Lean accounting practices in Chinese listed companies: a Contingency Theory perspective
基于中国上市公司2014-2023年面板数据，研究发现精益会计实践能提升财务绩效、降低过度生产成本，且内部控制质量会增强这一效果，对管理者优化会计系统有参考价值。
Lean Accounting (LA) is increasingly adopted as a means to embed operational relevance into financial measurement systems, thereby improving the visibility of waste, flow, and value creation from an accounting perspective. However, its performance outcomes remain inconsistent and under-explored, particularly in the Chinese context. Drawing on Contingency Theory, this study develops and empirically tests a conceptual model to examine how LA practices influence firm financial performance, with overproduction costs acting as a mediating variable and internal control quality as a boundary condition. Using panel data from 27,991 individual company-year observations across multiple industries in China (2014–2023), we found that LA practices are positively associated with financial performance and negatively associated with overproduction costs. Further analysis confirms that overproduction costs partially mediate this relationship, while strong internal controls amplify both the direct and indirect effects of LA on performance. The study contributes to the production control literature by validating the role of LA in reducing costs and enhancing performance under specific contextual conditions.