声誉损失对会计师事务所市场份额影响的实证研究

An Empirical Investigation into the Impact of Blemished Auditor Reputation on Market Share

会计师事务所规模是否与审计质量成正比?声誉说认为会计师事务所规模越大,审计质量越高。而诉讼威胁论则认为只有在法制环境足够健全时,会计师事务所规模才与审计质量正相关。文章利用我国2003-2010年的上市公司审计数据检验了声誉损失对会计师事务所份额的影响,未能发现有系统性的证据支持声誉说。分析表明,在受到证监会处罚的事务所并没有出现系统性的失去客户或被迫降低审计收费的情况出现。鉴于这种情况,结合我国法制环境比较薄弱的现实,在将事务所规模与审计质量成正比的理论应用到我国审计市场时,应作特别谨慎的检验。

Does audit quality vary positively with auditor size？ The reputation hypothesis proposes that the larger the auditor is,the higher its service quality.However,another theory suggests that this kind of positive relationship can only hold when the legal environment is robust enough.This paper investigates into the impact of blemished auditor reputation on its market share by using the 2003-2010 auditing data of the listed companies in China,but fails to find evidence in support of the reputation hypothesis.The empirical analysis does not indicate systematic loss of clients or lowering of auditing fees charged by auditors penalized by China Securities Regulatory Commission（CSRC）.Considering the inadequate legal environment of China,we should be very cautious in putting into practice the theory that audit quality varies positively to auditor size.