企业金融资产配置、审计师识别与审计收费

Financial Asset Allocation, Auditor Identification and Audit Fees

近年来,实体企业配置金融资产已经引起了政府和学术界的广泛关注。金融资产配置既可能增大企业的经营风险,也可能帮助企业应对未来不确定性。本文以2008 ~ 2016年中国A股上市公司为研究样本,从审计师识别的视角,考察了企业金融资产配置对审计收费的影响,以及审计师是否能够有效识别企业配置金融资产的不同动机,从而收取不同的审计费用。研究发现,对于金融资产配置越多的公司,审计师会收取更高的审计费用。进一步分析表明,这样的关系在配置金融资产投机性更强的企业中更显著。此外,上述关系受到事务所行业专长和事务所独立性的影响。研究丰富了企业金融资产配置经济后果和审计师风险识别的研究成果,有关结论对上市公司和监管部门具有重要的参考价值。

In recent years, regulators and the academia has been widely concerned by real enterprises5 allocation of financial assets. Financial asset allocation may bring higher business risks to real enterprises or help real enterprises deal with future uncertainty. This paper studies the impact of financial asset allocation on audit fees from 2008 to 2016 based on a sample of A-share listed companies in China. The study finds that auditors charge more audit fees to companies that allocate more financial assets. Further analysis shows that this relationship is more pronounced in companies that allocate financial assets more speculatively. Meanwhile, this relationship is influenced by auditors9 industry expertise and auditors' independence. Our study enriches the literature on the economic consequences of financial asset allocation and auditors5 risk identification, which provides important reference for listed companies and regulators.