Government auditing and urban energy efficiency in the context of the digital economy: Evidence from China's Auditing System reform

Government auditing plays a crucial role in enhancing energy efficiency and advancing green and low-carbon economic development. Given that audit oversight's quality and efficiency are influenced by the independence of auditing institutions, this study utilizes the vertical management reform of government auditing institutions as an exogenous shock, and empirically examines its impact on urban energy efficiency (UEE) using a Difference-in-Differences model (DID). We find that the audit reform improved UEE by 0.023 which is both economically and statistically significant. Concurrently, the audit reform and the development of the digital economy play substitutive roles in enhancing UEE. Finally, the results of the mediation analysis using the stepwise regression method indicate that the improvements in audit efficiency, green technology innovation, and energy structure optimization have mediated the promotion of UEE in the audit reform process, accounting for respective mediation effects of 4.35%, 4.35%, and 8.69%.