會計師事務所合併對審計獨立性之影響

Effects of Merger of CPA Firms on Auditor Independence

在審計技術及相關法令不斷的推陳出新與競爭日益激烈的經營環境下，「成長合併」已成為會計師事務所的一種競爭策略。伴隨著事務所合併，導致規模異動時，審計人員獨立性的問題更備受重視。本研究以台灣最近三次會計師事務所合併做為研究事件，並以財務困難的受查上市櫃客戶為研究對象，利用會計師出具對受查客戶繼續經營假設存有重大疑慮的查核報告，作為「審計獨立性」的替代變數，來探討會計師事務所合併對審計獨立性的影響。實證結果並沒有一致的證據顯示審計獨立性於會計師事務所合併後有顯著的增加；而規模較小的事務所，相較於規模較大的事務所，在合併之後因規模增加較多，導致合併後審計獨立性增加較大的推論，也未獲得支持。未來仍需有更多有關於事務所合併的資料，以更清楚釐清可能影響審計獨立性的因素。

Following the development of new audit techniques, new audit regulations and the keen competition of audit market, 'growth by merger' becomes a competitive strategy for CPA firms. As the size of a CPA firm is changed due to the merger, the issue of whether auditor independence is affected by mergers has received much attention. The purpose of the study is to examine the effect of the latest three major CPA-firm mergers in Taiwan on auditor independence. Our sample includes the financially distressed companies listed in Taiwan Stock Exchange and Taiwan OTC and their auditors. The auditor' decision on issuing a going concern opinion is used as the proxy for auditor independence. We do not find consistent evidence for the hypothesis that auditors are apt to issue going concern opinions after the merger due o size increase. We also do not find empirical support for the argument that, compared to big CPA firms, small CPA firms are apt to issue more going concern pinions than big CPA firms after the merger because they become relatively larger size through mergers. More data on mergers of CPA firms are needed to further explore other likely factors for auditor independence.