내부회계관리제도의 취약점이 감사시간과 감사보수에 미치는 영향

초록

Implementation of Internal Accounting Control System(IACS) has become a mandatory requirement for companies under external audit law in Korea. IACS requires managers to report on internal control over financial reporting. It also requires auditors to assess manager`s report and to express auditor`s own opinion about IACS. The purpose of this paper is to clarify whether auditor`s opinion about IACS is useful information for determining the scope of external audit procedure. Specifically, this paper examines whether there is a relationship between auditor`s opinion about IACS and audit input. The audit input is measured by audit hours. This paper also examines a relationship between auditor`s opinion about IACS and audit fees. The material weaknesses in IACS could increase the control risk of audited companies. Therefore, we expect that the material weaknesses in IACS increase audit hours and audit fees. Unexpectedly, one result of this paper shows that the material weaknesses in IACS do not increase the audit hours. This result may be obtained by two reasons. First, this result may arise from the fact that auditors perform audit procedures without sufficient consideration of appropriateness of the IACS. Second, auditors may use their review opinion about IACS ineffectively in the process of auditing financial statements. Another result shows that the material weaknesses in IACS increase audit fees. If a company has material weaknesses in IACS, then its business failure risk may be high. In that case, auditors may require a premium for expressing an audit opinion in a more riskier audit environment. This paper analyzes the usefulness of IACS from the auditor`s perspective. The primary contribution of our study is to enhance a general recognition of the necessity of IACS by presenting the effect of auditor`s review opinion about IACS on financial statement audit. The result of our study may also provide both auditors and regulators with useful information for improving IACS.

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