本文探討法務長地位與投資者認知盈餘品質之關聯。本文以1993年至2023年美國標準普爾1500企業為研究樣本，並以盈餘反應係數衡量投資者對盈餘品質之認知，檢驗法務長是否為公司前五高薪主管，會否影響投資者對盈餘資訊之反應。實證結果顯示，就整體樣本而言，高地位法務長並未使投資者一致地提高或降低對盈餘資訊之反應，表示法務長地位本身未必是市場判斷盈餘品質之明確訊號。進一步分析發現，在分析師追蹤較少或財務槓桿較高之企業中，投資者較可能將高地位法務長解讀為企業重視監督、遵循與風險管理之正面治理訊號，因而提高對盈餘資訊之信任。整體而言，本研究顯示，法務長地位與投資者認知盈餘品質之關聯會因企業所處情況不同而有所差異，並補充法務長角色與資本市場評價盈餘資訊可信度之相關文獻。

This study examines whether the status of general counsel affects investors’ perceived earnings quality. As general counsels increasingly participate in top management teams, their role has expanded from traditional legal advising to corporate governance, risk management, regulatory compliance, and information disclosure. This study uses U.S. S&P 1500 firms from 1993 to 2023 as the research sample, with 104,936 firm-quarter observations. Investors’ perceived earnings quality is measured by the earnings response coefficient, and general counsel status is measured by whether the general counsel is one of the firm’s top five highest-paid executives. The main regression results show that earnings surprise is positively associated with cumulative abnormal returns around earnings announcements. However, the interaction term between earnings surprise and general counsel status is not statistically significant, suggesting that general counsel status does not significantly affect investors’ responses to earnings information in the full sample. Further cross-sectional analyses show that the interaction term is positive and marginally significant for firms with lower analyst following and firms with higher financial leverage. These findings suggest that investors are more likely to view high-status general counsel as a positive governance signal when the information environment is less transparent or financial risk is higher. Overall, this study indicates that the effect of general counsel status on investors’ perceived earnings quality is not uniform across all firms, but depends on firms’ information environment and financial risk.

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