处罚力度是否会提高审计师对关键审计事项的披露程度?

Will the Intensity of Penalties Increase the Degree of Auditor Disclosure of Key Audit Matters?

为探究证监会监管处罚效应同新审计准则执行有效性之间的联系,以2016—2021年受到证监会处罚的审计师为研究对象,采用PSM方法,从执法和立法层面实证分析处罚力度对关键审计事项披露充分性的影响。研究发现:证监会对审计师的行政处罚会加大审计师再次被处罚的风险和诉讼风险,并使其声誉受损,为了降低风险和挽回声誉,审计师会付出更多的努力,因此,执法处罚力度越大,审计师对关键审计事项披露的充分性越高;由于新《证券法》在立法层面大幅加大了处罚力度,增强了审计师的责任感知,因此新《证券法》的修订增强了执法处罚力度对关键审计事项披露充分性的正向影响。进一步分析发现,在地区法治环境高、审计师具备行业专长、分析师关注度高的样本中,执法处罚力度对关键审计事项披露充分性的影响更为显著。研究结果为行政处罚的有效性及新《证券法》政策有效性提供了更多的经验证据,也为推进新审计报告准则的改革提供了路径。

In order to explore the relationship between the regulatory penalty effect of China Securities Regulatory Commission(CSRC)and the effectiveness of the implementation of the new audit standards,taking the auditors punished by CSRC from 2016 to 2021 as the research object,the PSM method was used to empirically analyze the impact of penalty intensity on the adequacy of the disclosure of key audit matters from the law enforcement and legislative levels.The results show that the administrative penalties imposed by the China Securities Regulatory Commission on auditors will increase the risk of further punishment and litigation,and damage their reputation;in order to reduce the risk and restore their reputation,the auditors will make more efforts;therefore,the greater the enforcement penalty,the higher the adequacy of auditors'disclosure of key audit matters.Since the new Securities Law significantly increases the punishment intensity at the legislative level and enhances the auditor's responsibility perception,the revision of the new Securities Law strengthens the positive impact of the enforcement punishment intensity on the adequacy of the disclosure of key audit matters.Further analysis shows that in the samples with high regional legal environment,auditors with industry expertise and analysts'attention,the impact of law enforcement punishment on the adequacy of disclosure of key audit matters is more significant.The paper provides more empirical evidence for the effectiveness of administrative punishment and the policy effectiveness of the new Securities Law,and also provides a path for promoting the reform of the new audit reporting standards.