How Does a Company’s ESG Performance Affect the Issuance of an Audit Opinion? The Moderating Role of Auditor Experience

Green economic development is a new growth point for China’s economy. The reduction in environmental pollution and the practice of social responsibility are strongly advocated by society. ESG (environment, society, governance) is a new concept considering how companies achieve sustainable development. Do auditors pay attention to corporate ESG when making opinion decisions? This paper examines how ESG performance affects audit opinion decisions. The results show the following: (1) The better the ESG performance is, the lower the probability of a modified audit opinion on the part of the auditor will be. (2) Consideration of the auditor experience indicates that auditors who lack experience rely more heavily on information about a corporate ESG performance to make their opinion decisions. (3) The mechanism test demonstrated that a sound ESG performance improves the quality of its financial reporting, which, in turn, reduces the probability of the auditor issuing a modified audit opinion. These conclusions remain robust after considering a number of tests, such as changing variable measures and endogeneity issues. This research expands the study of the economic consequences of ESG from an audit perspective, providing new evidence regarding the importance that corporate management places on ESG performance and how market intermediaries use ESG information.