近年來，國際掀起一波審計準則改革浪潮，關鍵查核事項即為此次改革的重點之一。在新查核報告中，會計師須針對個別企業揭露不同的關鍵查核事項，因審計準則制定者期望透過關鍵查核事項之提供，提高查核報告之透明度、可讀性與資訊有用性，並藉由揭露會計師與治理單位間的溝通事項，減緩管理階層與利害關係人間的資訊不對稱。 本研究旨在探討企業揭露關鍵查核事項對負債資金成本之影響，以關鍵查核事項之個數與可讀性，分析債權人之反應，同時檢驗關鍵查核事項的資訊價值。研究結果發現，企業揭露愈多關鍵查核事項，需付出愈多借款成本，代表兩者具有正向關係。另一方面，本研究亦發現，關鍵查核事項可讀性愈低，企業需付出愈高的借款成本，代表兩者具有負向關係。此外，於額外測試一節，本研究改以總字數衡量關鍵查核事項可讀性，進行敏感性分析，實證結果與前述結論相符一致。本研究可提供企業與財務報告使用者於對外舉債與閱讀會計師查核報告時作為參考。 ;Recently, there is a significant change of auditing standards around the world. The focus of this reformation is key audit matters (KAMs). In the audit report, the auditor is required to disclose suitable KAMs for different companies. International standard setters hope that can enhance the transparency, readability and useful information of the audit report. By doing so, it mitigates the information asymmetry between management and financial statement users. This study aims to investigate the relationship between KAMs and the cost of debt capital. We use the number of KAMs and the readability of KAMs paragraph disclosed by companies to analyze the reaction of creditors and examine whether KAMs have informational values. The result turns out that the number of KAMs is significantly and positively related to the cost of debt capital. It indicates that the more KAMs disclose, the more cost of debt capital they need to pay. Besides, we also find out that the readability of KAMs is significantly and negatively related to the cost of debt capital, which indicates that when the readability is low, companies need to pay more. Furthermore, in the additional tests, we use the total words of KAMs to measure its readability. The result is consistent with our prediction of the negative correlation between the readability of KAMs and the cost of debt capital. Our findings can help not only companies to debt, but also finance statement users to read audit reports.
