감사인교체의 주식시장반응에 관한 실증연구

At the end of 2001, government authority decided that the auditor switch is one of the very important information and it needs to be disclosed. It requires that auditor resignment and appointment should be announced through one of the frequent disclosure for the KOSDAQ and Korean Stock Listed Companies. Accordingly, this information should be announced beginning 2002. This study investigates the current trend in auditor switch, and examines whether auditor switch has any implication in the firm valuation.First hypothesis tests whether the companies which switched to a high quality auditor show a positive stock price reaction and the companies which switched to a lower quality auditor experience a negative stock market reaction.Second hypothesis tests whether auditor switch due to auditor/auditee disagreement shows a negative stock price reaction.Third hypothesis tests whether auditor switch towards a low quality auditor due to auditor/auditee disagreement experience a more negative stock market reaction than the auditor change towards a low quality auditor without disagreement.This study classifies auditor switch into three types, towards higher quality auditor, lower quality auditor, and the similar quality auditors. We use auditor reputation and size as a proxy for audit quality and classify Big 5 auditors, Samil, Samjong, Ahnjin, Younghwa, and Ahnkwon as good quality auditors. Remaining auditors are classified as low quality auditors. This classification is very subjective but other literature use the same classification scheme. * Professor, Yonsei University.