탄소위험과 감사시간 및 감사보수와의 관련성

[Purpose]This study aims to empirically examine the impact of carbon risk as an audit risk on audit hours and audit fees. Recently, there has been a trend of strengthening systems related to environmental activities of companies, such as strengthening of carbon regulations by domestic and foreign governments and mandatory disclosure of carbon risk in financial statements. These changes may affect corporate performance and reputation, and may also affect the audit risk assessment of external auditors. [Methodology]This study defines carbon intensity and energy efficiency as proxies for carbon risk and empirically analyzes the relationship between audit hours and audit fees using carbon emissions and energy consumption provided by the National Greenhouse gas comprehensive Management System(NGMS) from 2014 to 2021. [Findings]The empirical results showed that carbon intensity has a statistically significant positive (＋) relevance with audit hours, while (industry－adjusted) energy efficiency have a statistically significant negative (－) relevance. However, both (industry－adjusted) carbon intensity and (industry－adjusted) energy efficiency did not have an impact on audit fees. To confirm the robustness of the research findings, using abnormal audit hours and abnormal audit fees yielded similar results in most cases. To examine the moderating effect of corporate ESG activities, an analysis using the KCGS ESG rating was conducted. The results indicated a positive moderating effect (＋) of ESG ratings on the relevance between industrial－adjusted carbon intensity and energy efficiency with audit hours and the relevance between energy efficiency and audit fees. [Implications]The results of this study indicate that carbon risk has been potentially affecting auditors’ audit efforts in the past, but it is not being adequately reflected in audit fees. This suggested that auditors may not actively consider the side effects of carbon risk. On the other hand, under the situation there is an emphasis on corporate ESG responsibility and the mandatory disclosure of its performance, it can be anticipated that there will be additional audit efforts related to environmental and ESG activities, including carbon risk, in the future. Therefore, this study provides an evidence for the need to enhance auditors’ capabilities and raise awareness regarding these matters.