公費揭露型態之決定因素與公費競爭性

The Determinants of Audit Fee Disclosure Types and the Audit Fee Competition

自2009年起，台灣企業可採用金額或級距方式自願性揭露審計公費，故本研究擬探討審計公費揭露型態之決定因素，及其揭露型態對審計市場競爭性的影響。採用2009年至2016年台灣上市櫃公司為樣本，實證發現聘任四大查核的公司偏向級距揭露型態。另以產業中採用金額揭露的比例衡量產業公費透明度，實證結果發現產業公費透明度愈高，大型事務所公費溢酬愈低。最後，本研究進行額外測試，排除樣本選擇偏誤及級距揭露衡量誤差的潛在影響，以加強本研究結論之穩健性。綜合上述可推論，大型事務所基於保護獨占租，傾向級距揭露，而較精細的公費資訊能增加審計市場競爭性。 Since 2009, companies in Taiwan have been able to voluntarily disclose the professional fees of certifi ed public accountants either by fee range or by individual amount disclosure. Using a sample of listed firms for the 2009-2016 period, this paper analyzes the determinants of audit fee disclosure types and the results show that fi rms audited by a Big 4 auditor are more likely to disclose fees by range. The results further show that industry fee transparency, measured as the extent of disclosing fees by individual amounts in a given industry, is negatively associated with Big N fee premiums. Additional tests are conducted to ensure that empirical results are robust to potential sample selection bias concerns and alternative measures of fee range. Overall, these results suggest that Big N auditors prefer range disclosure due to monopoly rent protection and the precision of fee information has a positive impact on the audit market competitiveness.