审计师—客户匹配度、审计师变更与审计费用

Auditor-client Consonance, Auditor Switch and Audit Fees

审计师—客户匹配度是影响审计师—客户关系重构以及审计定价行为的重要因素。研究发现:审计师—客户匹配度与未来审计师变更之间呈负相关关系,这说明如果公司与其审计师之间越匹配,未来发生事务所变更的可能性就越小;变更了审计师的公司,相较于变更前的匹配度,变更后的匹配度显著提高;审计师—客户匹配度越高,审计师所收取的审计费用越低,且非正常审计费用也越低;审计师—客户匹配度能够显著缓解审计师变更与审计费用间的正相关关系,说明较高的匹配度有效缓解了事务所变更所带来的审计收费的增加成本。这些结果表明,更为合理的审计师—客户组合对事务所和公司而言均具有重要价值。

Auditor-client consonance plays an important role in affecting the auditor-client relationship realignment and audit fee. The results show that auditor-client consonance is negatively related to future auditor switch, which suggests that the more compatible with a client the auditor is, the propensity of auditor switching tends to be lower. The auditor-client consonance score significantly improves after auditor switching. Besides, we also find that auditor-client consonance is negatively associated with audit fee and abnormal audit fee, and it mitigates the positive relationship between auditor switching and audit fee. Overall, these results imply that more compatible auditor-client relationship benefits both the audit firms and listed firms.