Chain Shareholders, Enterprise Risk Bearing,and Audit Fees

With the concept of new collaboration,collaboration,linkage and integration constantly put forward in the top-level design,the era when enterprises,as independent individuals,"act independently" has gradually withdrawn from the historical stage.Under the background of the deepening trend of economic integration,the interconnection between enterprises is also increasingly close.The economic association formed by chain shareholders(that is,the shareholders hold the shares of several enterprises in the same industry at the same time)has become a common phenomenon in the capital market.According to Guotai’an database,by the end of 2020,more than 15% of listed companies in China have formed associations through chain shareholders.This means that chain shareholders have become an important channel for resource and information communication between enterprises,have the motivation and ability to intervene in enterprise operation and decision-making,and are closely related to the economic interests of enterprises.Although the academia has recognized the important economic impact of chain shareholders,their views are not consistent.On the one hand,it is believed that chain shareholders who hold shares in multiple enterprises,with their natural advantages in information and resource flow and strong market voice,can not only facilitate inter enterprise trade activities and resource allocation,but also play a synergistic role in corporate governance and other aspects;On the other hand,it is believed that chain shareholders may also collude with enterprise stakeholders to form interest groups,hinder the role of the market mechanism and bring about negative effects.These are worthy of further discussion.At the same time,the audit insurance hypothesis believes that audit has both assurance value and insurance value.When the risk factors of the enterprise rise,the auditor will increase the risk expectation of the enterprise.Based on the possible future losses,higher risk premiums are required.Therefore,the risk factors of the enterprise will affect the auditor’s audit pricing decisions.As an important factor affecting audit pricing,audit risk and audit pricing have been studied extensively,especially since the implementation of risk oriented audit.Based on the above background,this paper studies the relationship between chain shareholders and audit fees and chain shareholders,enterprise risk bearing and audit fees,and analyzes the intermediary effect of enterprise risk bearing level in the impact of chain shareholders on audit fees.At first,the paper proposes three research hypotheses based on mobile phone literature and relevant theories.Finally,based on the sample data of all A-share listed companies from 2011 to 2020,it uses empirical research methods to verify the hypotheses.The results show that:(1)There is a significant positive correlation between chain shareholders and audit fees.(2)Chain shareholders will improve the level of enterprise risk bearing.(3)The level of enterprise risk bearing plays an intermediary role in the impact of chain shareholders on audit fees.Finally,according to the conclusion,we put forward relevant suggestions,hoping that through this study,we can provide some reference suggestions to achieve long-term development of enterprises and maintain the healthy development of the audit market.