公司治理能重建信心嗎？以內部控制缺失為例

Restoring Trust after Internal Control Weaknesses: Does Corporate Governance Matter?

本研究主要在探討公司治理對內控缺失的角色為何？是否健全的公司治理制度可以降低內部控制缺失所帶來的傷害？本研究使用美國揭露內部控制制度的公司為主要觀察值，首先，研究發現，當公司有發生內部控制缺失時，該公司會有較少的分析師跟隨與較低的股價，顯示市場上對於發生內控缺失的公司較不具有信心。另外，本研究更進一步發現，當公司治理結構有改善時，(1)內控缺失的公司較容易於下年度改善其缺失；(2)內控缺失改善較快的公司，較容易恢復市場的信心，因此會吸引較多的分析師跟隨及未來股價的上漲。彙總而言，公司治理結構能夠降低內控缺失所帶來的傷害，並且能夠協助彌補內部控制制度的不足。

This study explores the role of corporate governance for firms with internal control weaknesses (hereafter ICW firms). We use a sample identified effective and ineffective internal control by their auditors. First, we find that ICW firms have lower analyst following and stock value. We also find that ICW firms with more internal governance improvement tend to remedy their control problems in successive year. Moreover, the internal governance improvement offers the remediation firms positive economic benefits, such as greater analyst following and higher stock value. Therefore, our results provide evidence that despite of ineffective internal control system, corporate governance improvement, i.e. board and audit committee structure and monitoring mechanism, can help ICW firms to remedy their internal control problems more quickly and furthermore restore trusts from analysts and investors in the capital market.