债务期限结构、产品市场竞争和审计收费——来自中国A股上市公司的经验证据

Debt Maturity Structure, Product Market Competition and Audit Fees：Evidence from China A-share Firms

本文以中国A股上市公司2003--2009年的数据为样本，实证检验了债务期限结构和产品市场竞争两项外部治理机制对审计收费的影响。研究发现在控制其他因素的情况下短期借款比例越高、产品市场竞争越激烈，审计收费越少，这表明短期债务和产品市场竞争提升了公司的治理水平，减少了会计师事务所面临的审计风险，从而降低了审计收费。进一步研究发现债务期限结构和产品市场竞争存在替代效应。本文的结论不仅提供了公司外部治理影响审计收费的实证依据，还为分析公司治理机制提供了一定的政策参考。

Using a sample of China＇s A-share listed companies during 2003--2009, this paper empirically investigates the impact of debt maturity structure and product market com- petition on audit fees. The conclusion indicates both short-term debt ratio and product market competition are negatively related with audit fees, which reveals these two factors have a pos- itive effect on corporate governance. Furthermore, the governance mechanism of the short- term debt becomes weaker when the market competition gets more intense. The conclusion serves as a policy reference and also an empirical basis for the analysis of the corporate gov- ernance mechanism.