审计师群体、群际互动与审计质量——基于客户重要性的经验证据

Auditor Group,Intergroup Interaction and Audit Quality: Empirical Evidence from the Client Importance

长期以来,会计师事务所内分化出若干审计师群体的现象普遍存在。基于我国近年来发生的47起事务所合并事件,我们从客户重要性视角考察审计师群际互动对审计质量的影响。我们根据合并前会计师事务所的名称将合并前审计师区分为不同的审计师群体,再进一步根据合并前审计师的姓名将合并后审计师区分为相应的审计师群体。研究发现,相对于合并前,合并后客户重要性降幅越大,则审计师越倾向于出具严厉审计意见。在区分强势和弱势审计师群体后发现,合并前审计师群体间的平衡性越好,合并后客户重要性的降幅与审计意见严厉程度之间的正相关关系越弱。进一步地,在区分强势审计师群体的地域性和声誉后发现,合并前强势审计师群体的地域性越强以及声誉越差,则合并后客户重要性的降幅与严厉审计意见的可能性越不趋向于正相关。这些实证结果说明,审计质量不仅受到审计组织和审计师个体特征的影响,还取决于审计师群体间的互动。

The phenomenon that the auditor is differentiated by several subgroups in an audit firm has long existed.Based on the 47 mergers of audit firms in China,we investigated the effect of intergroup interaction on audit quality from the perspective of client importance.We find that compared to the pre-merger period,the greater the decrease of client importance is,the more likely the auditor tends to issue severe audit opinions in the post-merger period.When we distinguished the strong auditor group and the weak auditor group,we find the better balance of auditor group,the less likely the reduction of the client importance has positive effect on severe audit opinion.Then,when we distinguished the regionalism and the reputation of the strong auditor group,we find that the stronger the regionalism of the strong auditor group and the worse the reputation of the strong auditor group is in the pre-merger period,the less likely the reduction of the client importance has positive effect on severe audit opinion.The empirical results show that audit quality is not only influenced by the audit organization and the individual auditor,but also depends on the interaction between auditor groups.