审计师和客户私人关系对审计质量的影响——基于两家内资事务所的跨案例研究

Exploring the Boundary Conditions for the Impact of Clients’ Personal Relationship with the Auditor on the Audit Quality:A Cross-Case Study Based on Two Local Accounting Firms

自1981年以来,中国审计师行业发展过程复杂而迅速。从国营时期的政府部门指派任务,到脱钩于政府后的“自力更生”,审计师面对的环境逐渐复杂,审计师和客户私人关系与审计质量之间的关系也在不断变化,作为衡量审计师独立性的重要维度,审计师和客户私人关系不能避而不谈。本文运用案例研究方法检验了二者的三个边界条件。基于公平理论、声誉理论和制度理论,从审计师所在事务所内部、事务所声誉以及所处制度环境三个层面分析了审计师和客户私人关系对审计质量的双刃剑效应。研究发现,当事务所内部各个维度较为公平时,审计师和客户私人关系会通过促进审计师与客户之间的信任与承诺、增加审计师与客户的合作效率及提高审计匹配度,提高审计质量,即公平感知抑制了审计师和客户私人关系滥用;反之,审计师则会存在懈怠以及违反职业道德的行为,引起审计质量下降。此外规模较大、名气较大的事务所更容易出现因滥用私人关系而导致审计质量下降的情景,名气较小、规模较小的事务所则较少出现此种情形。同时,通过对比我国不同时期的监管严厉程度,发现监管环境为审计师带来的惩戒风险也抑制了审计师滥用私人关系。

Ever since 1981, the auditor industry of China has undergone a complex and rapid developing process. From government assigning tasks in the state-operating period to the so-called “self-dependence” after being unhooked from governments, the environment an auditor faces tends to be more complicated and the relationship between the auditor-customer personal relation and the auditing quality keeps changing. As an important dimension to gauge auditor indepen-dence , the auditor-customer personal relationship should be discussed. In this paper, the case analysis method is used to test the three boundary conditions between the two and the double-edged sword effect of the auditor-customer personal relationship on auditing quality is analyzed from the interior of the auditing firm, the industrial position and reputation of the auditing firm and the system environment based on equity theory, reputation theory and system theory. According to the research results, when each dimension within the auditing firm is relatively fair, the auditor-customer personal relationship can improve the auditing quality and repress the abuse of the auditor-customer personal relationship through promoting trust and commitment between the auditor and customer, increasing cooperation efficiency between the auditor and customer and improving the auditing matching rate. Otherwise, the auditor may get slack or violate professional ethics, thus making a decline in auditing quality. Second, an auditing firm on a larger scale and higher popularity tends to cause a decline in auditing quality due to personal relations as compared with an auditing firm on a small scale and low popularity. Third, by comparing the severity levels of the supervision in different periods, we find that the supervision environment can bring more punishment risks to an auditor while repressing the abuse of the auditor-customer personal relationship.