PCAOB國際檢查對會計師及事務所審計品質外溢效果之影響

The Spillover Effect of PCAOB International Inspections on CPA Firm and Partner Audit Quality

過去文獻顯示，不論為美國或非美國會計師事務所，PCAOB檢查對審計品質皆具有正面之影響。更有文獻指出，PCAOB對於非美國事務所之檢查具有外溢效果，即經檢查後事務所審計品質將會有整體提升，未受檢查的查核案件之審計品質亦會隨之改善。然而，過去文獻並未指出該外溢效果及於整體事務所或僅止於接受檢查之合夥會計師。從2007年起，我國會計師事務所開始接受PCAOB國際檢查，基於我國特有之雙簽制度，本研究分別以會計師事務所與會計師個人為觀點探討PCAOB國際檢查審計品質之外溢效果，並進一步分析PCAOB國際檢查之審計品質外溢效果是否會因事務所或會計師個人具有產業專精而有不同。實證結果指出，在PCAOB實施國際檢查後，受查會計師事務所與受查會計師個人之整體審計品質皆會提升。此外，當受檢查之會計師事務所原已為產業專精時，本身即具備較高之產業知識並已提供較佳之審計品質，檢查後所能提升之審計品質幅度相對較小。而會計師個人具有產業專精時則未發現此調節效果。

Prior studies find that PCAOB inspection program improves audit quality for both US and foreign (i.e. non-US) auditors. It is also documented in past literature that PCAOB international inspections exhibit spillover effects over audit quality. That is, audit quality for non-US-listed foreign public companies improves after the initial PCAOB inspection. Using a sample drawn from Taiwan, where signatures of two audit engagement partners are required in audit reports, we further examine whether the positive externality of PCAOB international inspections is beneficial to only clients of audit partners signing USlisted companies or to all clients of the inspected foreign audit firm. Our results show that the audit quality for both audit firms and partners improves after PCAOB international inspections. Moreover, we find that firm-level specialists who provide high-quality audit service benefit less from PCAOB international inspections. However, for partner-level specialists, we find no moderating effect of specialization on the association between PCAOB international inspections and audit quality.