影響我國會計師終止財務報表查核委任之決策因素實證研究

An Empirical Study on the Auditor-initiated Termination of Financial Statement Audit in Taiwan

游子慧(Tzu-Hui Yu)

指導教授 ： 侍台誠

元智大學/管理學院/會計學系/碩士(2007年)

摘要

近年來國內、外接連發生多起重大的財務報導舞弊案件，使得廣大財報使用者（包括投資人及債權人）蒙受其害，舉凡美國於2001年發生安隆（Enron）、世界通訊（WorldCom）、全錄（Xerox）、泰可（Tyco International）及國內博達等公司財務報導不實及破產案件，造成社會整體損失之金額難以估計，令各界對於公司管理階層與簽證會計師之信賴幾近崩潰瓦解。

在會計醜聞頻傳，財報使用者要求嚴厲追究公司管理階層與簽證會計師之民、刑事責任的陰影下，會計師之接受委任決策便成為一重要的研究議題。惟國內以往有關會計師聘任的探討，多偏向於需求面研究，探究影響客戶主動更換會計師的因素，少有涉及會計師主動終止委任之決策研析，是而本論文擬以2001至2005年臺灣地區上市、上櫃公司向證券主管機關申報並公告之更換會計師資訊，及相關之財報與會計師查核報告等資料，探討臺灣地區會計師主動終止委任之決策因素。實證結果彙述如下：

一、 就會計師主動終止委任的可能性，與財務報表發生錯誤而查核人員未能查出，卻於事後被外界發現的機率（PM）之關連性而言：若受查公司當年度報導淨損、財報重編次數愈高，代表財務報表存有誤述的可能性愈高，因而會計師主動終止委任之可能性亦愈高。此外，會計師之查核年資越長，對其受查客戶較為瞭解，從而審定財務報表發生錯誤的可能性較低，會計師主動終止委任之可能性亦愈低。

二、 針對面臨較高查核錯誤成本以致原任會計師主動終止委任之樣本公司，探究新任會計師接受此一高風險客戶的可能性與查核人員是否具特定專業知識之關連性而論：遭致前任會計師主動終止委任之公司，其具產業專家之繼任會計師接受委任的可能性，伴隨著受查公司之風險等級上升而逐漸下降，亦即市場佔有率較高、位列前四大卅五大之會計師事務所，面臨高風險之受查客戶時，較有可能拒絕接受委任契約，以降低事務所所面臨之訴訟風險。

關鍵字

會計師更換 ； 會計師主動終止委任

並列摘要

In recent years, a great number of financial scandals, such as Enron, WorldCom, Xerox, Tyco International, and Procomp’s bankruptcy, etc., have not only surprised the worldwide capital markets, but also led to tremendous financial losses suffered by financial report users, including investors and creditors. These financial frauds resulted in the collapses of the credibility to the function of management and external auditing; thus strong voices of critical investigation into the criminal and civil responsibilities that the in-charge auditors should assume emerged. Consequently, when the law liabilities accelerated, the auditor alignment decision becomes a present and clear issue for the audit research. However, most of the prior research regarding auditor hiring was concentrated on exploring the demand-side decision factors of audit markets, especially concerning auditor switches initiated by the clients. Few papers examined the auditor termination decisions initiated by auditors. Therefore, this thesis tries to study the consideration factors for the auditor-initiated termination decision in Taiwan during the period of 2001-2005. Main empirical findings are summarized as follows.
First, regarding the linkage of the decision of auditor resignation or declination to reappoint with auditor error cost, this thesis suggests that firms are prone to resign from (1) the clients who operated in net loss, or (2) the clients who experienced a number of financial restatements, or (3) the engagements in which the auditors had short tenures.
Second, regarding the firms whose predecessor auditors have resigned from audit engagements or declined reappointment while facing higher audit error costs, this paper shows that the more specific industry expertise, proxied by market shares or firm reputations, the successor auditors possess, the lower likelihood that they accept such engagements.

並列關鍵字

Auditor change ； Auditor-initiated Termination

參考文獻

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