The Value of Financial Statement Verification in Debt Financing: Evidence from Private U.S. Firms
研究了财务报表审计如何影响债务定价，发现审计能降低私营企业的债务成本，且贷款人更依赖审计后的财务信息设定利率，因为审计后的应计项目能更好预测未来现金流。
ABSTRACT I examine how verification of financial statements influences debt pricing. I use a large proprietary database of privately held U.S. firms, an important business sector in which the information environment is opaque and financial statement audits are not mandated. I find that audited firms have a significantly lower cost of debt and that lenders place more weight on audited financial information in setting the interest rate. Further, I provide evidence of a mechanism for this increased financial statement usefulness: accruals from audited financial statements are better predictors of future cash flows. Collectively, I provide novel evidence that audited financial statements are more informative and that this significantly influences lenders’ decisions.