会计师事务所对职业责任保险的自愿需求:经验分析

Voluntary Demand for Professional Liability Insurance by Audit Firms:An Empirical Analysis

本文考察了2010-2012年间我国证券资格会计师事务所对职业责任保险的自愿需求。在我国注册会计师民事诉讼风险较低的环境下,样本期内仍有58.8%的会计师事务所自愿购买了职业责任保险。我们发现,在控制了事务所法律风险水平及其他风险防御机制的情况下,会计师事务所规模越大,其自愿购买职业责任保险的倾向越强;在购买了职业责任保险的事务所中,会计师事务所规模越大,其投入的保险费用越多。上述发现提供了会计师事务所准租越多则越注重保护自身财富的直接证据。此外我们还发现,近年来会计师事务所在保险合约中附加追溯期的倾向显著增强,追溯期间也显著更长。

This study examines voluntary demand for professional liability insurance( PLI) by Chinese accounting firms with the license to audit listed companies during the period 2010- 2012. In China's weak environment of civil lawsuit for auditors,58. 8 percent of audit firms still voluntarily purchase the PLI during the sample period. We find that after controlling for audit firms' litigation risk and the alternative risk- mitigating measure,there is still a significant and positive association between audit firm size and the propensity to purchase PLI. Moreover,among audit firms who purchase PLI,the larger an audit firm,the greater is the amount of insurance premium. Our study contributes to the literature by providing direct evidence on a positive association between audit firm quasi- rents and the awareness to protect oneself wealth. We also document an increasing demand during our sample period by audit firms to adhere a retrospective period of PLI( and a longer retrospective period as well) to the insurance contract.