중소형 회계법인의 세무파트너와 조세회피

[Purpose]This study aims to provide new evidence on the role of non－Big4 as corporate governance by examining the effect of having tax partners on the tax avoidance of their client firms. [Methodology]This study manually collects partner information from annual reports of non－Big4 from 2020 to 2022 to check the presence of tax partners and conducts a regression analysis on 3,773 firm－year observations of listed firms audited by non－Big4. [Findings]I find that firms audited by non－Big4 with tax partners exhibit lower tax avoidance, and the result is maintained only when the auditor does not provide both audit and tax services simultaneously. Additionally, the value relevance of earnings for these companies is higher, indicating that the presence of tax partners in non－Big4 contributes to the reliability and usefulness of accounting earnings through appropriate monitoring of corporate tax matters. [PolicyImplications]The findings provide new evidence on the role of non－Big4 as corporate governance and highlight the importance of tax partners in curbing corporate tax adjustments. This suggests that regulatory authorities should consider the presence of tax partners when assigning designated auditors for firms with tax－related issues.