This study examines the relation between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and firm behavior to misclassify core expenses as special items in the income statement to inflate core earnings (i.e., classification shifting). We find that firms with good CSR performance (high-CSR firms) are less likely to engage in classification shifting than firms with poor CSR performance (low-CSR firms). We also find that high-CSR firms engage in less classification shifting even when they have greater incentives to meet earnings benchmarks. Overall, our results are consistent with the notion that socially responsible firms behave ethically in financial reporting.

本研究考察了企业社会责任（CSR）与公司行为之间的关系，将核心费用错误分类为损益表中的特殊项目以夸大核心收益（即分类转移）。我们发现，与 CSR 表现差的公司（CSR 低的公司）相比，具有良好 CSR 绩效的公司（高 CSR 公司）不太可能进行分类转换。我们还发现，即使高 CSR 公司有更大的动机来满足盈利基准，它们也很少进行分类转换。总体而言，我们的结果与具有社会责任感的公司在财务报告中的行为符合道德的概念是一致的。