COVID-19下企業海外子公司之重要性是否會延長財報公告時間之落差？審計產業專家觀點

Will the Importance of Companies' Overseas Subsidiaries under COVID-19 Extend the Gap in Financial Report Announcement Time? Perspective on Industry-Specialist Auditors

本研究旨在探討相較於新冠疫情發生前，新冠疫情發生後，若企業有重要之海外子公司，是否在海外查核受限之情形下，會延長其財報公告時間之落差(較晚公告)。再者，相較於非審計產業專家，產業專家對於特定產業之查核知識與技巧，是否能有效透過其他替代查核程序且仍可維持其查核品質。實證結果發現，新冠疫情發生後，財報公告時間之落差縮短，可能原因為主管機關持續致力於縮短財報公告日期，期以與國際接軌。若進一步觀察新冠疫情與重要海外子公司之交互作用，則發現新冠疫情後擁有較多重要海外子公司的公司，確實會延長財報公告時間之落差，惟此結果僅發生在非產業專家查核之公司。本文亦進一步將重要海外子公司所屬地區分為大陸地區與非大陸地區，結果發現產業專家查核非大陸地區之重要海外子公司時，可顯著縮短財報公告之時間。本文之實證結果證實即使在新冠疫情的嚴峻考驗與限制下，產業專家仍能有效率地進行查核工作，縮短非大陸地區之財報查核。本文實證發現除提供台灣受新冠疫情影響之審計查核本土證據外，研究結果似可呼應主管機關所欲推行政策之落實。

This study aims to investigate the extent to which the occurrence of the COVID19 pandemic has led to an extension in the disparity of financial reporting deadlines for companies with significant overseas subsidiaries in comparison to the period before the pandemic. Furthermore, it examines whether industry experts, as opposed to non-industry experts, can effectively maintain audit quality in specific industries through alternative audit procedures. Empirical findings indicate that, following the COVID-19 pandemic, the gap in financial reporting deadlines has decreased. This might be attributed to regulatory authorities' ongoing efforts to align financial reporting deadlines with international standards. When considering the interaction between the COVID-19 pandemic and significant overseas subsidiaries, it is evident that having such subsidiaries indeed leads to an extension in the gap of financial reporting deadlines, but this result is only observed in the sub-sample of non-industry expert audits. The study further divides the regions of significant overseas subsidiaries into Mainland China and non-Mainland China regions, and the results show that when industry audit experts examine important overseas subsidiaries in non-Mainland China regions, they can significantly shorten the time for financial reporting. The empirical results of this paper confirm that even under the severe test and restrictions of the epidemic, industry audit experts can still conduct audits efficiently and shorten financial report audits in non-Mainland China regions. The empirical findings of this study not only provide local evidence on Taiwan's audit practices affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, but also directly echo the implementation of the policies that the competent authorities intend to implement.