K-IFRS 의무도입이 감사시장에 미치는 영향: 감사보수를 중심으로 (The Effect of K-IFRS Mandatory Adoption on Audit Market: Evidence on Audit Fees)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국회계학회
· 수록지 정보 : 회계학연구 / 39권 / 6호 / 353 ~ 392페이지
· 저자명 : 배성미, 김명인, 안형태, 지찬영

초록

본 연구의 목적은 한국의 유가증권시장 상장기업들을 대상으로 한국채택국제회계기준(K-IFRS) 의무도입이 감사보수에 미치는 영향을 실증적으로 분석하는 것이다. 특히, 이러한 영향이 외부 기업지배구조 요인인 감사인의 유형 및 재무분석가 수, 외국인투자자지분율에 따라 어떻게 달라지는지를 검증하였다.
본 연구의 가설 검증을 위해 한국의 유가증권 상장기업들 중 2009년부터 2012년 기간 동안 총 2,071개 기업-연도 표본을 대상으로 실증분석을 수행하였으며, 연구 결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, K-IFRS를 의무도입한 기업들의 감사보수 및 비정상감사보수는 K-IFRS 의무도 입 이전과 비교해 유의하게 증가하는 것으로 나타났다. 이는 K-IFRS 의무도입 이후에 실질적인 감사인의 업무 복잡성 및 전문가적 판단의 문제들이 보다 많이 증가하고 있음을 보여준다. 둘째, K-IFRS 의무도입에 따른 감사보수의 증가는 Big 4 피감사기업이 Non-Big 4 피감사기업들에 비해 더 큰 것으로 나타나 K-IFRS하에서도 Big 4 보수프리미엄이 존재하고 있음을 확인하였다. 셋째, 해당기업에 대해 이익예측치를 발표하는 재무분석가 수는 K-IFRS 도입과 감사보수와의 관계에 유의한 영향을 미치지 않는 것으로 나타났다. 넷째, 외국인투자자지분율이 높을수록 K-IFRS의 도입에 따른 감사보수의 증가가 더 크게 나타났다.
본 연구는 국내․외 최초로 K-IFRS 의무도입이 감사보수에 미치는 영향에 있어 감사인 유형 뿐 아니라 재무분석가 수, 외국인투자자지분율 등 외부 기업지배구조 메커니즘을 활용하였다는 데 큰 의의가 있다고 할 수 있다.

영어초록

This study investigates the effect of mandatory International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) adoption on audit market in Korea. In particular, we focus on the impact on audit fees associated with external governance variables. We examine how the mandatory IFRS adoption affects audit pricing, and explore how this pricing effect varies with the degree of external corporate governance including audit quality, the number of analysts following, and foreign ownership. We hypothesize that IFRS adoption is likely to increase audit fee (H1) and this fee premium due to IFRS is associated with the degrees of external corporate governance: Big4 / Non-Big4 as a proxy for audit quality (H2), the number of analysts following as a proxy for information environment (H3), and foreign ownership as a proxy for investor sophistication (H4).
To test these hypotheses, we use 2,071 firm-year observations for firms listed in the Korean Stock Exchange for the period of 2009-2012. The empirical results are summarized as follows. First, we find that, consistent with our expectation, the firms show significant increases in fees paid to their auditors after IFRS adoption. This suggests that new IFRS application tends to cause the related audit task complexity and audit risk, thus leading to audit fee increases.
Second, we find that the positive relation between IFRS adoption and audit fee is more pronounced for the firms audited by Big 4 than non-Big 4 auditors. It not only confirms the extant evidence on Big 4 fee premium but also provides evidence on mandatory IFRS adoption increases Big 4 fee premium. It is documented that the fact that the application of IFRS induces various judgemental issues on accounting choice as well as the lack of implementation guidance is likely to generate consistent or comparable financial statements under IFRS. Thus, firms rely more on Big 4 auditors than non-Big 4 auditors since Big 4 auditors are perceived as providing higher audit quality in terms of higher degrees of industrial expertise or systemized global networking. This enables IFRS adopting-firms to better resolve any issues raised in the process of IFRS application, which leads to intensifying Big 4 fee premium due to IFRS adoption.
Third, we find that the number of financial analysts following is not related to IFRS fee premiums. Given that financial analysts as information intermediary enhances information environment, it is predictable that IFRS fee premium is negatively associated with the number of analysts following. On the other hand, it is possible that increased analysts intensify their monitoring roles on managerial opportunism in financial reporting prepared under IFRS, thus demanding higher quality of audit services, leading to fee premium in that more financial analysts provide the roles of external monitoring mechanism. Our result, however, does not support any significant role of analyst with regards to IFRS fee premium.
Finally, we also find that the audit fee premium related to IFRS adoption is significantly greater for firms with higher foreign ownership. It seems that the IFRS adoption may trigger more foreign investors in domestic capital markets since it enhances credibility and comparability on financial statements prepared in accordance with IFRS. Foreign investors as sophisticated investors likely demand higher quality of audit service in the application of new IFRS, imposing higher potential legal liability on auditors, which leads to higher audit fee premium due to IFRS.
Despite the strong empirical results above, when considering inflation rate or as the change factor, we can not find consistent evidence, which would be a limitation of our study. Nonetheless, this study contributes to the literature of audit fees and IFRS effects. First, this study contributes to the study of IFRS by providing evidence that IFRS requires more auditors’ effort, thus resulting in an increase in audit fee. Our results suggest that IFRS adoption demands the higher degree of auditors’ professional judgement enough to resolve IFRS-related audit task complexity and thus increased audit risk, which results in an increase in audit fees. Second, this study contributes to the study of audit fees by providing evidence that IFRS fee premium is more strengthened by Big 4 auditors. More importantly, while prior research provides the mixed results on Big 4 auditors’ fee premium, this study confirms prior evidence of Big4 auditors’ fee premium in terms of IFRS application. Third, this study provides the first evidence that foreign ownership plays a significant role in explaining cross-sectional changes in audit fees associated with IFRS adoption. Given that higher level of foreign ownership is more likely to require increased potential legal liability of auditors associated with IFRS application, they demand higher audit quality, leading to higher audit fees related to IFRS.
Overall, our study provides a meaningful implication to a variety of stakeholders including regulators, standard setters, researchers, investors, analysts, auditors, etc.

참고자료

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