- 學位論文
會計師與財務長間之個人差異對意見函關聯性之研究—以美國S&P 500公司為例
The Effect of Mismatches between the Chief Financial Officer and the Audit Partner on SEC’s Comment Letter–Evidence from S&P 500 Companies
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摘要
以往國內外對於美國證管會意見函之研究，大多在探討企業經營績效與公司特質與是否收到意見函的關聯性。本文以2016年至2019年美國S&P500公司為研究樣本，探討會計師與財務長雙方之間存有的學經地位差異及性別差異，是否與企業收到來自美國證管會之意見函有所關聯。實證結果顯示，當會計師之學經地位優於財務長時，公司收到來自美國證管會意見函之可能性將會降低；當會計師與財務長間之性別組合存有差異時，公司收到意見函之機率較低。此外，當會計師之學經地位優於財務長時，將會提高意見函回覆之效率，降低相關回覆成本。然而，當會計師與財務長間之性別組合存有差異時，異性之組合對降低意見函回覆成本並未有顯著之影響；在追加測試中，本文區分出與會計準則和揭露議題有關之意見函的子樣本，其結果顯示會計師和財務長之學經地位差異和性別差異皆並未對降低意見函回覆成本造成顯著影響。本研究期望能對未來會計師事務所於審計業務的人力調派做出貢獻，當指派審計案件之會計師時，可以同時去考量雙方之學經地位差異和性別差異，針對不同的審計客戶做最適的人力調派，以減少企業收到意見函之可能性，並進一步降低會計師對於意見函所需花費之回覆成本。
並列摘要
Prior studies that examine the determinants of the receipt of comment letters mainly focus on the company’s financial performance and its characteristics. Little is known about the role of auditors on the likelihood of receiving comment letters. This study analyzes a sample of US S&P500 companies from 2016 to 2019 to investigate whether social mismatches between the audit partner and the chief financial officer (CFO) are associated with the company’s likelihood of receiving comment letters from SEC. The empirical results show that when the audit partner has better education and more experience than does the CFO and when there is a gender mismatch between the audit partner and the CFO, the company is less likely to receive a SEC comment letter. Additionally, the empirical results indicate that such social mismatches in education and experience are associated with the efficiency in addressing the SEC comment letter (i.e., lower remediation cost). However, there is no evidence showing that the gender mismatch has a significant impact on the remediation cost. In a further analysis, using a subsample of companies that receive comment letters related to accounting issues, I explore but do not find evidence that the mismatches between audit partners and CFOs in education and experience status and gender difference have a significant impact on the reduction in remediation cost. The implication of the study is that audit firms should take social mismatch between engagement partners and CFOs into consideration when making engagement assignments.
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