Does ESG Performance Reduce Regulatory Inquiry? Evidence from Annual Report Inquiry Letters

In recent years, corporate ESG performance has attracted increasing attention from academics, investors and capital market regulators, and ESG has become an important driving force for sustainable corporate development in the future. This paper empirically examines the impact of ESG performance of listed companies on annual report inquiry letters by using a logistic regression model with a sample of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2015 ∼ 2020. The findings show that there is a significant negative correlation between corporate ESG performance and the receipt of annual report inquiry letters. This paper complements the research on the impact of ESG development level on capital market regulation in developing countries and provides stakeholders with a basis for decision making.