Based on the data of A-share listed companies from 2013 to 2022, the multi-period DID method and the central ecological environment protection inspection were used as a natural experiment to analyze the impact mechanism of the “combination of coercion and public participation” type of environmental accountability on the financialization of enterprises. The study finds that environmental accountability significantly inhibits the financialization of heavily polluting firms. Its path of action is realized through improving the quality of environmental information disclosure. Corporate technological innovation positively strengthens the inhibitory effect of accountability on financialization but does not modulate the mediating effect of information disclosure. The heterogeneity analysis shows that the inhibitory effect of environmental accountability is more significant under the high level of marketization and the strong linkage between the government and the enterprises.

central environmental protection inspectorate  /  environmental accountability  /  financialisation of businesses  /  intermediary effect