경영자 능력과 감사 전 재무제표에 관한 연구

[Purpose] This study examines the association between managerial ability and differences between preliminary accounting information by listed firms and reported information. [Methodology] According to prior studies, more able managers are not likely to select opportunistic behavior due to their high reputation. In addition, they tend to strictly apply accounting standards by strengthening internal controls and monitoring, and are likely to measure and recognize more reasonably based on a high level of understanding of the firm’s business as well. Thus more able managers expect the difference between before and after the audit to be low. Therefore, we predict that high managerial ability would decrease the difference between unaudited and audited accounting information. [Findings] The main results show that there is a negative association between managerial ability and the difference in total assets, total liabilities and net income. Next, more able managers are more likely to underestimate the net income of the unaudited financial statements. Lastly, in the group reporting positive net income, the difference in net income decreases as the manager’s ability increases, but there is no significant relationship in the sample reporting negative net income. Overall, these results are consistent with the tone of previous studies that managerial ability has a positive effect on the accounting attributes. [Implications] Previous studies investigating the managerial characteristics use accounting information reflecting the opinions of auditors or use limited data. However, this study is the first empirical study to examine the impact of manager’s characteristics on accounting information by utilizing unaudited accounting information of all KOSPI－listed firms.