獨立董事是否能抑制盈餘管理的操作，既有文獻並未獲得一致的結論。過去對於盈餘管理的研究多以裁決性應計項目(discretionary accruals)作爲衡量盈餘管理的代理變數，各種模型的檢定力皆不高，這可能因爲以管理當局提供的事後會計資訊探討當初是否存在盈餘管理之意圖並不容易。因而，本研究以外部審計專業人員爲受訪對象，探討獨立董事是否有抑制盈餘管理意圖的能力？二者間之關係是否會受控制股東存在的干擾？以釐清獨立董事與盈餘管理之關係。研究結果顯示，獨立董事與盈餘管理意圖呈顯著負相關，但是當控制股東存在時，獨立董事抑制盈餘管理意圖的能力會減弱，也就是控制股東這個變數對於獨立董事與盈餘管理意圖間之關係具有正向的干擾效果。最後，針對研究結果說明管理上的意涵與後續研究建議。
The research results on the suppressing effect of independent directors on earnings management are not consistent in the existing literature. It has been argued that this is because most studies used financial statements provided by top management to investigate top management's earnings management intention. Therefore, the purposes of this study are twofold. Firstly, we used external auditors as respondents, in order to obtain less biased data. Secondly, we investigate the moderating effects of controlling shareholders on the relationship between independent directors and earnings management intention. The results show that the existence of controlling shareholders has significant suppressing effects on the relationship between independent directors and earnings management intention.
