审计意见中的信息指标权效重构

Do Auditors Shift the Weight on Performance Indicators to More Favorable Measures?

代理人通过操纵信息来实现机会主义的行为已受到持久关注,本研究则考察在审计意见出具的过程中,审计双方不改变信息,但加重对自身更有利的指标的影响力的行为。以中国上市公司为样本的检验结果表明,会计业绩和市场回报都对审计意见具有解释力,当市场回报在同行业内相对于会计业绩的排序位置越差,其对审计意见的影响力也越大,同时,并没有证据表明,客户加强了表现较好的业绩指标的影响力。结果表明,表现较差的指标对审计意见的影响力得到增强,这可能源于审计方对执业风险的重视。进一步的测试表明,重构的效果随着公司业务复杂度的提升而下降,说明复杂的经营环境削弱了审计方的重构能力。综合结论为审计方的权效重构行为提供了经验证据。

This paper aims to investigate whether auditors shift the weight on performance indicators to more favorable measures.We find that both accounting earnings and market returns have impact on audit opinions. We also find that the worse the market return in relative to accounting earnings, the greater its influence on the audit opinion. We failed to detect any evidence which can prove that the clients focus on better performance indicator to strive for clean opinions. Finally, we find that the effect of auditors' shifting activities is impaired by the complexity of the client's business. Taken together, our results show that auditors focus on the poorer performance indicators when issuing audit opinions.