客户离群、地域性知识与审计质量

Client Deviation,Regional Knowledge and Audit Quality

事务所与其他主体地理距离或事务所内部地理分散对审计质量的影响已被大量经验证据所证实,但鲜有文献实证检验事务所跨区域的客户组合地理特征对审计质量的影响。以2013—2018年A股上市公司为样本,研究事务所客户离群对审计质量的影响可发现:客户离群度越高,审计质量越低。机制检验表明,客户离群主要通过影响地域性知识溢出来影响审计质量。截面分析发现,当客户重要性越高、审计师为行业专家审计师、审计师与客户之间的铁路交通便利度越高时,这一效应越显著。进一步分析发现,对于现有(潜在)客户而言,其与客户组合的离群度越高,事务所辞聘(拒绝承接)该客户的概率越高,且当地市场竞争能够缓解客户离群对审计师辞聘的不利影响。

Numerous archival studies have examined the effect of geographic distance between audit firms and other entities or the geographic dispersion of audit firm branches on audit quality.However,there is a dearth of literature on the impact of the geographical characteristics of audit firms’ cross-regional client portfolios on audit quality.We use A-share listed companies in the period from 2013 to 2018 as a sample to examine the effect of cross-sectional client deviation on audit quality.The results show that the lower the client deviation,the higher the audit quality.Further analysis suggests that client deviation mainly affects audit quality by affecting regional knowledge spillover,and that the negative impact of client dispersion on audit quality is weaker when client importance is higher,the auditor is an industry specialist,and the convenience of railway transportation between auditor and client is higher.In addition,the possibility of auditor resignation(or refusal to accept the client) is higher for the current(potential) client when the dispersion of the specific client and other clients in the portfolio is larger.In particular,local market competition can mitigate the adverse impact of client deviation on auditor resignation.