會計師產業專精與審計報告時間落差：中國證據

Auditor Industry Expertise and Reporting Lags: Evidence from China

本研究探討中國會計師產業專精與審計報告時間落差的關係。中國審計市場競爭激烈，法律環境相對薄弱，因此過去歐美文獻的結論未必適用於中國審計市場。我們使用1997年至2018年上市公司的大樣本，發現會計師產業專精與會計年度結束日到年報發布日的總時間落差（TRL）存在正向關係，代表會計師產業專家為了維護自身聲譽，有較強的動機投入更多查核努力與工作，導致TRL較長。我們進一步將TRL細分為會計年度結束日到外勤結束日（ARL），以及外勤結束日到年報發布日（DRL），發現會計師產業專精與ARL呈現正向關係，但是與DRL呈現負向關係。實證結果顯示，會計師產業專家為維護審計品質，投入較多的時間精力，導致ARL較長。另一方面，會計師產業專家的高品質審計服務降低財務報表中的潛在誤述，並限制客戶操縱盈餘的裁量權，導致DRL較短。最後，我們發現會計師事務所層級與會計師個人層級的產業專精對於審計報告時間落差皆呈現正向關係，特別是後者更具影響力。進一步測試更發現，對於非四大會計師事務所查核的客戶，會計師產業專精的重要性更為顯著。

In this study, we examine the relationship between auditor industry expertise and reporting lags in China, where audit market is competitive while the legal environment is relatively weak. A priori, industry specialized auditors could be associated with longer or shorter reporting lags. Using a large sample of listed companies from 1997 to 2018, we find a positive relation between auditor industry expertise and total reporting lags (TRL), consistent with that industry specialized auditors have strong incentives to protect their reputation through more efforts and more audit works, leading to longer TRL. We further decompose TRL into audit reporting lags (ARL) and discretionary reporting lags (DRL). We continue to find a positive relation between auditor industry expertise and ARL, while there is a negative relation between auditor industry expertise and DRL. We interpret these findings as suggesting that industry specialized auditors contribute more time and efforts to audit works, resulting in longer ARL, and that the superior audit services provided by industry specialized auditors reduce the potential errors in financial statements and limit clients' discretions in manipulating earnings, resulting in shorter DRL. Finally, using the unique setting, China, where the identities of individual auditors are known, we find that auditor industry expertise at the audit firm level and that at the individual auditor level are found to jointly affect reporting lags, while the latter appears to be more influential. Further tests show that the benefits of auditor industry expertise are more pronounced in non-Big 4 clients, in continuing audit engagements, and in profitable clients.