法律責任與財務報表品質之關聯性研究－從台灣上市（櫃）公司海外集資的角度探討

Abstract

邇來，受到國內外接連爆發公司財務報導不實事件的影響，財務報表可靠性再次受到各界訾議。而加強財務報表相關人士的法律責任，是在一連串公司財務報導不實事件後社會大眾形成的共識，但在台灣的法律環境下，法律責任的加重，是否真能提昇財務報表的品質？在實證上則付之闕如。本研究利用台灣上市（櫃）公司第一次赴海外集資為情境，以異常應計數的絕對值作為財務報表品質的替代變數，比較海外集資前後有關異常應計數絕對值的變化，並進一步探討不同集資國家法律責任的輕重及海外集資的規模，對異常應計數絕對值的影響。本文實證結果發現，當台灣上市（櫃）公司赴海外進行募資時，募資地點與募資金額規模所增加之法律責任，確實會降低異常應計數絕對值，進而有助於提昇財務報表的品質。

Recently, quite a few accounting scandals and financial fraudulence have emerged within the major capital markets, causing austere dubiousness about the financial reporting credibility. Public concerns are thus aroused in imposing stronger legal liability on the stakeholders associated with issuing financial statements. Yet, empirical evidence linking legal liability to the quality of financial statements, especially from Taiwan, is weak. This study, focusing on Taiwan firms' initial offering to sell their marketable securities publicly on overseas capital markets, utilizes an estimable proxy for financial statements quality-the absolute value of abnormal accruals-to examine if the absolute value of abnormal accruals is associated with overseas financing behavior. Specifically, we further explore the impact of different legal regimes and the size of fund-raising on this association. The results show that the documented relation between legal liability and quality of financial statements rests with the corporations that cross-list on U.S. markets and those that raise more overseas funds. These Taiwan-domiciled firms have small absolute value of abnormal accruals owing to facing higher risk exposure.