過去研究多以問卷方式研究影響審計公費的因素為何,自從民國91年10月我國證券主管機關(證期局)規定審計公費強制規定條件起,累積至今已有近十年的審計公費公開資訊,而且較無針對會計師產業專精(包括會計師事務所及個別會計師)對審計公費之關聯性加以研究。因此,本研究藉由民國91年度至100年台灣上市上櫃公司所揭露審計公費資訊,研究其會計師產業專精與審計公費之關聯性,並藉由本研究結果可提供不論是會計師事務所或個別會計師在經營、定價策略或提升服務品質的依據,以及會計師與企業界雙方於委任關係上之決策參考。 本研究結果發現:(1)不論是否考慮四大會計師事務所之服務對象而言,會計師事務所產業專精程度對審計公費之影響應無絕對性,也就是說,會計師事務所產業專精對審計公費的影響均不具顯著性;(2)從個別會計師而言,發現獨立會計師對審計公費均具顯著的正向影響,但同時考慮二位會計師產業專精對審計公費之影響時,卻發現此時二位會計師產業專精具互補效應。(3)當以四大會計師事務所為研究基礎時,發現所有樣本中第二位會計師產業專精對審計公費是具顯著影響;而四大會計師事務所中二位會計師產業專精亦具顯著影響,但卻因第一位會計師產業專精影響致使第二位會計師產業專精卻呈現負向影響。 綜合上述發現,個別會計師產業專精程度重於會計師事務所產業專精,這是與過去國內部份研究發現較不相同的,這也是本研究貢獻之所在。
Prior research on the impact factors in audit fees relies on questionnaire study due to insufficient data, however, there are over a decade audit fee data since Taiwan securities authorities (Securities and Futures Commission) issued its requirement concerning the disclosure information of audit fee in October 2002. In addition, extant research is less to study the relevance of the accountant industrial specialization (including accounting firms and individual accountants) and the audit fee. Therefore, we examine the relevance of accountant’s industry specialization and audit fees with 2002 to 2011 Taiwan listed companies’ audit fee disclosed data, and by the results of this study can provide accounting firm or individual accountants in operation, pricing strategies or enhance the quality of service basis , as well as accountants and entrepreneurs in decision-making references for appointment. The results of this study find that: (1) Whether the clients in Big 4 accounting firms, industry specialization is not a critical factor for audit fees, that is, the level of auditor industry specialization has no significant influence on audit fee in Big 4 accounting firms; (2) from the individual accountant level, this study found that an independent accountant with significant positive impact on the audit fee in Big4 CPA clients. However, the two accounting industry specialization with complementary effects;(3) only for Big 4 accounting firm samples, the second auditor’s industry specialization has significant impact on the audit fee while both auditors with industry specialization have significant impact on audit fee when tests individually; however, the result of disentangle of joint influence indicate that first auditor has positive influence while the second auditor has a negative impact in industry specialization. In summary, our result provides the empirical evidence that the impact degree of audit fee has more influence in individual accountant when compared to accounting firms which is different from prior studies and also the contribution of this research lies.