The Relation between Audit Quality and Core Earnings Restatement

現今經濟環境蓬勃發展，資本市場發達的情況下，各國企業與投資人間之關係已密不可分，因投資人無法接觸公司的日常營運，故與公司間存在資訊不對稱。此時，投資人可利用財務報表了解公司的營運狀況，降低資訊不對稱的程度。財務報表當中之核心盈餘部分係代表著公司的主要營運活動狀況，對投資人而言，為評價企業與投資分析之重要依據之一，故核心盈餘重編代表原先之錯誤資訊可能會誤導投資人；對會計師而言，進行查核工作時，是以核心盈餘為查核重點，若核心盈餘發生重編，代表會計師無法查核出核心盈餘之既存誤述，將使會計師查核之審計品質受到嚴重質疑。 本研究旨在探討審計品質與核心盈餘重編之關聯性，且將審計品質進一步區分為會計師之專業能力與獨立性，探討會計師之專業能力與獨立性是否能有效抑止核心盈餘重編之可能性。 研究結果顯示，當會計師之專業能力與獨立性越高時，越能適時地發現財務報表中之錯誤或舞弊，並且公正客觀地將其報導出來，能有效抑止對投資人而言更為攸關及重要之核心盈餘重編之可能性，達成監督公司之成效，並充分發揮其公司治理外部機制之精神。There are information asymmetry between investors and enterprises, because investors can’t observe enterprises’ operation. With financial statements, investors can understand the operation of enterprises and reduce the degrees of information asymmetry. The core earnings in the financial statements stand for the main operation activities in enterprises. For investors, core earnings are important information to evaluate firms’ operation and investment activities. If there are core earnings restatements, it indicates that investors may be misled by the information reported in the financial statements. For accountants, core earnings are the key part of the auditors’ work. If accountants can’t detect the misstatements in core earnings, the financial statements users may have significant doubt about auditors’ quality. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relation between audit quality and core earnings restatements, and further examine whether firms with more competent and independent auditors are more likely to be associated with lower core earnings restatements. The empirical results indicate that firms with high quality auditors are associated with lower possibility of core earnings restatements and thus have higher quality financial reporting