隨機共同邊界與要素內生性架構下探討我國會計師事務所之經濟效率

STUDYING ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY OF TAIWAN’S ACCOUNTING FIRMS UNDER THE STOCHASTIC META-FRONTIER FRAMEWORK WITH ENDOGENOUS INPUTS

本研究依據會計師事務所員工人數在21（含）人以上者，定義為大型事務所，反之則為小型事務所，研究期間為民國99至103年。在隨機共同生產與成本邊界模型下考慮生產要素具有內生性質，探究大、小型事務所技術、配置和經濟（成本）效率。實證分析結果，小型事務所因有較佳管理能力及生產資源規劃能力，總技術效率優於大型事務所。大型事務所若先改善管理能力，其次為提升生產技術，應可大幅強化生產效率與節約資源。迴歸模型若忽略生產要素內生性問題，傾向得到偏低的總技術效率，大型事務所優先改善順序也顛倒。成本效率方面，大型事務所弱點為採用較差的生產技術，因其成本缺口比率遠低於小型事務所；兩群事務所配置無效率較不嚴重。

This paper compiles data from public accounting firms in Taiwan, spanning 2010-2014, and splits the sample firms into two groups, large and small ones. The former is defined as firms hiring 21 or more employees and the reverse is true for the latter. We compare technical, allocative, and economic (cost) efficiencies under the framework of the stochastic meta-frontier with endogenous inputs. The outcomes show that the total technical efficiency of small firms is higher than that of large firms because the former have higher managerial abilities and adopt superior technology to the latter. It is suggested that large firms improve their managerial abilities, and then undertake better technology in order to promote their production efficiency and save input usage. If the problem of endogenous inputs is overlooked, then the resulting total technical efficiency score tends to be underestimated. As for cost efficiency, large firms are found to employ inferior technology, so their cost technology gap ratio is lower than small firms’. The allocative inefficiency of both groups is not serious.