共同簽證會計師網絡與成本僵固性之關聯

The Association between Common Auditor Networks and Cost Stickiness

10.6538/TAR.202407_20(1).0002

葉淑玲(Shu-Ling Yeh)；薛敏正(Min-Jeng Shiue)；黃宛汝(Wan-Ru Huang)

審計市場網絡 ； 網絡中心性 ； 成本僵固性 ； corporate signing networks ； network centrality ； cost stickiness

中華會計學刊

20卷1期（2024 / 07 / 01）

49 - 84

繁體中文;英文

本文旨在探討以公司為節點、會計師為資訊連結所形成的共同簽證會計師網絡與成本僵固間之關聯，即企業能否能藉由共同簽證會計師網絡獲取資訊，進而提升經理人之資訊環境而影響成本管理決策。以2011年至2020年間，由台灣四大會計師事務所查核之上市櫃公司為樣本，採程度中心性衡量公司共同簽證會計師網絡之連結度。研究結果發現，企業之銷管費用存在僵固性，且公司之共同簽證會計師網絡程度中心性與成本僵固性間呈顯著正相關。另採多項中心性指標作為替代衡量，結果顯示僅中介中心性的分析結果較一致；額外測試單元亦發現，非四大之審計市場網絡亦能提升公司經理人之資訊環境與對未來之預期，結果與研究預期相符。

Using the sample of publicly traded companies audited by the Big 4 audit firms in Taiwan from 2011 to 2020, we examine the correlation between corporate's common auditor networks and cost stickiness. For corporate's common auditor networks, degree centrality measure was used as the main proxy for direct connections formed by common auditors. The results indicate that greater centrality correlated with increased cost stickiness within the period under review, particularly when corporate's common auditor networks indicated expectations of growth or prosperity. It is concluded that the greater the degree centrality, the effect of the information transmission among companies caused by the connections of auditors is more pronounced. Overall, our research evidence reinforces the idea that auditors' connectedness plays an important role in facilitating the flow of information between companies. The results remained robust across various measures, including a subset of companies audited by non-Big 4 firms, and considered factors related to auditor characteristics and audit committee quality.