本研究旨在探討我國2016年上市上櫃公司審計委員會成員與委任簽證會計師之社會連結(social tie)對審計品質之影響，本研究以教育背景與工作背景作為雙方的社會連結衡量，以研究當會計師與審計委員會成員具有社會連結時，是否因此連結而帶來較佳的資訊傳遞效果，或是因熟悉度、信任感、人際壓力等而影響會計師的獨立性和專業判斷造成審計品質下降。
本研究經實證結果發現，當審計品質以裁決性應計數絕對值衡量時，審計委員會與會計師之大學教育連結時與裁決性應計數絕對值有正向顯著相關，表示當會計師與審計委員會成員具有大學教育連結時將使審計品質下降。額外分析發現，當以台灣2016年自願設立審計委員會之公司為樣本時，以裁決性應計數絕對值衡量審計品質，發現當審計委員會成員過去曾在委任會計師之事務所工作時，與裁決性應計數絕對值正向顯著相關，造成審計品質下降。

This study investigates the impact of the social ties between audit committee members and audit partners on audit quality. In this study, social ties are measured by alma mater connections and employment affiliation. Social ties between audit committee members and audit partners may facilitate information sharing. However, social ties between audit committee members and audit partners may bring familiarity, trust, and interpersonal pressure to each other. Social ties may affect engagement accountant’s independence and professional judgment. It may impair audit quality.
The audit quality in this study is measured by the absolute value of discretionary accrual. The empirical data includes Taiwan’s listed companies in 2016. The result shows that when the members of the audit committee and the accountant comes from the same university, the audit quality would be impaired. For the additional analysis, data includes Taiwan's listed companies that voluntarily establish an audit committee in 2016. This study finds that when the members of the audit committee had worked in the engagement audit firm, the audit quality would be impaired.

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