基于华证ESG评级数据,以2010-2021 年我国A股上市公司为研究样本,利用固定效应模型,采用依次逐步回归法,实证检验上市公司ESG评级对审计费用的影响及作用机制.研究结果表明,上市公司良好的ESG评级能够显著降低审计费用,通过工具变量法、滞后变量、替换变量和缩短样本期等多种稳健性检验后,结果依然成立.机制分析发现,良好的ESG评级能够通过减少事务所自身审计投入和降低被审单位经营风险显著降低审计费用.进一步研究发现,在企业经国内十大会计师事务所审计时,ESG评级与审计费用间负向关系会被削弱;而在企业内控质量较高时,ESG评级与审计费用间负向关系会被加强.
Based on the data of CSI ESG ratings,China′s A-share listed companies from 2010 to 2021 are taken as the research samples,and the fixed effect model is used to empirically test the impact and mechanism of listed companies′ESG ratings on audit fees by using sequential stepwise regression method.The results show that good ESG ratings of listed companies can significantly reduce audit fees,and the results still valid after various robustness tests such as instrumental variable method,lagged variable,substitution variable and shortening sam-ple period.The mechanism analysis finds that good ESG ratings can significantly reduce audit fees by both re-ducing the firm′s own audit input and reducing the auditee′s business risk.Further research finds that the nega-tive relationship between ESG ratings and audit fees is weakened when firms are audited by the"top 10"ac-counting firms in China,and is strengthened when firms′internal control quality is high.