審計委員會特性，對內部控制暨實質盈餘管理之影響

The Impacts of Audit Committee Characteristics on Internal Control and Real Earnings Management

本研究目的主要在探討企業自願性設置審計委員會及其內部組成品質與首次公開發行（Initial Public Offerings; IPOs）以及現金增資發行（Seasoned Equity Offerings; SEOs）公司的內部控制品質之關聯性，以及對實質盈餘管理的影響。實證結果發現，審計委員會整體品質愈佳，公司發生內部控制缺失的機會愈低，亦即內部控制品質較佳。公司內部控制品質愈佳，實質盈餘管理程度愈低。在內部控制良好的情況下，審計委員會品質愈佳，對盈餘品質的監督能力也愈強，但是，卻也提高了管理當局進行實質盈餘管理的誘因，進而推升了公司實質盈餘管理的程度。

The objective of this study is to examine the quality of audit committee whose firms voluntarily establish and the effects of audit committee on internal control quality (hereafter ICQ), real earnings management of Taiwanese Initial Public Offerings (hereafter IPOs), and Seasoned Equity Offerings (hereafter SEOs) firms. The empirical results reveal that firms with better audit committee quality have higher ICQ and thus are less likely to have internal control weaknesses. Firms with higher ICQ are associated with lower levels of real earnings management. Under the condition that internal controls are effective, firms with better audit committee characteristics demonstrate more effective supervisory capability on earnings quality. However, an effective audit committee also increases incentives to the top management to manipulate earnings through real earnings management and thereby increases the degree of real earnings management of the firms.