본 연구는 2018년부터 공시되는 상장회사 감사업무수행이사에 대한 자료를 수집·분류하여, 여성업무수행이사가 위험회피적인 성향을 반영하여 감사의견 형성에 더욱 신중한지, 업무수행이사 감사경력과 감사업무량이 감사품질에 어떤 영향을 주는지를 분석하였다. 본 연구 결과를 요약하면 다음과 같다. 첫째, 업무수행이사의 인적 특성 중 여성이 남성보다 감사품질이 높다는 것은 확인하지 못하였다. 둘째, 업무수행이사의 경력과 감사품질은 양(+)의 관계가 있다는 것을 확인하였다. 셋째, 업무수행이사의 업무량의 지표 중 업무수행이사의 감사시간, 보조자감사시간, 감사보수와 감사품질 또한 양(+)의 관계가 있음을 확인하였다. 넷째, 업무수행이사의 인적 특성이 감사품질에 미치는 영향은 Big4회계법인과 NonBig4회계법인간에 차이가 있었으며, 특히 Big4회계법인에서는 업무수행이사의 보조자감사시간이 추가로 감사품질을 강화하는 것을 확인하였다. 이러한 실증 분석결과는 업무수행 이사의 다양한 인적특성 중 본 논문이 활용하고 있는 요인들(성별, 경력, 업무량)이 차별적으로 감사품질에 영향을 줄 수 있음을 의미하는 결과라 할 수 있다. 또한 피감사법인, 감사인 등이 향후 양질의 감사 절차를 수행하는데 도움이 될 수 있는 업무수행이사의 정보를 실명공시 제도가 제공해 줄 수 있다는 것을 의미하는 결과라 할 수 있다. 본 연구는 공시되는 업무수행이사 실명 자료를 가지고 분석한 연구이며, 업무수행이사의 인적 특성의 다양성을 회계법인 조직이 보완할 수 있다는 것, 등록회계법인을 대상으로 감사품질을 분석한 최초의 연구인 것이 선행연구와 차이이다. 그리고 감사인 지정점수 산정에 업무수행이사의 인적 특성을 고려할만한 유인이 있다는 기초적인 실증결과를 제시한다.
There will be systematic differences in the auditor"s behavior and audit quality according to the difference in personal characteristics of the engagement partner. This study collected and classified data on engagement partners of listed companies which have been disclosed since 2018, to analyze whether female performers are more careful in forming audit opinions reflecting hedging tendencies, whether audit quality significantly associates with longer field experience, and how audit performers affect audit quality. In addition, in order to understand whether the individual characteristics of the engagement partners have different results depending on the quality management level of the organization of the accounting firm, the difference in quality was demonstrated by classifying them into Big4 accounting firms, Non-Big4 accounting firms, registered accounting firms and unregistered accounting firms. The empirical results of this study are summarized as follows. First, it could not be confirmed that females had higher audit quality than males among the human characteristics of engagement partners. This result is not consistent with some of previous research. Second, it was confirmed that the longer the job engagement partner"s experience and the higher the average experience, the stronger negative association with the discretionary accruals. Third, it was confirmed that the higher the audit time, assistant audit time, and audit fee of the task engagement partner, among the indicators of the workload of the engagement partner, the higher positive association with the audit quality. Fourth, there was a difference between the Big4 and Non-Big4 accounting firms in the effect of the human characteristics of the engagement partners on the audit quality. In particular, it was confirmed that the manager"s assistant audit hour further strengthened the association in the Big4 accounting firm. This study is analysis identifying the engagement partners, which has been publicly available since 2018 and it is the first to investigate the quality of the audit of the registered accounting firms and accounting firms that can supplement the diversity of job performance engagement partners" personal characteristics. It is different from previous studies and the results of this study provide early evidence that the human characteristics of the engagement partner need to be taken into account in the elaboration of calculation process to designate auditor, and shows that identifying the engagement partner can affect to the audit quality. The fact that it can be checked is a contributing point. Of course, the variables omitted from the analysis, the short analysis period of 2 years and the analysis by limiting workload performed by engagement partners to listed companies are considered limitations, and further extended studies are expected.