审计环境变迁、会计师事务所风险控制与审计质量--基于事务所层面及审计团队层面的研究

The impact of audit environment on audit quality is a hot topic of recent researches, but most papers have neglected how audit environment affects the internal risk control of audit firms. In this project, we first classify the environment changes into macro environment change and micro environment change. The micro audit environment is further classified into supply-side environment and demand side environment. We will investigate how these changes affect the pre-audit risk control, during-audit risk control and post-audit risk control in audit firms. In the first subproject, we will study the impact of the Alter system and punishment policy of suspending new client acceptance on the internal risk control and audit quality at audit firms level and audit team level respectively. In the second subproject, we will focus on the new change in audit market, such as the mergers wave, organization transfer of audit firms and the application of financial robot. How do these changes influence the internal risk control of audit firms and audit quality at audit firms level and audit team level respectively.. In the third subproject, we study how the strategy, business model and internationalization of clients will affect the audit risk control of audit firms at audit firms level and audit team level respectively. .The contribution of this research lies in : (1) Try to fill the blank of current literature on the impact of the audit environment on the audit risk control in audit firms; (2) This is the first study on the impact of alter system and punishment policy of suspending new client acceptance and its consequences; (3) We explore the current literature to the client’s strategy and business model which are the hot topic in practice but have not been studied in academic ; (4) This is the first project which will focus on the assignment of signing partners on audit team level; (5) We will cover the newest audit policy—KAM (key audit matters).

现有文献多直接研究审计环境变化对审计质量的影响，忽略了其对事务所审计风险控制机制的影响。本项目将审计环境变化分为宏观环境变化和微观环境变化，微观上，进一步从审计供给和需求两个视角，研究环境对事务所事前、事中及事后风险控制的影响。子课题1研究约谈制度和暂停承接新客户处罚对事务所/审计团队风险控制进而对审计质量的影响。子课题2研究事务所合并、转制及财务机器人等新技术手段对事务所/审计团队风险控制和审计质量的影响。子课题3研究客户战略选择、商业模式和国际化对事务所/审计团队风险控制及审计质量的影响。.贡献：（1）文献少有审计环境对事务所风险控制的影响，本研究弥补这一不足；（2）约谈制度和暂停承接新业务处罚对事务所风控影响未有文献进行研究；（3）将客户环境拓展到战略及商业模式选择。（4）将事务所层面和审计团队层面的研究相结合，使研究更加契合审计实务。（5）将审计新规--关键审计事项纳入研究范围。

本课题研究审计环境变迁是否以及如何影响会计师事务所审计风险控制进而影响审计质量。课题组在广泛的调研、听取实务界人士建议的基础上，完成了课题的研究框架。课题研究成果包括三大模块内容：.模块一：宏观审计环境变迁及环境差异对审计质量的影响。宏观环境又进一步分为正式和非正式制度环境。在正式制度环境方面，研究了问询机制对会计师审计风险感知及审计质量的影响。研究发现，如果审计客户的年报被交易所问询，且问询问题较多或监管方直接要求会计师出具意见时，一方面审计师会对下一年的年报出具更为谨慎的审计意见；另一方面审计师也会对该客户的内部控制出具更多非标意见。且监管风险在同地区、同行业和同审计师层面都有溢出效应。非正式制度环境方面研究了宗教文化对审计质量的影响，发现在宗教文化相对浓厚的地区，审计质量更高。.模块二：分别从审计服务供给端和审计服务需求端出发，研究内部环境特征对事务所内部风险控制，进而对审计质量的影响。从审计供给端来看，事务所的内部治理机制越是完备，事务所和签字会计师的风险意识越强，审计质量越高。从审计需求端来看，当客户的供应链比较集中时，上下游企业决策时对财务信息的需求更高，来自需求端的压力会传导至审计师，审计风险把控更强，审计质量也越高。.模块三，将审计研究系统地从事务所层面拓展到分所层面，再到会计师层面。分别按照审计工作事前、事中和事后风险控制的不同环节展开深入细致的分析。.本课题取得的系列成果弥补了现有文献的多个空白，如（1）借助宏观制度环境变迁，将审计的监管风险和声誉风险及法律风险有效分离；（2）宗教文化对审计质量的影响；（3）监管风险对内控审计意见的影响；（4）供应链集中度对审计意见的影响等。这些发现都是对现有文献的重要补充。当然，审计是一门与实务工作联系非常紧密的学问，本课题研究更重要的价值体现在（5）对审计行业相关政策的制定和效果评价有重要的参考价值。