Abstract: The problems of difficult and expensive financing for private enterprises still exist in the new period of deepening financial reform, which have become serious challenges restricting the high-quality development of private enterprises. Promoting development through reform is a valuable experience of socialist market economy with Chinese characteristics. Therefore, to objectively measure the policy effects of financial reform and summarize the experiences is crucial for private enterprises to achieve high-quality development. This paper takes the establishment of the comprehensive financial reform pilot zones as a quasi-natural experiment to conduct an empirical study with the data of China’s A-share private listed companies and the difference-in-differences model. The results show that the financial reform has significantly promoted the high-quality growth of private enterprises, because the financial reform has improved both the“quality”and“quantity”of financial supply. To be specific, following the financial reform, the availability of credit to private enterprises is increased, the maturity structure is optimized to a certain degree, and the cost is significantly reduced. Further test shows that the policy effect of financial reforms is more pronounced in the growing and high-tech enterprises and in the regions with weaker financial regulation and higher level of marketization. As a result, it is necessary to continually deepen the financial system reform and optimize the financial environment for the development of private enterprises. Meanwhile, it is necessary to improve the supporting policies for the reforms, coordinate the regional financial development planning, and reduce the negative externalities of the reforms.

Key words: financial reform, private enterprises, high-quality development, financial supply