Research on the Impact of Industrial Robot Application on Earnings Management

以工业机器人为代表的数字技术不断融入企业，改变企业的生产经营方式、管理模式和财务决策。因此，本文以2011~2019年中国A股制造业上市公司为研究样本，研究工业机器人对企业盈余管理的影响。实证结果表明：工业机器人应用显著降低企业盈余管理程度，并且进一步区分盈余管理方向发现：工业机器人应用主要降低的是管理层增加企业利润的向上盈余管理。路径机制检验表明：工业机器人应用主要是通过减少代理成本和提高信息透明度发挥抑制作用；内部控制强化了工业机器人应用对盈余管理的负向影响。异质性分析结果表明：企业规模越大，工业机器人应用对盈余管理的抑制效应更为显著。进一步分析发现：工业机器人应用对盈余管理的影响具体表现为生产成本操纵和费用操纵的降低。Digital technologies represented by industrial robots are continuously integrating into enterprises, changing their production and operation methods, management models, and financial decisions. Therefore, this paper takes the listed enterprises in China’s A-share manufacturing industry from 2011 to 2019 as research samples to study the impact of industrial robots on corporate earnings management and to construct a complete research framework. The results show that the application of industrial robots significantly reduces the degree of earnings management in enterprises, and further distinguishing the direction of earnings management reveals that the application of industrial robots mainly reduces upward earnings management by management to increase corporate profits. Path mechanism tests show that the application of industrial robots mainly exerts an inhibitory effect by reducing agency costs and improving information transparency; internal control strengthens the negative impact of industrial robot application on earnings management. Heterogeneity test reveals that this inhibitory impact is more significant in the enterprises which are larger. Further analysis shows that the influence of industrial robot application on earnings management is specifically embodied in the reduction of production costs manipulation and expenses manipulation.