設置審計委員會對盈餘管理影響之探討

Abstract

本研究以自2007年起設立審計委員會之公司為主要研究對象，以探討審計委員會之設立及品質對公司盈餘管理水平是否有抑制作用。首先選取2007-2012年間設立審計委員會之非金融業上市櫃公司，并選取未設立審計委員會之公司作為控制組，同時將樣本期間分為設立委員會之前，以及設立委員會之後兩個期間，以更好地觀察裁決性應計數在設立前後期之變化。通過迴歸分析發現審計委員會的設立對公司盈餘管理水平有顯著抑制作用。 為進一步深入探討審計委員會的品質對公司盈餘管理的影響，本研究選取審計委員會品質作為自變數進行研究。審計委員會品質這一綜合指標包含審計委員會規模、成員財務或會計專長、召集人財務或會計專長、開會次數，以及成員平均出席率這五個指標，發現審計委員會規模，以及審計委員會開會次數這兩個指標與裁決性應計數呈顯著負相關。

This study examines if the establishment and quality of an audit committee affect firms’ level of earnings management. The subjects of this study are those non-financial companies listed in Taiwan Stock Exchange and Taipei Exchange that established audit committee in the period between 2007 and 2012. Some of those firms that did not establish audit committee in the same period of time are employed as control group.The results show that the level of discretionary accruals significantly dropped after firms establishing audit committee. To address the issue whether the quality of audit committee affects firms’ level earnings management, this study measures quality of audit committee using five indicators, scale of the audit committee, member’s finance or accounting expertise, convener’s finance or accounting loading, number of meetings, and the average attendance rate of member. This study documents that the scale of the audit committee and number of meetings have significantly negative correlation with discretionary accruals.