会计师事务所声誉能有效降低上市公司权益资本成本吗？

Can Accounting Firm Reputation Reduce the Cost of Equity Capital of Listed Company Effectively?

股权融资对上市公司至关重要,而信息不对称往往是公司融资成本抬升的重要因素之一,股票市场中介组织的重要作用之一就在于缓解上市公司与投资者之间的信息不对称。公司是否可以通过聘用声誉较高的会计师事务所来有效改善信息不对称程度从而降低其权益资本成本是值得关注的问题。本文通过我国A股在2002年至2012年间的1541家上市公司的数据,基于PEG模型和真实回报率方法计算上市公司权益资本成本,并通过不同方法衡量会计师事务所声誉,实证研究了会计师事务所声誉对上市公司权益资本成本的影响。实证发现,上市公司聘用的会计师事务所声誉越高,其权益资本成本越低。这表明会计师事务所声誉机制在我国已建立起来并有效发挥作用:声誉较高的会计师事务所能够有效改善上市公司与投资者之间的信息不对称,从而降低公司权益资本成本。

Equity financing is important to listed companies, and asymmetric information is one of the most important factors raising a company＇ s cost of equity. One of the most important functions of financial market intermediaries is to reduce the asymmetric information problem between investors and listed companies. May companies hire Accounting firm with high reputation to reduce the asymmetric information problem and thus reduce their cost of equity？ This paper integrates asymmetric information theory and reputation signal transfer theory, and combines audit reputation With the cost of equity of listed companies in an innovative way. Empirical results document a strong negative relationship between Accounting firm reputation and the cost of equity, and such relationship is both empirically and economically significant, which means Accounting firm reputation mechanism has been in effect in China.