계약 대비 초과 투입한 감사시간과 감사인의 자발적 노력

This study explores the relation between changes in audit procedures, audit risk, and audit quality from the perspective of auditors’ professional commitment, by utilizing the revised annual reports of 2020, which mandate the disclosure both contractual and actual audit hours (fees). Specifically, we define the actual audit hours exceeding the contractual one as a proxy for strategic audit procedures responding to increased audit risk during audit engagement, and empirically analyze this. Based on literature, we use discretionary accruals and audit report lag as proxies for audit quality. The sample for analysis consists of listed non-financial firms from 2018 to 2020. We identify a positive relation between additional audit hours and audit risk, and further observe that firms with additional audit hours demonstrate significantly higher audit quality compared to those without. These results suggest that additional audit hours reflect auditors’ voluntary efforts to address unforeseen or elevated audit risks, rather than deficiencies in audit planning. Furthermore, supporting evidence is strengthened through an analysis of Covid19 as a novel external audit risk during the sample period, analyses using propensity score matching samples, and examinations of abnormal audit hours (fees). This study differentiates and contributes to literature by providing evidence on the reasons and consequences of auditors’ voluntary efforts from the perspective of auditors’ professional commitment.