会计师-客户关系与事务所变更

Partner-Client Relationship and Auditor Switches

本文研究会计师-客户关系如何影响客户对事务所的选择。研究发现,如果负责某家上市公司年报审计业务的签字会计师不再为原事务所签字或离开原事务所,那么由该会计师负责签字的上市公司更换事务所的可能性显著提高。尤其是当签字会计师跳槽到另一家具有证劵审计资格的事务所时,客户变更事务所的可能性更高。进一步地,当两位签字会计师任期不同时,如任期较长的签字会计师不再为该客户签字,客户换所的可能性更高。这些结果表明,紧密的会计师-客户关系能够帮助事务所留住客户,对事务所而言具有重要价值。

This study investigates the effect of a partner-client relationship on auditor switches. We find that a non-signing partner,especially one who is 'job-hopping',has a significant effect on auditor switches. Specifically,if a partner who was the signatory of a public company's annual report no longer signs for the accounting firm or leaves the firm,the public company that he or she signed for tends to change its auditor as well. Furthermore,we consider that there are usually two signing partners with different tenures for a client's annual report. Empirical results show that the non-signing partner can more significantly affect a client's auditor switch when he or she is the one with the comparatively longer tenure. These results imply that the partner-client relationship is valuable to accounting firms and will help with client retention.