감사시장의 경쟁수준과 재무제표 비교가능성

Audit Market Competition and Financial Statement Comparability

본 연구에서는 감사시장의 경쟁수준이 재무제표의 비교가능성에 영향을 미치는 지 살펴보았다. 회계 감사시장의 경쟁수준은 감사인의 행동에 영향을 미치는 중요한 요인 중 하나로, 과거 선행연구는 회계법인의 수로 측정한 감사시장의 경쟁이 심할수록 감사품질이 저해된다는 발견을 보고한 바 있다. 감사시장의 경쟁수준이 높다면 감사인은 피감기업을 고객으로 확보, 유지하기 위해 피감사기업의 요구에 순응할 가능성이 높아지며, 감사인의 피감기업에 대한 협상력이 약해질 것이다. 이는 감사인의 엄격하고 일관된 감사수행을 어렵게 만들어 감사의 결과물인 피감기업 재무제표의 비교가능성이 하락하는 결과를 초래할 수 있다. 본 연구는 이런 예측을 확인하기 위해 2005년부터 2018년까지 상장기업을 대상으로 11,759개의 기업-연도 관측치를 이용하여 실증분석을 수행하였다. 실증분석 결과 감사시장의 경쟁수준이 치열해질수록 재무제표의 비교가능성이 감소하는 것을 발견하였다. 또한 이러한 결과는 Big4와 non-Big4 회계법인 표본 사이에 유의한 차이가 없으며, 감사시장 경쟁수준과 재무제표 비교 가능성 사이의 음(-)의 관계는 국제회계기준이 도입된 후 완화된 것으로 나타났다. 본 연구의 발견은 감사시장의 경쟁이 재무제표 비교가능성을 결정하는 중요한 요인 중 하나임을 보여주고 있으며, 감사시장 경쟁수준에 주목하고 있는 규제기관에게 중요한 시사점을 제공한다.

This study investigates whether the audit market competition affects financial statement comparability. The audit market competition i s one of t he important f actors which influence auditors’ behaviors. Prior studies report that the audit market competition, measured by the number of audit firms in the same year and industry, has negative effect on audit quality. If the level of competition in the audit market is high, the auditor is more likely to acquiesce to the preference of the client firms to secure and maintain the client firms as a client. In this situation, the auditor s bargaining power with the client firms will be weakened, and it leads to the decrease of auditor independence in delivering audit services. Also, according to prior studies, the auditors are able to influence financial statement comparability through the consistent application of the audit procedures. In this perspective, we expect that intensified audit market competition makes it difficult for the auditor to perform rigorous and consistent audits, which result in a decrease of financial statement comparability. To confirm our prediction, we conduct empirical analyses using 11,759 firm-years observations of Korean listed firms over the period of 2005-2018. We find that financial statement comparability decreases as audit market competition intensifies. It suggests that if competition in the audit market intensifies, the auditors are more likely to comply with the client’s preference related to financial reporting, making it difficult to conduct rigorous and consistent audits. It leads to the decrease of financial statement comparability as well as audit quality. We also find that the empirical results are not statistically different between the subsample of Big4 and that of non-Big4 auditors, showing that more fierce audit market competition lowers financial statements comparability, regardless of a Big4 audit firm. Furthermore, we document that the negative relationship between the level o f audit market competition and t he financial statement comparability has been alleviated since the implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards. The main findings of this study are robust even after using alternative measures of financial statements comparability, and considering fixed effect of audit firm and client firm. In sum, this study shows that audit market competition is one of the important factors determining the financial statement comparability. Also, by revealing the negative effect of audit market competition on financial statement comparability, which is one of the qualitative characteristics of accounting information, these results provide meaningful implications for regulatory agencies paying attention to the level of competition in the audit market.