政府管制、事务所规模与审计意见——基于我国SEO管制的实证研究

Government Regulation,Auditor Size and Audit Opinions:An Empirical Investigation from China's SEO Regulation

结合我国特有的SEO管制环境,从制度变迁的视角动态地考察事务所规模对审计意见签发的影响及其相应的监管后果。经验数据表明,事务所规模对审计意见签发的作用程度会随着SEO管制环境的加强而得到强化,表现为小型会计师事务所在管制环境变迁后显著的不倾向于签发非标意见,而监管者对这一行为在统计上并没有如同变迁前一样进行有效的识别。本文的研究不仅为深入理解事务所规模对审计意见签发的作用程度受制度变迁的影响及其监管后果提供了直接的经验证据,也为当前我国证券市场的改革提供一定的政策启示。

This paper aims to investigate the effect of auditor size on audit opinion decisions and its consequence for regulators in the institution of China＇s SEO regulation.Based on a sample of China＇s SEO applicants form 1998 to 2003,the paper documents that the probability of issuing modified audit opinions was significantly low for the small auditors after the revision of China＇s SEO regulation in 2001,but it was not true before that.Conversely,regulators actually took audit opinions issued by small auditors into account in the SEO approval process before SEO regulation was revised in 2001.By doing that,it will provide some direct empirical evidence and also policy inspirations for China＇s reform of stock market.