会计师事务所合并对审计风格的影响研究

Research on the Effect of Accounting Firm Mergers on Auditor Style

本文以会计师事务所同行业审计客户间的会计信息可比性来衡量事务所的审计风格,以2003~2015年的会计师事务所合并事项为研究样本,从横向和纵向两个不同角度,讨论了事务所合并对其审计风格的影响。结果发现,合并当年,合并后存续事务所的审计风格显著弱于无合并样本,也显著弱于参与合并各事务所合并前一年的平均水平。但是,合并对审计风格的这种负面影响在合并次年就不再显著。进一步的经验证据表明,合并前各事务所的规模差异会影响合并后事务所的审计风格变化。相比之下,强强合并整合速度最快,强弱合并次之,弱弱合并最慢。本文的政策含义是事务所合并对审计质量的可能影响是短期的,通过合并"做大"可以在一定程度上推动其"做强";在这个过程中,知识转移难度和知识接受能力是影响合并效果的重要因素。

Using information of accounting firm mergers happened during the period from 2003 to 2015, this paper studies on the effect of accounting firm mergers on auditor style by comparative and consequence analysis. The results indicate that in the period immediately subsequent to the merger, compared with the firms without merger or the pre-merger firms, the successor firms＇ auditor style is significantly weaker. However, that negative effect disappears in the next year of the merger. Further analysis shows that the size of pre-merger firms could influence the change of post-merger auditor style. Specifically, mega-mergers＇ auditor style is the strongest in the next year of the merger. The result implies that the effect of accounting firm merger on audit quality is temporary, and ＂becoming bigger＂ by merger could make the firm ＂stronger＂; in the merger process, an important factor for merger effect is the effectiveness of professional knowledge transfer among participating firms.