独立董事、审计委员会与审计意见——来自中国证券市场的证据

INDEPENDENT DIRECTORS, AUDIT COMMITTEES, AND AUDIT OPINIONS： EVIDENCE FROM THE CHINESE SECURITIES MARKET

本文研究了独立董事、审计委员会与审计意见之间的关系。研究发现，在不存在终极控制人绝对控股的公司和审计任期短的公司，独立董事比例与公司综合业绩的交互项和非标准意见呈负相关关系，独立董事比例与盈余管理的交互项与非标准意见呈正相关关系。这一方面说明，随着独立董事比例的提高，审计师变得更加谨慎，在公司业绩下降时，以及对有盈余管理的公司，出具非标准意见的概率进一步增加：另一方面说明，独立董事只有在不存在终极控制人绝对控股的公司才能发挥作用，独立董事对审计任期短的审计师产生的作用显著。但本文并未发现审计委员会对审计师的报告行为有显著影响。

This paper studies the relationship among independent directors, audit committees, and audit opinions. A negative relationship is found between unclean opinions and the interaction between the proportion of independent directors and the comprehensive performance of the company, while a positive relationship is found between unclean opinions and the interaction between the proportion of independent directors and earnings management. The results illustrate that as the proportion of independent directors increases, the auditors become more cautious. The probability that auditors will issue unclean opinions is further increased with respect to companies whose performance is deteriorating and those who manage earnings. In addition, only in companies where no ultimate controlling shareholder has absolute control over the company can independent directors exercise their duties. We also find that independent directors can exert a significant influence on auditors with short tenure, but that an audit committee has no significant impact on the reporting activities of auditors.