The Effect of Auditors Jumping Ship on Audit Quality

本文旨在討論會計師跳槽與審計品質變化之相關議題，本研究共分四個部分：有跳槽紀錄之會計師審計品質和無跳槽紀錄會計師審計品質是否有差、客戶跟隨會計師跳槽時事務所類型對審計品質之影響、什麼因素影響會計師跳槽及什麼樣類型的客戶會跟隨會計師跳槽。研究樣本選取自1983~2013年間會計師有跳槽紀錄者。 第一部份研究之實證結果，具有跳槽紀錄會計師和無跳槽紀錄之會計師裁決性應計數絕對值大小無顯著差異。第二部份研究之實證結果顯示，當客戶跟隨會計師跳槽時，若是會計師從小型事務所跳槽至大型事務所，裁決性應計數絕對值顯著變低，若是會計師從小型事務所跳槽至小型事務所則裁決性應計數顯著變低。 第三部分logistic之實證結果，本研究發現影響會計師跳槽因素可能為：與同儕之客戶平均資產報酬率差異、與同儕市占率差異。第四部份logistic之實證結果，本研究發現當客戶資產規模越大越不願意跟隨會計師跳槽、客戶之資產報酬率越大越會跟隨會計師跳槽。This paper discuss the issues of the effect of auditors jumping ship on the audit quality. The study is divided into four parts. The first part is that the audit quality difference between auditors who have jumped ship or not. The second part is that when the clients follow their jumping ship auditors, what the effect of accounting firm on audit quality is. The third part is that what are the reasons that make auditors decide to jump ship. The forth part is that what types of clients will follow auditors to jump ship. The samples of auditors jumping ship in this study are selected from 1983-2013. The empirical results of first part show that there is no significant difference on audit quality between auditors who have the record of jumping ship and who don’t. The empirical result of the second part shows that when the clients follow their jumping ship auditors to switch from small accounting firm to big or small accounting firm, the discretionary accrual becoming smaller significantly. The empirical results of the third part show that when the difference of average clients’ ROA ratio and auditors’ market share between auditors and their peers in the same accounting firm affect the auditors to jump ship. Empirical results of the last part show that when the client have greater assets and will not follow the jumping ship auditors to switch accounting firm. The clients have the higher ROA ratio will follow the jumping ship auditors to switch accounting firm