표준감사시간 도입에 따른 감사시간의 증가가 회계의 보수주의에 미치는 영향

We investigate whether the adoption of the Standard Audit Hours affects accounting conservatism. We additionally investigate whether the effect of audit hours on accounting conservatism is strengthened after the adoption o f the Standard Audit Hours. We examine both conditional conservatism and unconditional conservatism using the Basu(1997) model and the Penman and Zhang(2002) model, respectively. We also examine conditional conservatism using the Khan and Watts (2009) model to supplement the limitation of Basu(1997) model. We use a sample listed on the Korean Stock Exchange(KSE) and Korea Securities Dealers Automated Quotation(KOSDAQ) from 2017 to 2018 as the pre-adoption of the Standard Audit Hours and from 2019 to 2020 as the post-adoption of the Standard Audit Hours. The results are as follows. First, we f ind that a ccounting conservatism i ncreases a fter t he adoption of the Standard Audit Hours, which suggests that the increase in audit hours after the adoption of the Standard Audit Hours improves audit quality. Second, we also find that the effect of audit hours on accounting conservatism strengthens after the adoption of the Standard Audit Hours, which imply that audit quality is further improved by the increased audit hours after the adoption of the Standard Audit Hours. Additionally, we confirm that the results of the Khan and Watts (2009) model is the same as those of the Basu(1997) model. We also test the Basu(1997) model and the Penman and Zhang(2002) model with abnormal audit hours, and we confirm that the results are similar to the main ones. Finally, we re-examine our hypotheses with a sample of less than 500 billion won in assets to control the external audit effect of internal control over financial reporting and we confirm that the results are similar to the main ones, which makes our results robust. The results of this study provide usefulness to stakeholders in the following aspects. First, the results of this study that accounting conservatism increases after the adoption of the Standard Audit Hours give signals to investors that the accounting information provided by companies after the adoption of the Standard Audit Hours i s more reliable. Second, the results of this s tudy that the effect o f audit hours on accounting conservatism is strengthened after the adoption of the Standard Audit Hours provides auditors with information that an independent and objective audit environment is created after the adoption of the Standard Audit Hours. Therefore, it provides managers with information that opportunistic earnings management is constrained. In conclusion, through the results of this study, we confirm that the objective of introducing the Standard Audit Hours System, ‘improving audit quality and protecting the interests of stakeholders,’ is partially achieved. This could serve as a basis for the policy effectiveness of the Standard Audit Hours System for government policy makers. The limitations o f this s tudy a re a s follows. The e ffect of t he a doption of t he S tandard Audit Hours is analyzed by limiting audit quality to accounting conservatism. Therefore, it is necessary to examine the effect of the Standard Audit Hours with various audit quality measures such as discretionary accruals in the future.