責任分攤式查核意見與集團企業合併財務報表審計品質關聯性：以會計師調整數為衡量基礎

The Relationship between Shared Audit Opinions and the Audit Quality of Group Enterprises' Financial Statements-Based on the Audit Adjustment

我國審計準則公報第54號「集團合併財務報表查核之特別考量」對會計師出具責任分攤式查核意見加以限制，其意涵為準則制定者認為集團各組成個體財務報表由集團主辦會計師事務所一起查核，其審計品質優於分別由不同會計師事務所查核。然而準則制定者的看法是否正確，實有賴實證證據加以驗證。本研究以台灣集團企業為研究對象，探討集團財務報表委由單一會計師事務所查核，對會計師調整數之影響（審計品質替代變數）。研究結果發現，在台灣的審計環境下，集團各組成個體財務報表由不同會計師事務所查核，有較大的會計師調整數|且當委由組成個會計師查核的比重愈大時，會計師的調整數也愈大。此一結果顯示，會計師的獨立性有可能因整個集團合併財務報表由單一會計師查核，造成加深對特定集團客戶的經濟依賴度而受損。

The Taiwan Statements of Auditing Standards No. 54 ''Special Consideration – Audits of Group Financial Statements'' severely restricts the shared-opinion audit reports on group financial statements. The restriction implies that engaging with the same audit firm in the group company can result in better audit quality for the group financial statements. To evaluate the argument of this restriction, this study examines whether group companies with component firms in Taiwan have higher audit quality when engaging with the same audit firm than those engaging with different audit firms. Using audit adjustment as a proxy for audit quality, this study finds that group companies with component firms engaging with different audit firms have higher audit adjustment (better audit quality), especially when a greater proportion of group assets are audited by other audit firms. The results indicate that engaging with the same audit firm in the group company may impair auditor independence and increase the auditor's economic dependence on the group company.