Accounting Personnel Quality, Audit Risk, and Auditor Responses
基于人力资本理论，研究发现客户公司会计人员的教育水平越低，审计师收取的费用越高、越可能做出审计调整，且审计事务所会指派更有经验的合伙人应对。
SUMMARY This study draws on human capital theory to measure the quality of accounting personnel based on their education level and investigate whether the education level of the client firm’s accounting personnel affects auditors’ assessment of audit risk by examining audit outcomes. It shows that auditors charge higher fees and are more likely to make audit adjustments for companies whose accounting personnel have a lower level of education. The relationship between the education level of accounting personnel and audit fees (audit adjustments) is robust to an instrumental variable model, an entropy balancing approach, and a difference-in-differences analysis. Audit firms strategically assign more experienced partners to audit companies whose accounting personnel’s average education levels are relatively low. Taken together, these findings suggest that the education level of clients’ accounting personnel affects auditors’ assessment of audit risk and audit outcomes. JEL Classifications: M40; M42; J01; J24.