资本市场作为国民经济的重要组成部分，在全面推进中国式现代化的伟大征程中承担着至关重要的使命和责任。健康、高效的资本市场对推动经济持续发展具有不可替代的作用。而中国公司普遍在IPO前进行盈余管理的现象是长期困扰资本市场健康发展的顽疾，盈余管理作为上市公司合法进行业绩粉饰的重要手段，不仅影响财务报表的真实性和透明度，降低投资者对企业价值判断的准确性，而且进一步，盈余管理行为对企业后续经营业绩、股票价格会产生显著影响，导致企业上市后出现“业绩变脸”、“股价崩盘”等现象，扭曲了市场资源配置的功能，损害投资者利益，阻碍资本市场健康发展。基于此，有必要对盈余管理所造成的影响及背后的成因进行深入研究。
盈余管理的成因错综复杂，而在多维因素交织中，制度因素往往起到了决定性作用。注册制改革作为IPO发行制度的一项重要制度创新，其是否及如何影响IPO盈余管理是亟待回答的重要问题。
基于此，本文以2019~2021年间A股579个IPO事件为研究样本，在对科创板注册制如何影响IPO盈余管理行为进行理论分析的基础上，建立DID模型利用两个维度信息形成的交互项来识别其因果关系：第一是企业是否在科创板上市；第二是企业的潜在估值水平——潜在估值水平越高的企业在核准制下上市因定价管制而蒙受的损失越大，出于利益防御动机，盈余管理的缓解应越为明显。此外，我们还研究了企业上市前盈余管理行为对企业上市后经营业绩、股价表现的进一步影响。研究发现：（1）科创板注册制IPO公司相对于核准制IPO公司在上市前一年的正向盈余管理显著更少；（2）队列DID模型进一步证实，潜在估值水平越高的公司，注册制上市前的正向盈余管理也显著更少；（3）拓展检验揭示，潜在估值水平越高的公司，在上市后业绩变脸并发生股价崩盘的概率显著更低，说明注册制改革有助于保护投资者利益；（4）科创板IPO引入了承销商跟投机制，券商跟投比例越大，公司越可能在其限售股解禁时进行正向盈余管理。
本文的研究不仅进一步佐证了注册制改革的科学性和可持续性，为推进股票发行注册制改革，提高直接融资比重提供了数据支持，同时也拓展了盈余管理与资本市场改革的研究边界，为多层次资本市场新股发行规则的优化及财务信息质量的提升提供经验证据，对促进我国资本市场的健康发展具有积极贡献。

Capital markets, as an integral part of the national economy, bear significant missions and responsibilities in the great journey of advancing China's modernization. A healthy and efficient capital market plays an irreplaceable role in promoting sustained economic development. However, the prevalent phenomenon of Chinese companies engaging in earnings management before Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) has long been a persistent issue plaguing the healthy development of the capital market. Earnings management, as a legitimate means for listed companies to embellish performance, not only affects the authenticity and transparency of financial statements, reducing the accuracy of investors' judgments on enterprise value but also further impacts subsequent operational performance and stock prices post-listing. This distortion of market resource allocation functions damages investor interests and impedes the healthy development of the capital market. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct in-depth research on the effects and underlying causes of earnings management, and propose relevant solutions to ensure the effective operation of the capital market.
The causes of earnings management are complex, with institutional factors often playing a decisive role amid multifaceted factors. This paper first reviews the historical evolution of IPO issuance systems and pricing mechanisms and conducts theoretical analysis to explore the mechanisms between IPO issuance systems and earnings management. As a significant institutional innovation of IPO issuance systems, whether and how the registration-based reform affects IPO earnings management is an important question that needs urgent answers.
Based on this, this paper takes 579 A-share IPO events between 2019 and 2021 as research samples, conducting theoretical analysis on how the registration-based reform of the STAR Market influences IPO earnings management. Additionally, it establishes a Difference-in-Differences (DID) model, utilizing an interaction term formed from two dimensions to identify its causal relationship: first, whether the company is listed on the STAR Market, and second, the potential valuation level of the company. The higher the potential valuation level of a company, the greater the losses it incurs due to pricing controls under the approval-based system, thereby providing a stronger incentive for alleviating earnings management. Furthermore, we also investigate the further impact of companies' pre-listing earnings management behavior on post-listing operational performance and stock price performance. The study findings are as follows: (1) Companies listed on the STAR Market under the registration-based system exhibit significantly less positive earnings management one year before listing compared to companies listed under the approval-based system; (2) The cohort DID model further confirms that the higher the potential valuation level of a company, the significantly less positive earnings management there is before going public under the registration-based system; (3) Additional tests reveal that companies with higher potential valuation levels are significantly less likely to experience performance reversals and stock price crashes after listing, indicating that the registration-based reform helps protect investor interests; (4) The STAR Market IPO introduces a mechanism for underwriters' co-investment, and the larger the proportion of securities firms' investment in the IPO, the more likely the company is to engage in positive earnings management when lockup stocks expire.
This research not only further corroborates the scientific and sustainable nature of the registration-based reform but also provides data support for advancing the reform of stock issuance registration systems and increasing the proportion of direct financing. It also expands the research boundaries of earnings management and capital market reform, providing empirical evidence for optimizing rules for new stock issuance in multi-level capital markets and improving the quality of financial information, thereby making a positive contribution to promoting the healthy development of China's capital markets.