Page 179 - 36-1

NTU Management Review
Vol. 36 No. 1 Apr. 2026, 171-212
https://doi.org/10.6226/NTUMR.202604_36(1).0004

Does Litigation Experience Improve Audit Partners’ Audit
Quality?

審計訴訟能改善審計品質嗎？

Wen-Ching Chang, Department of Accounting, National Changhua University of Education
張文瀞 / 國立彰化師範大學會計學系
Received 2025/2, Final revision received 2026/1

Abstract
This study investigates whether an audit partner’s litigation experience affects subsequent
audit quality. Using a sample of financially distressed public firms in Taiwan from 1999
to 2023 and employing the accuracy of the going-concern opinion (GCO) as a proxy for
audit quality, this study documents that defendant audit partners remain more likely to
issue GCOs to non-bankrupt firms after being sued, suggesting that GCO Type I errors
contaminate subsequent audits. However, this contagion phenomenon will be mitigated
after the district courts rule in favor of the defendant audit partners. On the other hand, this
paper also finds that audit partners significantly increase the likelihood of issuing GCOs
to soon-to-go-bankrupt firms after being sued, indicating that defendant partners improve
audit quality and commit fewer GCO Type II errors, especially those partners whose
litigated event clients go bankrupt. Overall, litigation experience does not significantly
affect audit partners’ GCO Type I errors, but it does significantly reduce GCO Type II
errors.
【Keywords】audit partner, auditor litigation, Type I error, Type II error, going-concern
opinion

摘 要
本文旨在探討被告會計師後續是否改善審計品質。以 1999-2023 年臺灣發生財務困難
的公開公司為研究樣本，繼續經營疑慮審計意見 (GCO) 的正確性衡量審計品質，本
文實證結果顯示被告會計師後續仍持續對未破產公司出具 GCO，代表 GCO 型一錯誤
繼續蔓延至後續審計，惟此種蔓延現象在一審法院判決被告會計師勝訴後減緩。另一
方面，本文亦發現被告會計師後續對即將破產公司出具 GCO 的可能性顯著增加，顯
示被告會計師改善審計品質且較不會犯 GCO 型二錯誤，尤其是那些訴訟事件客戶破
產的被告會計師。整體而言，會計師的 GCO 型一錯誤並不因審計訴訟而改變。相對
地，GCO 型二錯誤會因審計訴訟而顯著降低。

【關鍵字】 合夥會計師、審計訴訟、型一錯誤、型二錯誤、繼續經營疑慮審計意見

領域主編：戚務君教授

171