金融業設置審計委員會之必要性？兼論審計委員會之特性影響

A Study on the Necessity of Audit Committees in the Financial Industry and the Influence of Audit Committee Characteristics

台灣於2014年強制金融業設置審計委員會，本文旨在探討金融業自願及強制設置審計委員會之差別，以確實釐清強制或自願設置審計委員會及其特性對於金融業之影響。本研究以2007年至2016年之台灣金融業上市櫃公司為研究樣本，探討公司是否設置審計委員會與其特性與金融業公司之盈餘反應係數之關聯，其中特性包括審計委員會之規模、成員兼任公司數及開會次數等三項指標，以了解相較於自願設置，強制設置是否真的能夠產生增額之影響。實證結果顯示，自願設置審計委員會之公司與盈餘反應係數在單尾檢定之下呈現顯著正相關；而其餘審計委員會之特性與盈餘反應係數，不論公司為自願或是強制設置，結果大致相同，審計委員會之規模及成員兼任公司數對於盈餘反應係數有正向之關聯性，審計委員會開會次數與審計產業專家對盈餘反應係數則有顯著負向影響。就本文作者所知，本研究為第一篇探討台灣金融業自願及強制設置審計員會及其特性之研究，希冀透過本文之實證結果，提供主管機關及企業對於未來審計委員會政策規範及設置之參考依據。 In 2014, the government of Taiwan mandated the establishment of audit committees in the financial industry. This study examined the differences between voluntary and mandatory audit committees to determine the influence of voluntary and mandatory audit committees and their respective characteristics on the financial industry. The samples of this study comprised companies that were traded publicly between 2007 and 2016. This study investigated whether the presence of audit committees or the characteristics of the audit committees influence the earnings response coefficient. Analysis was based on the size of the audit committee, the number of directorships a committee member holds, and the frequency of committee meetings. Our objective was to determine whether mandatory audit committees are superior to voluntary audit committees in terms of the incremental effect. The empirical results from a one-tailed test indicate a significantly positive association between voluntary audit committees and their earnings response coefficients. Regardless of whether the audit committee was voluntary or mandatory, the earnings response coefficient was positively associated to the size of the audit committee and the number of directorships a committee member holds. At the same time, a significantly negative association was found between the earnings response coefficient and the frequency of meetings and auditor industry specialization. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate voluntary and mandatory audit committees and their respective characteristics in the financial industry of Taiwan. Our empirical results provide a valuable reference to authorities and companies pertaining to the establishment of policy and constitution of audit committees.