This paper examines the impact of negative corporate reputation on financing scale from the perspective of life cycle theory using the panel data of listed enterprises in China from 2007 to 2020. The study finds that negative reputation will generally inhibit the financing scale of enterprises. From the perspective of life cycle, the restraining effect of negative reputation on corporate financing is mainly reflected in mature and declining enterprises, and the impact on growing enterprises is not significant. The differences in the business objectives, action strategies and financing needs of enterprises in different life cycle stages are the main reasons for this result. In addition, the impact of negative reputation on state-owned enterprises and private enterprises also shows strong heterogeneity. A further investigation of the violating entities also reveals that the negative reputation generated by different violating entities also shows a big difference in the inhibitory effect on the financing scale. Therefore, it is necessary to further strengthen the restraining effect of the punishment mechanism on corporate violations, and the research in this article has certain enlightening significance for the design and improvement of the mechanism.