Influence of Financial Shared Services on the Corporate Debt Cost under Digitalization

Information technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence promote the development of the digital economy, accelerate the digital transformation of enterprises, and continuously facilitate the reform of enterprise production, organization, and management. This study takes Chinese A-share listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges as a sample to examine the influence of financial shared services on the corporate debt cost under the digitalization background based on the perspectives of stakeholders such as creditors, shareholders, and society. This study found that financial sharing can reduce the corporate debt cost. The path mechanism test finds that financial sharing reduces the corporate debt cost mainly by improving the quality of corporate accounting information and decreasing financial risk. The result shows that the effect of financial sharing on reducing the corporate debt cost is positively moderated by enterprise digitalization. Further analysis based on the stakeholder perspective shows that the effect of financial shared services on reducing the corporate debt cost is enhanced by the equity balance and social responsibility fulfillment. The findings provide insights and evidence on how to use financial shared services to improve debt management and enhance creditor protection in the digital context.