Corporate ESG Rating Divergence and Auditor Risk Response:From the Perspective of Abnormal Audit Fees and Audit Team Changes
There are differences in the ratings of the environmental,social,and corporate gover-nance(ESG)of enterprises by different ESG rating agencies.By making use of the data of ESG per-formance of A-share listed companies from 2018 to 2021,this study investigates the impact of the differences in ESG rating results on auditor risk response behaviors.The findings show that the greater the divergence in ESG rating results among companies,the higher the abnormal audit fees charged by auditors,and the better the audit team configured by accounting firms.The mechanism testing reveals that the differences in ESG rating results among companies can increase their opera-tional risks,leading auditors to adopt risk response behaviors such as increasing audit investment and charging higher abnormal audit fees.Further research has found that compared to the differences in the environmental rating results and the social responsibility rating results of enterprises,auditors are more likely to take risk response actions in response to the differences in corporate governance rating results.The economic consequence analysis reveals that the risk response actions taken by auditors and accounting firms in response to the differences in ESG rating results can improve audit quality.To this end,auditors should strengthen the risk assessment of enterprises with differing ESG rating results,and the government departments should develop and promote a standardized and unified ESG rating system and ESG information disclosure standards..
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