法規強制設立審計委員會之後,對於具財務背景之獨立董事之需求大幅提升,其中,從具有審計工作經驗及專業知識且從會計師事務所退職之員工為符合資格的候選人,然而因與查核小組間之熟悉度而有獨立性受損的疑慮。本文旨在探討審計委員會中前任關聯董事的存在是否會影響審計品質。利用臺灣非金融業上市櫃公司2014年至2019年的資料,本研究發現前任關聯董事的存在確實能降低裁決性應計數,但並未發現能降低重編發生機率及被出具修正式意見之結果。進一步分析,發現有前任關聯董事之公司,其查核報告出具天數較短,此結果支持前任關聯董事因熟悉查核工作之程序,有助於降低溝通成本、提高查核效率,進而提升審計品質。
Public traded companies’ audit committees are responsible for overseeing and evaluating the external audit firm and the regulation requires at least one financial expert on the audit committee. Therefore, former partners affiliated with the external auditor are potential candidates for audit committee appointments. This study examines whether the presence of affiliated former partners on the audit committee affects audit quality. The empirical results suggest that firms with affiliated audit partners have lower discretionary accruals, but we find no significant differences in the occurrence of restatements and issuance of modified audit opinions. Further analysis shows that firms with affiliated audit partners have shorter audit lags, consistent with more efficient audits. Our findings provide some support of the social identity theory which suggests that affiliated partners can use their knowledge of the audit firm to improve the audit process and the communication between the two parties.