审计师可以为交易所提供监管线索吗?——基于年报问询与关键审计事项关系的证据

为探究独立审计鉴证与证券交易所自律监管这两种公司外部治理机制的关系，本文以2017-2020年我国A股上市公司为样本，分析发现，关键审计事项的披露数量越多，年报被实施问询的概率越高。这两种公司外部治理机制的互补关系主要体现在非常规关键审计事项对交易所问询内容的影响上。进一步分析发现，在具有行业专长的审计师组和正向异常审计费用组，审计师披露的非常规关键审计事项更能为交易所监管提供风险提示线索；当被监管企业盈余管理程度较高时，非常规关键审计事项为交易所监管部门提供监管线索的作用更加明显。研究验证了审计师与交易所监管部门之间在信息披露监管上存在互补关系，两者在提高上市公司信息披露质量方面存在更大的协作空间。     

代理冲突、董事会质量与“污点”审计师变更

当审计师因受监管部门处罚而致声誉受损时,公司变更"污点"审计师表明其对高质量审计服务存在较大需求。本文利用2002-2010年间被中国证监会处罚的会计师事务所及其上市公司客户数据,从代理冲突和董事会质量的角度,考察相关因素对上市公司变更其声誉受损审计师决策的影响。结果发现,就代理冲突变量而言,当原审计师受到处罚后,股权集中度与审计师变更之间呈显著正向关系,而财务杠杆及管理层是否持股与审计师变更之间没有表现出显著的关系;就董事会质量而言,董事会的规模、独立性和勤勉性与"污点"审计师变更之间均未表现出显著关联,仅是否同时设立四个专门委员会与"污点"审计师变更之间呈显著正向关系。     

本地审计师的合谋效应

本文结合公司的信息不对称程度,从审计收费与审计质量的角度来研究本地审计师的合谋效应问题。研究结果表明,异常审计收费降低了本地审计师对信息不对称程度高的盈余管理公司出具非标审计意见的概率,而并不会降低本地审计师对信息不对称程度低的盈余管理公司出具非标审计意见的概率,同时,异常审计收费也不影响外地审计师出具非标审计意见的概率,表明本地审计师与信息不对称程度高的盈余管理公司之间存在合谋行为;进一步研究表明,信息不对称程度高的盈余管理公司更可能选择本地审计师进行审计,从而为本地审计师的合谋效应提供了进一步的证据。     

所有权结构、公司治理与外部审计监督——来自中国上市公司的经验证据

本文选取所有权结构作为公司代理成本的衡量指标,以我国A股上市公司2002-2004年的相关数据为基础,从审计需求和审计供给两个方面对所有权结构与外部审计之间的关系进行了实证分析。实证结果表明,从审计的需求方来说,当第一大股东壕沟防御效应越强时越愿意聘请高质量的外部审计来缓解公司的代理冲突,减少代理成本;从审计的供给方来说,审计师在出具审计意见时较少考虑到上市公司所存在的代理问题,即当上市公司存在严重的代理问题时获得标准审计意见的可能性很大。但相对非四大来说,四大审计事务所在审计时能在一定程度上考虑到上市公司所存在的代理问题。因此,本文认为目前在我国的证券市场上,上市公司是愿意聘请高质量的审计师作为一种有效的公司治理机制的,但整个审计市场质量还不高,还不能充分发挥其应有的监督作用。     

审计师性别和审计质量相关性实证研究

本文以2007-2009年沪市公司为研究对象,实证分析了这些上市公司的审计师性别差异与审计质量之间的关系。研究发现,签字注册会计师中女性审计师占的比例越大,所审计的公司操控性应计越低,两个审计师如果都是女性其操控性应计最低;签字注册会计师中女性审计师占的比例越大,越可能签署非标意见,两个审计师如果都是女性,最可能签署非标意见。进一步研究发现,女性审计师签署非标意见受上一期审计意见、本期操控性应计和自身学历的显著影响。     

成本费用粘性对审计师行为的影响研究

成本费用粘性影响企业生存发展，而目前关于成本费用粘性的研究大多探讨其前置影响因素，对成本费用粘性经济后果关注较少。以2012-2021年沪深两市A股非金融上市公司为研究样本，本文检验成本费用粘性对审计师行为的影响。研究表明，成本费用粘性显著增加了审计师对被审计单位的审计收费，并且增强了审计师的谨慎性，审计师更加倾向于出具非标准审计意见。经过更换样本检验、自变量滞后一期检验、工具变量检验以及Heckman两阶段检验，结果保持稳健。进一步研究发现，较高的行业竞争程度和较低的内部控制质量，增强了成本费用粘性与审计师行为之间的显著关系。研究结论拓展了成本费用粘性经济后果的文献，填补了成本费用粘性与审计师行为关系的研究空缺，对审计监管部门规范引导审计市场发展、上市公司完善成本管理以及审计师优化审计程序提供了借鉴。     

与客户共享审计师能降低公司的财务重述吗?——来自中国上市公司的经验证据

与主要客户共享审计师是减少公司错报和提高审计质量的新机制。本文以2003-2013年间沪深两市非金融类上市公司为样本,对此进行了实证检验。研究结果表明,与主要客户共享审计师能够显著降低公司财务重述的可能性,尤其是降低与销售相关事项的财务重述;与来自不同地域的共同审计师相比,来自同一地域的共同审计师更能显著降低公司的财务重述。进一步的研究表明,上述共享审计师效应与公司及其客户是否来自同一行业无关,而与公司其他监督机制的强度显著负相关。上述研究结论为完善现行的审计制度和公司治理提供了经验证据。     

审计师变更与盈余管理关系的实证研究--来自中国A股市场的经验证据

通过对2001～2003年A股上市公司的实证研究发现:审计师变更与公司可操纵应计利润的增长具有显著正相关关系,且两者关系在不同年度、不同前期审计意见的情况下有所不同.这表明,一方面审计师变更影响到后任审计师的独立性,即公司能够通过更换审计师实现盈余管理的目标;另一方面,对前期非标审计意见的公司,审计师采取了较为谨慎的做法,且伴随着监管政策的逐渐强化,后任审计师的独立性逐年提高.     

盈余管理、信息风险与审计意见

盈余管理和信息风险是影响审计意见的两个重要因素。已有研究主要关注当期盈余管理与审计意见的关系,少有关注信息风险对审计意见的影响。本文运用我国上市公司的数据,同时研究盈余管理和信息风险对审计意见的影响。检验结果表明,公司的信息风险与审计师出具非标意见概率显著正相关,而当期盈余管理与审计师出具非标意见的概率无显著相关性。这表明,审计师出具审计意见时主要考虑信息风险,而没有证据表明审计师出具审计意见时考虑了盈余管理。本文的研究结论深化了已有审计意见和审计质量决定因素方面的研究。     

审计收费、审计师变更与意见购买

实证研究表明,虽然变更审计师增加了上市公司年报被出具非标准审计意见和审计意见恶化的可能性,但是审计师变更更为显著地提高了审计意见改善的可能性;审计收费异常增加与被出具非标准审计意见和审计意见恶化的可能性负相关.公司管理层在一定程度上可以成功实现审计意见购买的动机.此外,异常审计收费、审计收费异常增加和异常降低与审计师变更之间不存在显著的交互效应.     

Audit Effort and Stock Price Crash Risk

We examine how stock price crash risk is affected by audit effort, as measured by audit hours. Using a unique dataset of audit hours in China, we find that audit effort is negatively related to crash risk. The negative impact of audit effort on crash risk is more pronounced for listed firms that have higher inherent risks and weaker external monitoring of their information environment. Our findings are robust to various tests, including a two-stage regression analysis, controlling for listed firm-fixed effects and audit firm-fixed effects, and using alternative measures of crash risk. In addition to audit output measures, audit effort has an incremental influence on crash risk. The effects of audit effort on crash risk continue to hold after controlling for auditor industry expertise and auditor tenure.     

审计意见的决定因素：来自中国上市公司的证据

利用中国上市公司和相应会计师事务所2001—2003年的综列数据,本文研究了审计意见和会计师事务所规模、上市公司的风险和盈余管理等因素之间的关系。本文发现有破产风险的、进行盈余管理的或小规模的上市公司更可能得到非标准审计意见。如果它们又是大会计师事务所的客户,则得到非标意见的概率更大。本文不支持合资会计师事务所的审计质量更高的结论。     

Employee quality and audit fee: evidence from China

This study investigates the association between employee quality and audit fee. Using data for firm-level employee quality (as proxied by employee education) from Chinese listed firms from 2011 to 2018, we find that firms operated by high-quality employees enjoy lower audit charges. The association between employee quality and audit fee is more pronounced in firms with a culture of high integrity. Our 2SLS estimation helps us establish a causal link between employee quality and audit fee. The final validity tests suggest that high-quality employees contribute to lower audit fee by reducing audit risk and audit effort.     

独立审计、公司外部治理与真实经营业绩——来自中国上市公司的经验证据

独立审计是公司治理的重要外部机制,但考察独立审计治理功能影响公司真实经营业绩的文献还较少。从减少信息不对称、提升治理效率与决策能力角度,提出了一个独立审计的公司外部治理功能影响公司真实经营业绩的理论框架。选取事务所规模、审计收费和审计意见作为审计质量的替代变量,以我国2007年-2009年上市公司为样本,实证研究发现事务所规模及审计收费均与公司真实经营业绩正相关;审计意见对公司滞后一年的真实经营业绩没有影响,这可能与我国监管及诉讼制度不完善导致＂非标＂意见未给公司及其内部人带来显著成本有关。     

The impact of audit committee expertise on audit quality: Evidence from UK audit fees

Governance regulators currently place great emphasis on ensuring the presence of financial expertise on audit committees (Sarbanes-Oxley, 2002; UK Corporate Governance Code 2010–2016). Underlying this is a belief that greater expertise enhances the effectiveness of audit committees and, by extension, the quality of the external audit. This study investigates the impact of audit committee expertise on one measure of audit quality - audit fees paid by FTSE350 companies. Our analysis finds that audit committees possessing greater levels of financial expertise are associated with higher audit fees. When we segregate financial expertise between accounting and non-accounting, we find that the positive impact identified is driven by non-accounting expertise. Furthermore, when we separate FTSE100 and FTSE250 firms we find the impact of financial expertise is confined to FTSE250 firms. Our findings are important as they highlight the usefulness of segregating financial expertise between specialists and non-specialists, something which regulators in the UK and in the USA currently do not do. Our findings also highlight the potential value of audit committee expertise in smaller as opposed to larger listed firms, suggesting that the value of expertise to audit quality depends on the specific financial reporting challenges firms face.     

Audit Firm Ranking,Audit Quality and Audit Fees: Examining Conflicting Price Discrimination Views

In this study, we examine whether highly ranked audit firms in Iran, as determined by the Securities and Exchange Organization (SEO), earn a fee premium, firstly, by providing superior quality audit services or, secondly, due to reputation created by the ranking system implemented by the SEO. We employ price discrimination theory, and we test quality discrimination versus brand reputation explanations in the context of a unique institutional setting (where international audit firms are not allowed to operate). The data are derived from firms listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) for the period 2006 to 2015. Our results show that the quality of audit services (using all of our measures) provided by the highest ranked audit firms is not superior to that of the non-highest ranked firms. In addition, the audit fee models suggest that the highest ranked firms charge significantly more audit fees compared to lower ranked firms. We employ several sensitivity tests and the results do not change materially. Such findings go against the “quality-based price discrimination” view but support the reputation-based view, and make a significant contribution towards understanding the economic consequences of state-determined ranking of audit firms rather than allowing the market to determine quality differentiation.     

异地审计与审计定价——基于静态与动态视角的检验

地域特征是影响中国上市公司审计定价的重要因素。利用2004~2009年339家非金融行业上市公司组成的平衡面板样本,从静态和动态两个视角考察上市公司所在地与会计师事务所所在地的异同对审计定价的影响。研究发现,异地审计与审计定价显著负相关,中国证券市场确实存在"低价揽客"的现状。同时还发现,调整成本也是影响审计定价的重要因素。     

Audit effort and fees under concentrated client ownership: Evidence from four international audit firms

Using proprietary audit hour and fee data from the internal records of four Big Six firms in Finland, this study examines the influence of audit client ownership type on audit effort and fees. The primary argument is that there are differential effects of ownership concentration depending on the particular nature of concentrated ownership (i.e., firms in which the majority of shares are manager-owned versus foreign-owned versus state-owned). Consistent with this, the paper documents that audit hours and fees are lower for companies majority-owned by their management and higher for subsidiaries of foreign companies than for other firms. However, no difference between companies owned by the state or municipalities and companies with a more diverse ownership structure can be found. This suggests that governmental ownership is actually closer to a dispersed than a concentrated ownership structure in terms of audit quality.The results show that replacing the variable indicating majority-ownership with the variables capturing the type of a controlling owner increases the explanatory power of the models significantly, which demonstrates the importance of ownership type in the production and pricing of an audit. The findings have important implications for those examining audit markets with client firms owned by different types of controlling shareholders.     

Further evidence on mandatory partner rotation and audit pricing: a supply‐side perspective

This study examines effects of mandatory partner rotation (MPR) on audit fees of Australian‐listed companies. Using a fee changes approach, evidence of fee increases in year of the MPR driven by smaller offices of non‐Big 4 auditors is found, consistent with supply‐side resource constraint arguments. Broadly consistent findings are observed using a fee levels approach. Appointment of inexperienced partners to MPR engagements has no discernible effect on fees. Additional analysis of audit reporting lag indicates fee increases reflect additional audit effort as opposed to a pricing strategy. Overall, the evidence supports recent moves by policy‐makers to soften MPR requirements.     

事务所所有权规模对审计收费的影响及检验

根据中国2007~2011年全部A股上市公司的年报数据,从理论上分析了会计师事务所所有权规模对审计收费的影响并进行了实证检验。研究发现有限责任会计师事务所所有权规模与审计收费显著正相关,即随着事务所所有权规模的增大,审计收费也增大。研究同时发现,相对于私有产权上市公司,事务所对国有产权上市公司的盈余管理收取了更高的审计费用。