최대주주 변경이 재무제표 비교가능성에 미치는 영향

[Purpose]This study examines the effect of a change in the largest shareholder of a company on the comparability of financial statements. According to previous studies, a change in the largest shareholder serves as a sign of corporate risk and uncertainty in the business environment. We analyze whether the change in the largest shareholder affects financial statements comparability. [Methodology]The sample is based on 9,937 listed firms－years that have disclosed the largest shareholder change over the nine years from 2011 to 2019 after the introduction of the Korea International Financial Reporting Standards. We obtained the largest shareholder change data from Data－Guide, and measured the financial statements comparability according to De Franco et al.(2011). [Findings]We found a significant negative relationship between the change in the largest shareholder of a company during the current year and the financial statement comparability of next year. This result suggests that firms with a change in the largest shareholder have a high level of uncertainty and information asymmetry in the business environment, and an increase in performance pressure and opportunistic reporting behavior on managers, resulting in low financial reporting quality. And this relationship was more prominent when the auditor is also replaced, suggesting that a change in the largest shareholder accompanied by a turnover of the auditor could act as a risk signal to investors. [Implications]This study shows that the change of the largest shareholder is related to comparability, suggesting that the change of the largest shareholder is not a simple case in the business environment, but an important event that affects financial reporting quality. In addition, it shows that the usefulness of financial statements is further reduced when the largest shareholder and auditor are changed concurrently, suggesting policy implications to capital market participants and supervisory authorities under periodic auditor designation.