我國上市（櫃）公司審計公費資訊揭露對後續公費訂定之影響

Impact of the Fee Disclosure Requirement on Subsequent Period Fees: Evidence from Taiwan

我國證券主管機關自2002 年起，要求符合規定之企業揭露審計公費資訊，並鼓勵其他公司自願揭露審計公費資訊。然有關審計公費資訊揭露，對於審計服務價格之影響，卻尚未有文獻討論。本文以台灣2002 年到2004 年間，揭露審計公費的上市（櫃）公司為樣本討論公費揭露之影響。實證結果顯示，企業當期審計公費會因為前期公費相對其他已揭露審計公費之企業有高估或低估時，次期公費將向預期值調整。同時，本文實證顯示客戶重要性較高之客戶，因前期公費相對高低估而在次期調整的幅度顯著較高，尤其是重要客戶前期公費相對被高估時，次期將與簽證會計師議價降低審計公費。本文結果顯示，審計公費的揭露並未如會計師界擔心帶來審計公費之下降，主管機關應考慮全面要求企業揭露審計公費金額。

Taiwan Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) mandated public firms meeting certain requirements to disclose audit fees and encouraged other firms to voluntarily disclose audit fees since 2002. This study investigates the impact of disclosure of audit fee on subsequent audit pricing. Based on audit fee information disclosed from 2002 to 2004, this study finds that clients which were overcharged (undercharged) in prior period have lower (higher) audit fees in the next period. In addition, this study finds that client importance also affects the adjustment of audit fee. When important clients were overcharged in the previous period, they asked fee reductions in the subsequent period. In sum, our results show that the disclosure of audit fee did not result in the price war in Taiwan but reduced audit fee dispersion. Therefore, we suggest that Taiwan FSC should consider mandating audit fee disclosure for all public firms.