審計委員會法律專長與關鍵查核事項揭露之關聯性

Abstract

本篇論文探討審計委員會的法務專長是否影響關鍵查核事項之揭露。利用2016-2021年非金融業之台灣上市上櫃公司為樣本，實證結果發現審計委員會法律專長與關鍵查核事項揭露程度呈正相關，亦即當公司的審計委員會具有至少一位法務專家、法務專家人數越多或比例越高時，關鍵查核事項的揭露字數越多。本文提出實證證據支持法律專家基於降低訴訟風險以及維持自身聲譽之考量，會促使查核會計師提高關鍵查核事項的揭露詳細程度，對於探討關鍵查核事項的文獻提出一個新的重要影響因素，此研究結果對實務界亦有參考價值。

This study examines the association between a firm’s audit committee legal expertise and the disclosure of key audit matters in the audit report. Using a sample of listed non-financial Taiwanese companies, we find a significantly positive association between audit committee legal expertise and the disclosure level of key audit matters. More specifically, when the company’s audit committee has at least one legal expert, or has a higher number or a higher proportion of legal experts, the audit report contains a greater number of words in the disclosure of key audit matters. This finding supports that legal experts tend to be more concerned about litigation risk and thus encourage a higher disclosure level of key audit matters. This study contributes to the literature by offering a new important determinant of key audit matter disclosure. The empirical results also have valuable practical implications.