非審計服務公費與委任風險對會計師獨立性影響之研究

The Research On The Effects of Non-audit Service Fees and Engagement Risk on Auditor Independence

呂倩雯(Chian-Uen Lu)

指導教授 ： 杜榮瑞

國立臺灣大學/管理學院/會計學研究所/碩士(2004年)

https://doi.org/10.6342/NTU.2004.10249

摘要

簽證會計師同時為其審計客戶提供非審計服務，是否會影響會計師之超然獨立的特性，倍受各界的注意。然而其實證研究結果尚無一致的結論。究其原因可能係出於研究設計之差異，或是遺漏對會計師獨立性具影響力的變數。
既有研究指出，委任風險對審計獨立性之仳離有制衡作用。因此，本論文企圖延伸既有NAS公費實證研究，將NAS公費與委任風險兩誘因結合，實證探討會計師是否會因NAS公費而願意妥協獨立性；另一方面，會計師是否因委任風險評估程度不同，決定是否維持獨立性。最後，本論文與既有研究最大不同處在於考量NAS公費與委任風險之交互作用項，以瞭解NAS公費收入與委任風險之交互作用是否對於會計師獨立性有顯著影響。
實證結果顯示，在不考慮交互作用項下，NAS公費佔審計公費比率愈高，並不必然使會計師明顯地給予管理當局較大的盈餘管理空間。但委任風險愈高，會計師則傾向抑制管理當局盈餘操縱空間。最後，本論文最重要的發現NAS公費與委任風險之交互作用會調節NAS公費對會計師獨立性之影響效果。本研究之結果，除了彌補台灣文獻在此一議題缺少實證證據外，相信對目前有關非審計服務對審計品質影響之爭議，能夠提供若干的參考價值。

關鍵字

非審計服務 ； 獨立性 ； 委任風險

並列摘要

It has been a major concern whether auditor independence may be negatively impacted if auditors perform nonaudit services for their audit clients. However, the results of empirical researches are mixed. It could be caused by different research designs or lack of influential variables on auditor independence.

According to existing studies, engagement risks could restrain the possibility that auditors are willing to sacrifice independence. This study therefore extends existing NAS related empirical researches by combining nonaudit service fees variables with engagement risks. It empirically examines whether auditors’ are willing to sacrifice independence because of NAS fees, and if auditors would decide to maintain independence in accordance with engagement risks. Specifically, this study takes interactions between nonaudit service fees and engagement risks into consideration in order to examine if interactions significantly influence auditor independence.

The results show no significant association between the ratio of NAS fees to audit fees and the absolute value of abnormal accruals, indicating that higher the NAS fees do not necessarily lead to auditors’ more willing to allow earnings management. However, there is statistically significant association between engagement risks and the absolute value of abnormal accruals. Auditors hence tend to suppress clients’ earnings management when faced with higher engagement risks. Lastly, the most importance finding in this study is interactions between NAS fees and engagement risks have significant influence on the absolute value of abnormal accruals, indicating interactions significantly moderate the influence of NAS fees on auditor independence.

並列關鍵字

Nonaudit service fees ； Engagement risk ； Auditor independence

參考文獻

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