企业诚信建设与注册会计师审计意见

Corporate Integrity and the Issuance of Audit Opinion

在全社会强调传承诚信文化的背景下,已有文献研究了诚信建设带给企业的诸多后果,却鲜有研究从审计市场角度分析企业诚信的影响。本文基于诚信的三个基础因素“言”“行”和“言行不一致”,利用年报文本和监管处罚数据构建了企业诚信指标,分析了企业诚信对审计意见的影响与机制。研究发现,企业诚信降低了注册会计师出具非标意见的可能性,该现象在非国有企业中更加突出。企业诚信通过减少财务报告错报、抑制盈余操纵和加强内部控制的方式,最终影响了其对审计意见的判断。进一步地,当客户的应收账款和存货占比越高、客户越重要时,企业诚信更能减少非标审计意见出具。本研究有助于促进企业从审计市场角度理解诚信建设的重要性。

The existing literature has examined various economic consequences of corporate integrity in terms of transmitting the traditional culture of integrity,but very few studied the role of corporate integrity in the formation of audit opinion.In this paper,we develop indicators of corporate integrity based on the three basic factors"words","deeds"and"inconsistency between words and deeds"using annual report texts and regulatory sanction data and examine the relationship between corporate integrity and audit opinions.The results show that corporate integrity reduces the likelihood of modified audit opinions issued by auditors,and the phenomenon is more pronounced in non-state owned enterprises.The mechanism analysis reveals that corporate integrity reduces auditors'concerns about inherent risk and control risk by reducing financial reporting misstatements,mitigating corporate earnings manipulation,and improving the effectiveness of internal control,which ultimately affects audit opinions.Further analyses show that the impact of corporate integrity on the reduction of modified audit opinions is greater when the clients have more accounts receivable and inventory,and the clients'importance is greater.The paper helps to encourage firms to understand the importance of integrity from an audit market perspective.