审计客户重要性与盈余管理以五大事务所组别为观察标的.PDF

The International Journal of Accounting Studies 論 38 2004 年1 59- 80 理 李* 立 北 立 理 理 理降 理不 數 理 理數 不理 量 略 不 更 數 理 *匿2001 年論 — 論 沈見 2001 年 12 2003 年 5 59 60論 38 2004 年1 The Effect of Audit Client’s Importance on Magnitude of Earnings Management: From the Perspective of Audit Groups within the Big Five Jan-Zan Lee National Taipei University Jeng-Fang Chen National Dong Hwa University Abstract As profit sharing among partners of a CPA firm has important bearings on the operating performance of the associated audit group, it is pivotal to explore whether economic incentives affect the audit quality of audit groups within CPA firms. This study examines whether auditors allow more discretionary accruals (hereafter DAs) to clients from which the revenue account for a higher proportion of total revenues from audit group of the Big Five CPA firms. The evidence indicates that more important clients for the audit group have higher level of DAs. However, if audit groups have relatively higher clientele, auditors tend to permit less DAs because of less economic dependence on a single client. Meanwhile, we also find evidences of association between auditors’ economic incentives and different directional DAs. For companies with positive DAs, auditors are found to allow more i