Corporate digital transformation, primarily driven by data and leveraging digital technologies and mathematical algorithms such as Internet+, big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and blockchain, is a crucial enabler of sustainable development. This transformation integrates various aspects of corporate production and operations, enhancing the level of digital operations and ultimately contributing to high-quality and sustainable development. This paper, based on data from listed companies in China’s A-shares from 2007 to 2021, theoretically articulates the intrinsic mechanism between corporate digital transformation and corporate governance level, with a focus on sustainability. It empirically finds that a higher degree of digital transformation correlates with an improved level of corporate governance, fostering sustainable practices. Further investigation reveals that digital transformation elevates corporate governance by enhancing innovation capabilities, reducing information asymmetry, and promoting sustainable strategies. This paper provides policy insights for promoting corporate digital transformation as a means to achieve sustainability goals and optimizing management’s corporate governance level for long-term sustainable success.

Underwriters play a pivotal role in the IPO process. Information entropy, a tool for measuring the uncertainty and complexity of information, has been widely applied to various issues in complex networks. Information entropy can quantify the uncertainty and complexity of nodes in the network, providing a unique analytical perspective and methodological support for this study. This paper employs a bipartite network analysis method to construct the relationship network between underwriters and accounting firms, using the centrality of underwriters in the network as a measure of their influence to explore the impact of underwriters’ influence on the distribution of interests and audit outcomes. The findings indicate that a more pronounced influence of underwriters significantly increases the ratio of underwriting fees to audit fees. Higher influence often accompanies an increase in abnormal underwriting fees. Further research reveals that companies underwritten by more influential underwriters experience a decline in audit quality. Finally, the study reveals that a well-structured audit committee governance and the rationalization of market sentiments can mitigate the negative impacts of underwriters’ influence. The innovation of this paper is that it enriches the content related to underwriters by constructing the relationship network between underwriters and accounting firms for the first time using a bipartite network through the lens of information entropy. This conclusion provides new directions for thinking about the motives and possibilities behind financial institutions’ cooperation, offering insights for market regulation and policy formulation.