政策不确定与审计师选择——基于省委书记更替的经验证据

Political Uncertainty and Auditor Choice:Evidence from the Provincial Official Turnover in China

考察省委书记更替带来的政策不确定性对审计师选择的影响。研究发现,省委书记更替时,事务所会提高审计质量,倾向于委派经验更丰富的审计师,尤其是拥有合伙人身份和执业经验丰富的审计师。省委书记更替对审计师选择的影响在国有企业、低市场化进程以及高盈余操纵的公司更为显著。进一步研究发现,事务所更可能对省级国有企业委派经验丰富的审计师,尤其是第一顺位的签字审计师。

The paper examines the effects of policy uncertainty caused by the provincial official turnover on auditor choice in China. We find that,the accounting firm tends to assign more experienced auditors in the year of provincial official turnover,especially those with partner status and rich practice experience. The effects of provincial official turnover are stronger in stateowned enterprises（ SOEs）,in regions with low marketization process and in case the client firms have higher discretionary accruals. We further find that accounting firms are more likely to delegate experienced auditors to the provincial SOEs,and especially the first-ranked signed auditor.