审计委员会特征与会计师事务所变更的经验研究

本文以会计师事务所变更为视角,探讨具备怎样特征的审计委员会才能有效履行其职责。研究表明:审计委员会的独立性和专业性与会计师事务所变更显著负相关;审计委员会的开会次数与会计师事务所变更没有显著关系,说明审计委员会的存在有助于减少会计师事务所变更。但在对会计师事务所变更的进一步研究中,我们并没有发现会计师事务所变是为了追求更高审计质量的进一步证据,也说明审计委员会对会计师事务所变更的影响仍然有限。这些研究结论为完善我国审计委员会制度提供了经验证据。     

上市公司审计质量与审计收费相关研究

从经济学的角度,将审计报告作为一种商业产品进行分析,高成本保证高质量;审计质量和审计收费之间存在着正方向的关联关系.本文就审计收费与质量之间的关系展开讨论,具体分析我国当前审计收费中出现的问题,并提出深化措施.认为规范审计收费对维护公平竞争、提高审计质量和保持注册会计师的独立性有着重要意义.     

对我国审计收费制度及收费现状的理性思考

结合我国特殊的制度背景研究审计收费问题已逐渐成为审计理论研究的热门话题。本在相关课题调研的基础上，对我国审计收费现状进行了分析，并结合中西方审计收费制度的理论和实践。提出了改进我国审计收费制度的建议。     

注册会计师审计收费研究

注册会计师审计收费,对审计独立性产生不利影响.论文介绍审计收费的性质、收费的法理依据、收费的现状;介绍审计独立性的性质、现状;探讨审计收费影响独立性的情形,并给出改进建议.     

对完善审计收费制度的探讨

随着市场经济的进一步发展,注册会计师参与社会审计已成为一项重要的服务活动。众多的因素会影响注册会计师的独立性,进而影响审计服务的质量。审计收费对审计独立性会产生不可忽视的重要影响,本文先分析了现行的审计收费存在的问题,针对存在的问题,接着从改变审计费用的支付方式、改革审计收费结构、加强监管等方面提出了完善审计收费制度的措施。     

对完善审计收费制度的探讨

随着市场经济的进一步发展,注册会计师参与社会审计已成为一项重要的服务活动。众多的因素会影响注册会计师的独立性,进而影响审计服务的质量。审计收费对审计独立性会产生不可忽视的重要影响,本文先分析了现行的审计收费存在的问题,针对存在的问题,接着从改变审计费用的支付方式、改革审计收费结构、加强监管等方面提出了完善审计收费制度的措施。     

我国审计收费现存问题及对策

审计收费是会计事务所的工作报酬,也是其自身生存发展的基础,而审计收费可能使会计师事务所在经济地位上陷入被动地位,由审计收费引发的审计独立性和审计质量等问题关系到整个审计行业的长远健康发展,所以深入研究审计收费问题具有重要意义.本文论述了当下我国审计服务市场中审计收费存在的几个问题,并提出了解决问题的一些对策.     

对审计收费问题的探讨

审计收费是影响审计独立性的重要因素。本文从多角度全面分析了我国现有审计收费体制存在的问题,提出了引入第三方监督机制、由保险公司介入审计收费、建立审计行业基金委员会的解决方案并且结合社会现状对于新方案进行了评价分析。     

审计委员会与外部审计独立性

本文首先从完全信息动态博弈的视角出发,推导得出,强化外部审计独立性是审计委员会的基本职能之一.然而,接下来的实证检验结果却与前述的理论预期相悖,即实证检验结果表明,我国上市公司审计委员会制度在实际运行中,并不具有强化外部审计独立性的功能.接下来的分析表明,由于缺乏"独立人"的资格,导致我国审计委员会很难打破原有的均衡,从而很难强化外部审计独立性.     

On the effort-saving effect of audit committee–auditor interlocking

Using unique data on audit hours from China, this paper investigates the effort-saving effect of the audit committee–auditor interlocking (AClk). We find that AClk is negatively associated with audit effort without any deterioration in audit quality. The results suggest that AClk has an effort-saving effect through information sharing between interlocked audit committee members and auditors. However, auditors retain the effort-saving benefits of AClk without sharing them with their client firms. Further analysis shows that the effort-saving effect of AClk is more pronounced for client firms whose auditors have industry expertise, for client firms that share the same individual auditor, or for client firms that share audit committee members with financial expertise.     

Relation between external audit fees, audit committee characteristics and internal audit

This study examines whether the existence of an audit committee, audit committee characteristics and the use of internal audit are associated with higher external audit fees. Higher audit fees imply increased audit testing and higher audit quality. We find that the existence of an audit committee, more frequent committee meetings and increased use of internal audit are related to higher audit fees. The expertise of audit committee members is associated with higher audit fees when meeting frequency and independence are low. These findings are consistent with an increased demand for higher quality auditing by audit committees, and by firms that make greater use of internal audit.     

Non-audit fees, long-term auditor–client relationships and earnings management

We examine whether auditor independence is affected by the amount spent on non‐audit services. Faster growth in non‐audit fees and longer time periods over which non‐audit services are purchased might reduce the auditor's independence from that client. Our results do not provide any support for a relationship between non‐audit fee growth rates or the length of time of the non‐audit fee relationship with the client and discretionary accruals, our measure of earnings management. We do find some evidence that the interaction of the non‐audit fee time‐period measures and client importance is positive and significantly related to discretionary accruals.     

Does shared tenure between audit committee chair and engagement partner affect audit outcomes? Evidence from the UK

Social psychology literature suggests that shared working experience between individuals affects the way in which they communicate, interact and exchange information. Given that the relationship between audit committee (AC) and engagement partner (EP) involves extensive interactions and information sharing with the aim to protect the integrity of financial statements, this study examines whether the co-tenure relationship between the person who leads the AC (audit committee chair (ACC)) and EP affects audit outcomes. Using 234 UK non-financial companies, we find that longer co-tenure between ACC and EP improves accruals quality and reduces the propensity to meet or beat the earnings benchmark. Moreover, we do not find a significant relationship between ACC–EP shared tenure and audit fees, alleviating the concern that ACC–EP shared tenure could lead to collusion or inappropriate favoritism towards the EP regarding audit fees. Our findings offer a valuable contribution to the literature, practice, and regulators.     

The effects of corporate governance and audit and non-audit fees on IPO Value

This paper examines the effects of non-executive board members, audit committee composition and financial expertise, and fees paid to audit firms on the value of 375 UK initial public offerings (IPOs). Empirical findings show that underpricing decreases in audit fees whereas it increases in non-audit fees. A higher proportion of non-executive directors on the firm’s board and audit committees with a higher proportion of non-executive directors and financial accounting expertise of their members positively moderate the inter-relationships between underpricing and both audit and non-audit fees paid by companies going through an IPO. Further investigations using the adjusted price-to-book value as a proxy for firm value at IPO confirm our main findings that internal governance mechanisms may complement services provided by the auditors in terms of generating higher valuations. Controlling for the simultaneous determination of audit and non-audit fees, our results remain consistent.     

Female audit committee members and their influence on audit fees

We test the relationship between female representation on the audit committee and audit fees for 624 Australian companies in the year 2011. A positive relationship is found, leading to the conclusion that female presence on audit committees influences the quality of the external audit. Further, we find that gender is the significant audit committee characteristic in predicting audit quality and that women on the audit committee strengthen the positive relationship between firm size and audit fees, and between risk and audit fees. Conversely, we find that female representation dampens the positive relationship between complexity and audit fees.     

The association between audit committees,compensation incentives,and corporate audit fees

This study uses audit fee data from the 2001–2003 reporting periods to examine the relationship between measures of audit committee effectiveness and compensation incentives with corporate audit fees. Our results suggest that audit committee size, committee member expertise, and committee member independence are positively associated to audit fee levels, consistent with the notion that audit committees serve as a complement to external auditors in monitoring management. In contrast, CEO long-term pay and insider ownership are inversely related to audit fee levels, substituting for external audit effort in motivating management. Notwithstanding results on the full sample of firm-years, we uncover significant differences in the determinants of audit fees between the years examined. An important implication of these results is that explaining the intra-firm variation in audit fees over time is clearly necessary in order to understand the antecedents and consequences of audit fees.

Audit firm tenure and financial restatements: An analysis of industry specialization and fee effects

This study investigates the relation between audit firm tenure and clients’ financial restatements. Specifically, we extend the audit tenure literature by assessing restatement-based reporting failures using dimensions of auditor expertise and independence previously assumed to underlie short and long audit tenure problems. Short tenure expertise and independence effects are hypothesized using audit firm industry specialization and audit fees as proxies. Long tenure independence effects are hypothesized using nonaudit fees as a proxy. Using matched-sample logistic regression and 382 companies with and without financial restatements during 2000–2004, the results support prior findings by indicating a negative relation between the length of the auditor–client relationship and the likelihood of restatement. For short tenure engagements, we find that auditor industry specialization and audit fees are negatively related to the likelihood of restatement. This result is consistent with concerns about reduced audit quality due to a lack of client-specific knowledge and low audit fees on new audit engagements. Alternatively, the long tenure results indicate an insignificant relation between nonaudit fees and the likelihood of restatement. This finding contradicts independence concerns about nonaudit fees paid to entrenched auditors.     

An examination of the relation between market structure and the profitability of audit engagements

Due to increasing supplier concentration, there is growing concern regarding the lack of competition in the audit market. Theory based on Cournot oligopoly predicts that increasing concentration will facilitate monopolistic behaviour. Conversely, if the market for audit services has more in common with a Bertrand oligopoly, concentration may not lead to higher fees. We evaluate whether increased audit supplier concentration leads to economic rents by investigating audit profitability. Using proprietary data from a (then) Big 6 audit firm, we find that local market structure has a significant and positive association with audit profitability, but not auditor effort for large clients.