本文以轉換對數隨機邊界成本函數對台灣合夥型會計師事務所之成本效率進行估計，並探討會計師事務所特性對成本無效率之影響為何。經採台灣財政部發行2001年及2002年之會計師事務所資料加以分析後，主要發現有下列數端。首先，樣本期間內台灣合夥型會計師事務所之成本效率平均數為0.807，隱含約有19.3%成本減少之改良空間。其次，無論是有對公開發行公司進行財務簽證之高專業事務所或大型的事務所，其成本效率均較低專業及小型的事務所為差，連帶地利潤率亦較差，此一實證結果或可做為會計師事務所管理當局之決策參考。最後，會計師事務所規模對成本無效率具有顯著正向關係，顯示大型事務所無法透過學習曲線來降低成本；持續專業訓練對成本無效率具有顯著負向關係，意味著事務所投入專業訓練愈多，專業人員之素質因而提升，可同時促進查核效率，使得工作時數縮短且查核成本降低，故無效率成本降低。而分事務所太多則造成對無效率成本的正面影響，亦是值得管理當局注意的重要資訊。

This paper estimates the cost efficiency for the partnership accounting firms in Taiwan by using the conversion logarithms of stochastic frontier cost function, and investigate what firm-specific factors influence cost inefficiency. After using and analyzing the accounting firms’ data that the Ministry of Finance, Taiwan, published in year 2001 and 2002, the main findings are as follow. First of all, the cost efficiency for the partnership accounting firms in Taiwan in the sample period is 0.807, which implies there is about 19.3% space of improvement to reduce cost. Moreover, no matter is the high professional accounting firms that provide financial attestation service to stock-go-public company or big size ones, their cost efficiency are lower than the low professional and small size ones, and the profitability is also worse. This empirical result can be used as a reference of making decision for the management of accounting firms. Finally, there is a positive relation between firms’ size and cost inefficiency, and it implies big accounting firms can't reduce cost through the learning curve. Also, there is a significant negative relation between the professional training and the cost inefficiency; it means the more professional training that firms devote, the more quality and the audit efficiency that professional employees improve, therefore working hours and audit costs reduce. It is an important information that the accounting firms with too many branches have a positive influence for the cost inefficiency is also an attention for the management.

目  錄

第壹章  緒論	1
第一節  研究背景與動機	1
第二節  研究目的	3
第三節  論文結構與研究流程	3
第貳章  文獻探討	6
第一節  效率分析概念及主要方法	6
第二節  隨機邊界成本函數之介紹	15
第三節  隨機邊界成本函數之應用	17
第四節  影響會計師事務所績效或效率之因素	21
第五節  文獻評述	25
第參章  研究設計	28
第一節  變數之定義	28
第二節  實證模型	36
第三節  資料來源與樣本選取	39
第肆章  實證結果與分析	40
第一節  敘述性統計分析	40
第二節  隨機邊界成本函數之估計結果	52
第三節  成本效率之進一步分析	59
第四節  實證結果之彙述	64
第伍章  結論與建議	65
第一節  結論	65
第二節  管理意涵	67
第三節  研究限制	68
第四節  後續研究建議	68
附    錄  隨機邊界成本函數之展開式	70
參考文獻	74

圖 目 錄

圖1-3-1  研究流程圖	5
圖2-1-1  效率之衡量	7
圖3-1-1  隨機邊界成本函數之變數種類	28
圖3-1-2  隨機邊界成本函數之估計示意圖	35

表 目 錄

表4-1-1  投入產出變數之敘述性統計：分年別	41
表4-1-2  投入產出變數之敘述性統計：專業別	43
表4-1-3  投入產出變數之敘述性統計：規模別	45
表4-1-4  成本無效率與會計師事務所特性變數之敘述性統計	49
表4-1-5  成本無效率與會計師事務所特性變數之敘述性統計：專業別	50
表4-1-6  成本無效率與會計師事務所特性變數之敘述性統計：規模別	51
表4-2-1  投入與產出變數之相關係數矩陣	54
表4-2-2  OLS與MLE之比較	55
表4-2-3  成本無效率與會計師事務所特性變數之相關係數矩陣	58
表4-2-4  影響會計師事務所成本無效率因素之估計結果	59
表4-3-1  成本效率與利潤率比較表：專業別	62
表4-3-2  成本效率與利潤率比較表：規模別	63

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