公司年报审计意见与独董发表异议——基于审计意见信息功能的考察

Annual Report Audit Opinions and the Dissents of the Independent Directors:Based on the Information Function of Audit Opinions

审计意见是第三方审计机构为上市公司出具的重要鉴证报告,能够向独董传递公司内部治理、经营情况的重要信息,辅助其发表独立意见。独董发表异议(说“不”)是其积极履行监督职能的重要表现。文章基于信号理论,运用2005-2017年A股上市公司的数据,研究审计意见对独董发表异议的影响。研究发现:独董积极监督过程中会运用审计意见作出判断;审计意见越好独董越不轻易说“不”的效应在具备财务背景的独董中更为显著;公司违规是审计意见影响独董说“不”的重要中介机制。研究结果证实了审计意见在独董说“不”过程中的信息功能,重新论证审计意见的有用性,拓展了审计意见信息含量及独董监督方面的研究。

Audit opinion is an important assurance report issued by a third-party audit institution for listed companies.It can convey important information about the internal governance and operation of the company to the independent directors and assist them to express independent opinions.It is an important performance for the independent directors to express their objection(saying"no")to actively perform their supervisory functions.Based on the signal theory,this paper uses the data of A-share listed companies from 2005 to 2017 to study the impact of audit opinions on the dissent of independent directors.It is found that independent directors do use audit opinions in the process of active supervision;the better the audit opinion is,the more difficult it is for the independent directors to say"no",which is more significant in the independent directors with financial background;company violation is an important intermediary mechanism for audit opinions to influence independent directors to say"no".The conclusion of the paper confirms the information function of audit opinion in the process of the independent director saying"no",re demonstrates the usefulness of the audit opinion,and expands the research on the information content of the audit opinion and the supervision of the independent director.