非审计服务影响审计师独立性吗?——来自商誉减值的经验证据

Do Non-audit Services Affect Auditors' Independence?—Empirical Evidence from Goodwill Impairments

非审计服务对审计师独立性的影响问题长期以来备受各方关注,审计师独立性正受到商誉减值制度的挑战,目前尚缺乏从商誉减值角度研究非审计服务对审计师独立性影响的成果。以2007—2018年间沪深两市存在联合购买审计和非审计服务且商誉期末余额和商誉减值金额不同时为零的A股上市公司为研究对象,考察非审计服务与商誉减值之间的关系。结果显示:上市公司非审计服务费用及与总费用比重的大小与商誉减值的可能性及商誉减值金额之间存在显著正相关关系;国有企业非审计费用对商誉减值的正向影响更为明显。研究结论:在我国,非审计服务不会伤害审计师独立性及审计质量,国有企业审计师的独立性更强。

The influence of non-audit services on auditors’ independence has been concerned by all parties for a long time, and auditors’ independence is being challenged by goodwill impairments system. Now there is a lack of research results on the influence of non-audit services on auditors’ independence from the perspective of goodwill impairments. Taking A-Share listed companies that jointly purchased audit and non-audit services in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets from 2007 to 2018 but was zero when the closing balance of goodwill and the amount of goodwill impairments were different as a research object, the relationship between non-audit services and goodwill impairments is investigated. The results show that there is a significant positive correlation between the non-audit service costs and the proportion of total costs and the possibility and amount of goodwill impairments;The positive impact of non-audit costs on goodwill impairments of state-owned enterprises is more obvious. To draw a conclusion,in China, non-audit services do no harm to auditors’ independence and audit quality, and the independence of auditors in stateowned enterprises is stronger.