Legal Environment, Auditor Independence and Investor Protection

独立审计的根本功能是为投资者提供保护,但其投资者保护功能的实现需要相应的法律环境作为保障。本文通过模型分析,将法制因素与会计师的独立性变量引入到投资者保护中,考察法律环境、审计独立性与投资者保护之间的关系。我们的研究结果表明:法律对投资者的保护是第一位的;独立审计时投资者的保护是第二位的,当法治环境较薄弱时,其可以充当法律的替代机制为投资者提供保护。Protection of outside investors is an essential function of auditing, which depends on the enforcement of law. This paper presents a model of relationship among law, auditors and corporate insiders given the self-interesting auditors could be in collusion with corporate insiders. Our results suggest that the role of law in protection of outsiders is the most important and that independent auditing conies the second. When legal environment is relatively weak, auditing can act as a substitute in offering some protection for investors