會計師事務所簽證品質對經理人替換決策影響之實證研究

Abstract

本研究擬探討盈餘品質的良窳對於經理人依據會計盈餘所裁定之替換決策的增額影響，高品質的財務報表應該有助於董事會作出正確的異動決策，據此，本研究預期經理人的異動與經營績效兩者間關係，由四大會計師事務所簽證之企業相較於非四大簽證者應有顯著的區隔。本研究蒐集了台灣由1997年至2008年間總計1218家公開發行公司為樣本，並未發現實證結果支持假說。經理人因會計績效導致異動的敏感程度並不會因為簽證會計師事務所是否為四大而產生明顯差異，在進一步加入裁決性應計數以控制盈餘管理的影響後仍然獲得同樣的結論。此外，研究發現由四大所簽證的企業其會計盈餘的表現普遍優於非四大簽證者，會計績效與查核事務所間正向的關係可能削弱基於會計盈餘衡量經理人異動的關係。當經理人若為家族企業所出任者與其異動間呈現顯著的負相關。

I examine whether audit quality affects the marginal impact of accounting performance on CEO turnover decision, because quality financial statements are supposed to facilitate a correct CEO dismissal decision. Specifically, I expect a stronger association between CEO turnover and firm performance for companies that retain the Big 4 audit firms than companies with the other audit firms. Using a sample of 1,218 publicly-traded company-years in Taiwan between 1997 and 2008, however, I find no support to my hypothesis. The sensitivity of CEO turnover likelihood to accounting performance is not higher for companies retaining the Big 4 audit firms than the other companies. This conclusion holds even when discretionary accruals are added to control for earnings management. However, companies audited by the Big 4 tend to perform better than the other companies. This positive association between firm performance and audit firms may weaken the relationship between CEO turnover and accounting performance. Finally, the results imply that CEO from founding family are more likely to reduce the possibility of turnover.