CAJ | 학술논문

本文基于我国自愿性内部控制审计制度背景，对自愿性内部控制审计是否增加企业的审计负担这一问题进行了实证研究。研究发现，进行内部控制审计公司的审计费用，并没有比未进行内部控制审计公司的审计费用更高；首次进行内部控制审计的公司，审计费用年均增长18．3％，但这种增长并非由内部控制审计引起；第二、三次或更多次进行内部控制审计的公司，非连续进行内部控制审计的公司审计费用都比前一年度显著增长。但是，在控制了审计费用的其他影响因素之后，不会显著地影响审计费用；在控制了影响审计费用的其他因素之后，与未进行内部控制审计的公司相比，首次执行内部控制审计公司的审计费用没有更高，第二、三次或更多次执行内部控制审计公司的审计费用没有更低，非连续进行内部控制审计的公司审计费用没有更低，审计费用可能具有粘性；自愿性内部控制审计意见的类型不会显著影响公司审计收费。总之内部控制审计一般不会增加企业的审计负担。研究结果有益于评价内部控制审计的成本效益性及其制度变迁效应。关键词：自愿性内部控制审计；内部控制审计意见；审计负担与审计费用；审计风险模型
본문기우아국자원성내부공제심계제도배경，대자원성내부공제심계시부증가기업적심계부담저일문제진행료실증연구。연구발현，진행내부공제심계공사적심계비용，병몰유비미진행내부공제심계공사적심계비용경고；수차진행내부공제심계적공사，심계비용년균증장18．3％，단저충증장병비유내부공제심계인기；제이、삼차혹경다차진행내부공제심계적공사，비련속진행내부공제심계적공사심계비용도비전일년도현저증장。단시，재공제료심계비용적기타영향인소지후，불회현저지영향심계비용；재공제료영향심계비용적기타인소지후，여미진행내부공제심계적공사상비，수차집행내부공제심계공사적심계비용몰유경고，제이、삼차혹경다차집행내부공제심계공사적심계비용몰유경저，비련속진행내부공제심계적공사심계비용몰유경저，심계비용가능구유점성；자원성내부공제심계의견적류형불회현저영향공사심계수비。총지내부공제심계일반불회증가기업적심계부담。연구결과유익우평개내부공제심계적성본효익성급기제도변천효응。관건사：자원성내부공제심계；내부공제심계의견；심계부담여심계비용；심계풍험모형
In the era of post-SOX, the internal control system is regarded as one kind of important corporate governance mechanisms and risk management tools. According to the arrangement of Minister of Finance and the other four ministers of People＇ s Republic of China, the main-board listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchange will gradually canT out mandatory audit of internal control over financial reporting （ICFR） since 2011 ,which is similar to the USA after 2004. This institution background can provide precious opportunity to study the economic consequences of internal control audit in China. As known to all, some A-share companies have volun- tarily implemented internal control audit and disclosed the opinion of internal control audit during 2007 -2011. For example ,from 2008 to 2011, there are respectively 316,527,875, and 941 A-share companies disclosing internal control audit report （Hu, 2012 ）. The ICFR audit of Section 404 belongs to the most contentious clause among SOX. The related studies in USA show that internal control audit has caused the companies to bear extra expensive cost and higher legal risks （ Elder et. al. 2009）. The SEC have postponed the implement of non-accelerated small- size companies to cant out the ICFR audit of Section 404 （b） six times together, and promulgated an Act in 2010 to permanently exempt the ICFR audit of small firms. The main reason is that the small companies will undertaken spe- cially large audit burdens during canting out the ICFR audit （ Kinney and Shepardson, 2011 ; Dey and Sullivan, 2012）. The internal control regulations are widely adopted in the world after SOX. The information on the effective- ness of ICFR is publicly available ,which provides the precious chances to explore how audit pricing adjusts accord- ing to the risk of corporate internal control. For example, Raghunandan and Rama （2006）, Hoitash et al. （2008）, and Hammersley et al. （2012） find that the disclosure of Material Weakness of internal control is positively associ- ated with audit fees. Some studies in China （ for example, Zhang and Zhu, 2010 ; Zhang, 2011 ; Chen, 2012 ） have directly examined how the internal control quality affects the audit pricing, but their results are mixed. Therefore, there has grown up an urgent need for evaluating the cost-benefit of internal control audit in China, especially asses- sing whether the internal control audit will give rise to the growth of the audit burden. Then we can properly evaluate the institution change of Chinese internal control audit. How does the internal control audit influence audit pricing？ How does the information on corporate internal control quality and control risk signaled by the audit opinion on in- ternal control affect the behaviors of auditors？ We are lack of empirical evidences on them. We investigate the inter- nal control driver of audit pricing based on the internal control signal transferred by the internal control audit report. This paper is based on the institutional background of voluntary audit on internal control in China. It investi- gates that whether internal control audit will lead to the increase of the audit fees, how the first, second, third or dis- continuous time of implementation of internal control audit affect the audit fees, and how the opinion types of inter- nal control audit influence the audit fees. We choose 2412 samples which voluntarily coml31emented internal control audit and attained clean or modified opinion of internal control audit during 2007-2011, and 5590 control sam- pies. Based on our empirical evidence, the audit fees for the firms voluntarily canting out internal control audit is not higher than that for those not voluntarily complementing it, and additional internal control audit does not increase the audit burden of firms. The audit fees for the firms in our sample for the first year of implementation of internal control audit is significandy higher than corresponding fees for the just previous fiscal year, and the average growth rate is 18.3%. However, the growth of fees does not result from internal control audit, and may be a natural increase of audit fees. Compared to the just preceding fiscal year, the second, the third, and the discontinuous internal control audit notably increase the audit fees. However, after controlling the other determinants of audit fees, the second, the third, and the discontinuous internal control audit do not significantly influence audit fees. Audit fees may be stick- y. The opinion of internal control audit does not significantly affect audit fees after controlling the other determi- nants. To sum up, under the current institution background, except for the first audit, internal control audit does not generally increase the audit burden of corporate. In addition, we find that the listed companies rarely disclosed inter- nal control deficiencies and modified opinion of internal control audit. Our research contributes to the evaluation of the cost-benefit of internal control audit and the effects of institution change, and provides incremental information for varied market participants. The audit fees are the significant component of implementing costs of internal control audit, so the paper enriches the understanding the compliance costs of Chinese internal control regulations.