企业应用区块链技术影响审计师行为吗?

Does the Development of Enterprise Blockchain Affect Auditors’ Behaviors?

大数据、人工智能、移动互联网、云计算、物联网、区块链等数字化技术是数字经济时代的重要特征,它们虽互相关联却各有不同,因而上市公司应用不同的数字化技术可能对审计师行为产生不同的影响。已有研究侧重于上市公司数字化技术应用对审计费用的影响,且研究结论存在争议。文章以中国2016-2019年A股上市公司为研究样本,考察区块链技术在上市公司的应用对审计师行为的综合影响。研究发现,上市公司应用区块链技术后,审计师更倾向于出具非标准审计意见,并收取更高的审计费用,这表明企业应用区块链技术提高了审计师的谨慎性和审计定价水平。进一步研究发现,当审计师专业胜任能力较强、会计师事务所品牌认可度较高时,上述提升效应更明显;当被审计单位属于非高科技行业、研发人员较少或公司治理水平较低时,上述提升效应更明显。研究结果表明,在中国区块链应用的初期阶段,企业应用区块链技术可能使审计师感知到审计风险加大,导致审计师更加谨慎,投入更多审计资源,从而更倾向于出具非标准审计意见,并提高审计收费。

Big data, artificial intelligence, mobile internet, cloud computing, the internet of things, blockchain and other digital technologies are the most significant features of the digital economy era. They are connected but different from each other, therefore, the application of blockchain in listed companies may have different effects on auditors’ behaviors. Previous researches mainly focused on the influence of digitalization on audit fees, but there are controversies among them. This paper focuses on the comprehensive impact of the blockchain application in listed companies on auditors’ behaviors.We test this dispute by using the research samples of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2016 to 2019. The empirical results show that for listed companies with the blockchain application, auditors are more willing to issue non-standard audit opinions and increase audit fees, which means that the blockchain application has improved the auditor conservatism and audit pricing level. Further analysis finds that the positive effect of blockchain application on audit fees is greater in audit firms with stronger professional competence and higher brand recognition of accounting firms. For companies which belong to non-hitech industries, keep lower proportion of R&D personnel and present worse corporate governance, the positive effect is intensified. The above results indicate that in the early stage of blockchain application in China, the blockchain application in listed companies increases auditor’s perception of audit risks, thus they become more cautious,invest more resources, and ask for higher audit fees.