會計保守程度的效果愈明顯,此一結果揭示滿足利害關係人對會計資訊品質的需求可能是驅使公司採取穩健財務報導的原因之一。整體而言,本文提供了關於企業社會責任績效影響會計保守程度之具體證據。