Influence of company secretary characteristics on information disclosure violations: evidence from China

Abstract This study analyzed data from 1999 to 2015 on Chinese listed companies to examine the impact of the Company Law of the People’s Republic of China (2006) on company secretary characteristics and information violations. A cross-sectional estimation was used to explore the impact of the Company Law (2006) on the status and expertise of Chinese company secretaries and information disclosure violations. Propensity score matching addressed the endogeneity problem caused by sample selection bias. The results showed that the Company Law (2006) significantly enhanced the status and expertise of company secretaries, mitigating information disclosure violations among those with higher status or professional ability. However, the interaction of higher status and professional ability adversely increased information disclosure violations. Improvements in the status and expertise of company secretaries also led to increased internal replacements and reduced external punishment for errant company secretaries. These findings have implications for enhancing the quality of information disclosure and controlling future violations. They are valuable to regulators, boards of directors, and investors.