本研究探討輪調首年是否與較大之查核報告時間落差(audit report lag)有關。實證結果顯示，強制輪調首年與查核時間落差間沒有顯著關聯，表示事務所連續任期累積之特定客戶知識，以及未大幅更動之原有查核團隊經驗，能彌補繼任會計師個人缺乏客戶特定知識及經驗之不足，避免繼任會計師於新客戶熟悉階段下造成查核效率降低、查核時間增加，將輪調之額外成本以較大之查核報告時間落差形式加諸至市場中。本研究進一步將樣本依事務所規模拆分，發現非四大會計師事務所內簽證會計師強制輪調首年，有較大之查核報告時間落差，特別是針對查核小客戶之輪調。顯示非四大會計師事務所受其自身規模及資源限制，面臨更大之輪調壓力，並將此壓力反應於較大之查核報告時間落差上。此外，透過台灣審計環境之特殊性，本研究進一步探討五年輪調首年以及七年輪調首年之間，審計時效性是否有差異性，以了解輪調之額外成本是否會以相同形式持續影響至相繼強制輪調中。實證結果在五年輪調首年及七年輪調首年之間，未發現查核報告時間落差上之顯著差異。代表非四大會計師事務所內輪調之額外成本，並未因為非四大會計師事務所連續任期加長，而增加強制輪調首年之審計時效性，反而會以相同形式持續至相繼之輪調首年中，造成每次輪調皆產生類似之輪調額外成本。

This paper investigates whether the first year of incoming partner following mandatory periodic audit partner rotation causes longer audit report lag. Results indicate there is no association between mandatory rotation and audit report lag. This result suggests that newly rotated partners can utilize the rest of the engagement team’s experience and audit firms’ client-specific knowledge accumulated from continuous relationships between audit firms and corporate clients to make up for the personal lack of client-specific knowledge and experience. Further, we examine how mandatory rotation is associated to audit timeliness in Big4 and non-Big4 firms. Results indicate the partner rotation would cause longer audit report lag in non-Big 4 firms. This association especially appear in the smaller clients of non-Big 4 audit firms. In addition, each five-year and seven-year partner rotation is similarly associated with audit report lag. This result indicates the longer non-Big 4 firm tenures does not improve the audit timeliness, and the addition cost of partner rotation takes the form of audit report lag will persist over the successive rotations.

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