運用決策樹技術探討會計師選擇之關鍵決定因素

The Critical Deciding Factors of Auditor Choice Decision：An Application of the Decision Tree Technique

In this paper, we apply the multinomial logit regression and decision tree approachesto examine the critical deciding factors that affect auditor choice decisions. We firstexamine the relationship between the auditor choice and firm specific factors. In order toget deeper insights about the association between auditor choice and firm’s characteristics,this paper employs the decision tree approach, a data mining technique, to explore thepriority of variables affecting audit choices. The decision tree approach is an innovativetool that can help researchers choose between alternative options and investigate thepossible outcomes of choosing options. To the best of our knowledge, this study is one offew studies that use the decision tree techniques to investigate the sequential decidingfactors of audit choice decision. By applying both the regression and CART approaches,we find that auditor choice is affected first by agency conflict, and then by operatingefficiency consideration, funding needs, and operating performance considerationsequentially. 本研究利用多元選擇迴歸模型及決策樹技術，從代理問題、股權結構、營運績效、風險等構面，探討影響我國企業會計師選擇決策之關鍵決定因素。本研究不僅探討企業會計師選擇決策之關鍵決定因素，亦研究各決定因素在會計師選擇決策過程中的優先順序。由多元選擇迴歸的實證結果可知，我國企業之會計師選擇決策之關鍵決定因素主要包括現金流量權、最終股東控制權、負債資產比率、資產報酬率、資產周轉率、子公司家數、監督股東及負債新增比率有顯著關連。決策樹的實證結果則顯示影響企業會計師選擇五個關鍵決定因素之先後順序分別為負債資產比率、資產周轉率、負債新增比率、資產報酬率及是監督股東。本文的最主要貢獻之ㄧ是不但找出企業會計師選擇決策之關鍵決定因素，更進一步透過決策樹分析找出上述因素之先後順序。本文之研究結果使會計師了解企業選擇會計師決策以進一步研擬對策，對擴展會計師業務有參考價值。