CAS33 (2014) explicitly stipulates that the scope of consolidated statements shall be determined on the basis of “substantive control”. While this standard better reflects the “substance over form” principle, it also expands firms’ managerial discretion in consolidation decisions. Using data of China’s listed companies from year 2003 to year 2022, this paper investigates the impact of flexible consolidation behavior on stock price crash risk. This paper documents that the flexible consolidation behavior significantly increases the risk of stock price crash. The mechanism analysis shows that the deteriorating of financial information quality is one of the potential channels that flexible consolidation behavior affects firm’s stock price crash risk. Further analysis indicates that among companies with poor audit quality, low degree of marketization, fierce market competition and higher financial constraints, the impact of flexible consolidation behavior is more pronounced on the risk of stock price crash. This paper provides empirical evidence for comprehensively understanding and objectively evaluating CAS33, and helps improve China’s accounting standards for business enterprises.