"大所"是如何炼成的？——政治资本在我国会计师事务所成长中的角色问题研究

The study on determinants of big audit firms growth and emergence is an important topic in international research fields of audit market evolution and industry regulation. With two local big audit firms of RUIHUA and LIXIN became China’s Top 4 auditors based on firm size in 2014, the traditional pattern that international Big 4 always scored in the Top 4 in China’s audit market has been broken. Apparently, it is urgent to China’s regulators and scholars to explain and answer that, in a reasonable way, what induces and determines the high-speed growth of local big audit firm in China after auditor disaffiliation program, and how to evaluate the stimulating policy effects in China’s CPA industry. In this project, based on China’s political and economic environment and highly regulated audit market by government, as well as from the angle of providers in audit market, we are going to analyze and examine the role of political capital affiliated to audit firms in local audit firm growth for the first time. The study will investigate the way that audit firms benefit themselves with political capital in the first place, and then thoroughly examine the empirical relationships between political capital and audit firm growth in two aspects, including endogenous development and merger. Based on that, we will try to evaluate the economic consequence of China’s local audit firm growth model, and the relationship between political capital and sanctions. At last but not least, according to the findings of this research, we will devote ourselves to provide some valuable theoretical viewpoints, empirical evidences and policy inspirations for China’s regulators and CPA industry administration.

对大型会计师事务所成长动因的考察是审计市场和行业监管国际研究的重要课题。随着瑞华和立信跻身2014年全国百家事务所前四，国际“四大”长期垄断中国四强的局面被打破。与此同时，如何对国内大所“脱钩改制”以来的高速成长进行解释并对行业规模化发展战略的政策效果进行评价，业已成为市场监管者和研究者亟待解决的焦点问题。本项目将紧扣我国转轨时期的特定政治经济背景以及强政府管制的审计市场特征，从供给方视角，首次对政治资本投资在国内大型事务所成长中的角色进行系统分析和实证考察。研究将首先经验揭示事务所政治资本的利益实现方式和途径，进而从内源性成长和事务所合并两方面对政治资本与事务所成长的关系进行完整考察。在此基础上，从审计质量的角度经验评价我国事务所成长模式的社会经济后果，并通过政治资本与监管处罚关系的考察进一步揭示上述后果的监管成因。最终为我国审计行业发展和市场监管提供理论指导、经验反馈和政策启示。

在四年的共同努力下，课题组较好地完成了本项目，顺利地实现了课题的预期目标。本课题基于中国经济转型和制度变迁背景，紧扣我国资本市场和审计市场发展的基本特征，较为全面系统地考察我国会计师事务所成长、审计市场演进的内在动因、制度依赖及其社会经济后果。研究成果主要包括：首先，项目理论分析和经验证据表明，制度变迁、政治资本和经济需求在我国会计师事务所成长中扮演了重要角色，进而导致了会计师事务所规模化差异及审计质量分化，并最终决定了我国审计市场的发展和演进；其次，研究发现，资本市场制度演进、审计市场规模分割、审计质量需求等特征，显著影响了上市公司的审计师选择以及财务报告决策，显著影响了股价形成的过程，进而影响了资本市场的资源配置效率；再次，有充分的证据表明，审计合伙人的工作量显著负相关于审计质量，会计师事务所规模、行业专门化、审计任期等特征对上述关系具有显著的调节作用。此外，研究结果系统表明，审计监督等外部治理机制、制度环境对公司战略决策的执行及其经济后果、公司违规行为有着显著的影响，这表明审计质量的经济后果更可能通过影响公司的管理决策，进而产生显著的社会经济后果；最后，研究还关注了内部控制的经济后果与审计鉴证、个人审计师行为特征与审计质量等相关领域的研究并获得了有价值的研究成果。总之，本研究全面揭示了会计师事务所成长背后的经济和制度依赖，全面考察了审计市场发展和审计质量的社会经济后果，在此基础上提出了相应的事务所发展对策、行业管理策略以及政策建议。