감사인의 연구개발 전문성과 연구개발 투자-가격 민감도

초록

This study examines how auditor R&D specialization affects the sensitivity of R&D investments to Tobin’s Q. Given that the value of managers’ R&D investment decisions is highly subject to the agency problem, prior research has focused mostly on the demand for high-quality audit services that may mitigate the agency problem surrounding the R&D investment decisions. However, limited evidence exists on how auditors specifically affect the R&D investments of their clients. To fill this gap in the prior literature, this study explores how auditor R&D specialization has an impact on the association between R&D investments and Tobin’s Q. Based on a sample of Korean listed firms over 2004-2018, the empirical analysis reveals that auditor R&D specialization increases the sensitivity of R&D investments to Tobin’s Q that captures investors’ expectation of investment opportunities. This result suggests that the monitoring role of R&D specialist auditors increases the propensity of managers to learn from stock price in making R&D investment decisions. Additional analysis further shows that the effect of auditor R&D specialization does not hold for capital investment decisions, and the effect is attenuated for initial audit engagements. Lastly, the time-series analysis shows that the effect of auditor R&D specialization increases over time, which is suggestive of the increasing role of auditors in real economic decisions of the clients in recent years. The study offers novel insight into auditor R&D specialization, while complementing the growing literature on the effect of auditor characteristics on the client firm’s investment behavior.

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