中国审计报告改革对审计质量的影响研究

Audit Report Reforms and Audit Quality in China

本文基于2015~2016年A+H股1企业及配对企业的年报数据,从应计盈余管理角度,应用DID-PSM2模型,探究2016年底颁布的《中国注册会计师审计准则第1504号——在审计报告中沟通关键审计事项》等12项准则(以下简称新审计报告准则)初次实施对审计质量的影响,并进一步引入2017年年报数据,追踪分析改革进一步扩张对审计质量的影响效应。研究发现,审计报告改革的首次实施对应计盈余管理具有显著的抑制作用,从而对应计盈余管理表示的审计质量有显著的提高,改革取得了初步积极的效果;而在进一步扩张到所有A股企业后,对于和A+H股有类似企业特质的A股企业(PSM样本)及国有A股企业的审计质量提高作用较为显著,但是对非国有A股企业审计质量的提高作用不显著,说明改革效果依旧存在局限性。通过替换因变量及假设调整改革时间进行重新检验,结果显示本文的研究结论是稳健的。

Based on the annual reports of A-and H-share cross-listed enterprises and a matched sample of enterprises in 2015-2016 and using the difference-in-difference(DID)and properpensity score matching(PSM)methods,this paper examines the impact of the initial implementation of the set of 12 new audit reporting standards contained in"Auditing Standards for Chinese Certified Public Accountants No.1504—Communications of Critical Audit Matters in the Audit Report"(hereinafter,referred to as the new audit reporting standards),which were issued at the end of 2016,on audit quality as measured by accrual earnings management.In addition,we use the latest 2017 annual reports to further analyze the impact of subsequent implementation of the reforms on audit quality.We find that the initial implementation of the reforms significantly inhibits accrual earnings management,indicating significant improvement in audit quality and initial success of the reforms.Nevertheless,after the reforms are subsequently implemented to all A-share enterprises,we find differential effects of the reforms on state-owned and non-state-owned enterprises.Specifically,state-owned A-share enterprises like those A-and H-share cross-listed enterprises sharing similar firm characteristics experience significantly improvement in audit quality,whereas non-state-owned A-share enterprises experience little improvement.These results are robust to different measures of audit quality and effective reform dates and suggest that the reforms do not have an across-the-board effect on all listed enterprises.