签字审计师与企业高管同姓会促使他们相亲相向吗?

Will the Surname Sharing of Auditors and CEOs Promote Mutual Intimacy and Favoritism?

"同姓"关系作为血缘关系泛化后所形成的拟亲关系,影响彼此的亲疏远近。文章以2004—2014年A股上市公司为样本,从审计意见和盈余管理的视角,研究CEO与签字审计师之间的"同姓"关系对审计质量的影响。结果显示,CEO与签字审计师"同姓"的公司更容易获得标准审计意见,公司的应计盈余管理显著减少,但真实盈余管理明显增加。进一步区分签字审计师角色后发现,CEO与审计项目负责人的"同姓"关系导致这一效应更为显著。研究还发现,CEO和同姓的签字审计师均为男性时,"同姓"影响较为明显。这些结果表明,"同姓"关系在一定程度上损害了审计质量。这为审计结果的研究提供了来自姓氏文化层面的经验证据。

Financial statements auditing is a significant mechanism to ensure accounting information quality,of which decision-making process is widely concerned by researchers. In recent years,the related research has increasingly emphasized the important role of non-business relationship between auditors and senior executives in the auditor’s behavior choices. As a kind of fictive kinship formed after the consanguinity extension,the surname-sharing relationship impacts intimacy and closeness. However,there has been no study on the influence of the relationship that signing auditors and CEOs are with the same surname on audit quality. Based on the panel data of A-share listed companies from 2004 to 2014,this paper studies the impact of the surname-sharing relationship between signing auditors and CEOs on audit quality from the integrated perspective of audit opinions and earnings management,further distinguishes the role difference,examines whether there is a discrepancy on the influential effect of audit quality in the context of the surname-sharing relationship between signing auditors with different roles and CEOs,and studies the gender difference on the effect. The results show that it is easier for companies,in which signing auditors and CEOs share the same surname,to get standard audit opinions,along with significant decrease in accrued earnings management and great increase in real earnings management. Further research finds that the effect is more prominent when CEOs and audit managers share the same surname,and there are significant gender differences on the effect of the surname sharing of auditors and CEOs. These results show that the surname sharing of auditors and CEOs damages audit quality to a certain extent. This paper provides a new perspective for understanding the signing auditor’s decision-making,and then understanding the influence factors of audit quality; meanwhile,it also provides new micro-evidence for the informal institutions＂embedding＂ into the formal ones.