Abstract: By making use of the data of China’s A-share listed companies from 2010 to 2015 and constructing the social network interaction model, this paper brings the peer effect into the accounting information decisions of listed companies and conducts an empirical test on the peer effect of accounting information quality. The findings show that there exists peers effect in the accounting information quality of the listed companies. The peer effect will lead low-quality accounting information to spreading among the peer enterprises even within the whole capital market, producing a social multiplier effect. Further study finds out that with the gradual increase of the duration of peer relationship, the positive influence of peer companies’ accounting information quality on the corporate accounting information quality will have an inverted U-shaped change that first increasing and then decreasing. The peer effect of corporate accounting information quality is not only unable to help the executives get higher pay in the next term, but also seriously undermine the value of the company in the future term.

Key words: peer effects; accounting information quality; social network interaction model