自愿性披露内部控制审计费用能够提高内部控制审计独立性吗?

Does Voluntary Disclosure of Internal Control Audit Fee Improve Internal Control Auditors' Independence?

关于审计费用的披露能否提高审计独立性,理论上有两种截然不同的观点。Dye(1991)认为审计费用披露有助于提高审计的独立性,这是因为在此情景下没有准租金去影响审计意见,而且公众可以评估审计师的独立性。然而,DeAngelo(1981a)认为审计费用披露并不会影响准租金,进而审计费用披露与审计意见无关。之前虽有档案式研究(Lai,2009)表明,财务报表审计费用的披露有助于提高财报审计意见的独立性,但是对内部控制审计费用披露与内部控制审计独立性之间的关系还缺乏研究。为此,本文以2011~2015年中国实施内部控制审计的公司为研究对象,分析内部控制审计费用披露对内部控制审计独立性的影响,以及这种影响是否会随着是否国际"四大"提供内部控制审计的差异而不同。研究结果表明,内部控制审计费用自愿披露显著提高了内部控制审计的独立性,并且这种影响在非国际"四大"会计师事务所提供的内部控制审计的公司中更显著。

Prior studies produce two completely opposite opinions on the question that whether audit fee can improve auditors＇ independence or not. Dye （ 1991 ） suggests that audit fee disclosure can improve auditor independence because there is no quasi-rent influencing audit opinions, and the public could assess the independence of the auditors. However,DeAngelo （1981a） suggests audit fee disclosure is irrelevant to audit opinion because quasi-rents could not be affected by audit fee disclosure. Although prior archival study shows that audit fee disclosure can indeed improve auditor independence （Lai,2009）, there is no evidence about the relationship between internal control audit fee disclosure and internal control auditors＇ independence. So with the sample of China＇ s A-share listed firms which is implemented by internal control audit from 2011 to 2015, this paper examines the effect of internal control audit fee disclosure on internal control auditors＇ independence and whether the effect is indeed different be- cause of the ＂Big Four＂ auditors. As a conclusion, the evidence suggests that voluntary disclosure of internal con- trol audit fee can improve internal control auditors＇ independence and the effect is more positive if internal control report is audited by non-＂ Big-Four＂ auditors.