审计费用与审计质量的关系是审计研究的 热点,但初次承接审计业务时的审计收费和审计质量之间 的关系却鲜有研究.中国审计行业竞争激烈,充斥着低价揽 客现象,而低价揽客是否会降低审计质量一直是监管者关注审 计定价的重点.文章以2006--2018年沪深A股上市公司为研究样 本,研究低价揽客对上市公司审计质量的影响.研究 结果表明,低价揽客降低了审计质量.并且,在熊市 中,低价揽客对审计质量的减低效应更大,而非国有上市 公司审计质量的下降幅度显著大于同期的国有上市企业.

The relationship between audit fee and audit quality has been a hot issue in the audit market. However, there are very few empirical studies aimed at understanding the link between audit fees and audit quality on new engagement. This paper examines a sample of initial engagements spanning 2006--2018 in the Chinese security market and finds evidence suggesting that the magnitude of initial engagement discounting is positively associated with audit clients' ability to meet analyst forecasts using discretionary accruals. Additional analysis reveals that this effect is more pronounced in the bear market. And further examination shows the effect on non state-owned clients is significantly pronounced than the state-owned ones in the bear market.