Abstract:

Using the data of A-share non-financial listed companies from 2008 to 2018, this paper examines the impact of abnormal gains and losses on asset sales (proxied by Abgain) on the  tendency of auditors to issue modified opinions. The results show that a higher Abgain significantly improves the probability of the company to receive modified audit opinions. Besides, there exists the relationship between Abgain and modified audit opinions only in the companies with relatively stronger earnings manipulation suspicion, weaker profitability or lower market competitive status, which implies that auditors will issue audit opinions more carefully to deal with the risk of the abnormal asset sales of clients. Moreover, Abgain reduces corporate earnings quality, damages future operating performance, and increases performance volatility, which may be the mechanism through which abnormal asset sales affect the audit opinion decision. Additional analysis shows that the positive relationship between Abgain and modified audit opinions only exists when the company obtains abnormal gains through asset sales. This paper expands the research on the reactions of auditors to the real earnings management activities of clients from the perspective of asset sales manipulation, which helps to enrich the research on the economic consequences of corporate asset sales in China.

Key words:

abnormal asset sales, modified audit opinions, earnings manipulation suspicion, profitability, market competition status

摘要：

利用沪深两市A股非金融上市公司2008~2018年的数据，检验了异常资产出售损益对审计师出具非标审计意见倾向的影响。结果发现，较高的异常资产出售损益会显著提高公司收到非标审计意见的概率，且这一作用仅存在于盈余操纵嫌疑较大、盈利能力较弱以及市场竞争地位较低的公司样本中。这表明，审计师会通过更谨慎地出具审计意见来应对客户异常资产出售行为蕴含的风险。此外，异常资产出售损益会降低公司盈余质量、损害未来经营业绩并增加业绩波动性，这些可能是异常资产出售行为影响审计意见决策的内在机制。进一步检验发现，异常资产出售收益对非标审计意见的正向作用仅存在于公司通过资产出售获得了超额收益的情况下。研究从资产出售操控的角度拓展了审计师对客户真实盈余管理活动反应的文献，并丰富了中国背景下公司资产出售行为经济后果的研究。

关键词:

异常资产出售, 非标审计意见, 盈余操纵嫌疑, 盈利能力, 市场竞争地位