關鍵查核事項的揭露數量對盈餘資訊內涵的影響

The Impact of Number of Key Audit Matters to Earnings Informativeness

自2016年度起，我國會計師開始採用新式查核報告，且針對上市櫃公司另要揭露關鍵查核事項。當會計師的查核報告不僅提供財報允當表達之高度確信，還包括受查者個別財報風險資訊時，到底投資人如何解讀查核報告新增關鍵查核事項揭露之風險資訊？是否影響盈餘之資訊內涵？本研究以2016年台灣非金融業之1,385家上市櫃公司為研究樣本，實證結果顯示關鍵查核事項的揭露數量本身雖不具顯著之資訊內涵，但會降低盈餘與股價報酬率間的正向關係，也會降低審計品質對盈餘資訊內涵之正向影響，本研究因而推論投資人認為關鍵查核事項之數量具有傳遞風險訊號、影響盈餘資訊內涵之調節效果。

Since 2016, auditors have adopted the expanded audit report, and have been required to include key audit matters in their reports for Taiwan listed firms. Audit reports not only provide the assurance that financial statement are fairly presented, but also communicate specific risk information contained in the financial reporting. We examine how investors responded to the new risk disclosures and whether the reporting of key audit matters altered the informativeness of earnings. We collected 1,385 expanded audit reports from Taiwan non-financial listed companies, and found that the investors did not find these disclosures incrementally informative. However, our results indicated that the key audit matters disclosures reduced the positive relationship between earnings and stock price returns, and reduced the positive relationship between audit quality and earnings informativeness. The number of key audit matters is, therefore, perceived as risk information by the investors, and as a moderator of earnings informativeness.