內部控制品質對員工重要嗎？

Does Internal Control Quality Matter to Employees?

本研究探討財務報表內部控制品質與員工承諾之關係。我們推論無效的財務報表內部控制會降低員工的信心，對員工承諾有負面影響。使用propensity score matching 與 entropy-balance 控制內生性後，我們發現內部控制重大缺失與員工離職率呈正相關。此外，公司發生內部控制重大缺失與員工持有公司股票股之意願呈負相關，而這些負面效果主要來自高階經理人態度與基調 (tone at the top)。最後，當公司修正其內部控制缺失後，員工離職率顯著降低，且員工持有公司股票之意願顯著提高。整體而言，本研究提出新論點，以實證結果證明財務報表內部控制品質對員工而言很重要。

This study examines the association between ineffective internal control over financial reporting (ICFR) and the employee commitments. We argue that ineffective ICFR reduces the confidence of employee in the employer, leading to negative effects on employee commitment. Using propensity score matching and entropy-balanced to control for endogenous problem, we find that material weaknesses in ICFR are associated with higher employee turnover. We also find that material weaknesses in ICFR are negatively associated with employees’ willingness to hold employer stock. We show that “tone at the top” material weaknesses primarily drive these findings. Finally, we find that employee turnover decreases, while employees’ willingness to hold employer stock increases when firms have subsequent remediation of material weaknesses. Overall, our study provides new insights that the quality of ICFR matters to employees, which affects employee turnover and employees’ decision to hold employer stock.