审计任期与审计独立性——持续经营审计意见的经验研究

以注册会计师是否因财务方面存在可能导致公司持续经营能力问题的事项或情况对上市公司出具持续经营审计意见作为审计独立性的衡量指标,分别从签字注册会计师任期与会计师事务所任期两个角度具体考察了审计任期与审计独立性之间的关系。结果发现,无论是注册会计师任期,还是事务所任期,审计任期越长,审计独立性就越低。这为我国已实施的签字注册会计师强制轮换政策的合理性提供了经验支持。     

审计任期与盈余价值相关性——基于签字注册会计师任期的经验研究

本文以会计盈余价值相关性的高低作为审计质量的衡量指标,从签字注册会计师任期的角度具体考察审计任期与审计质量之间的关系.研究结果表明,注册会计师任期越长,审计质量越低,这为我国巳实施的签字注册会计师强制轮换政策的合理性提供了经验支持.     

审计师轮换类别与审计结果——基于“关系”的视角

审计师强制轮换制度能够从制度上对审计师独立性给予一定程度的保证,而社会关系的存在会对审计师的独立性产生影响,但同时也能够增加前后任审计师工作交接的效率。以2007—2019年签字审计师轮换为样本研究发现,同一事务所内签字审计师的变更会使得后任审计师出具清洁审计意见的可能性提升,后任审计师审计当年发生财务重述的可能性较低,且可操纵性应计利润较低。但是,后任审计师获取的审计费用并没有显著降低。与不同事务所之间的签字审计师轮换相比,同一事务所审计师轮换情况下,由于更易进行信息共享与沟通,后任审计师的审计质量更高,且与前任审计师审计质量相比,后任审计师审计质量有所提升。     

强制更换会计师事务所对审计质量的影响——对企业更换中天勤等事务所的实证分析

中天勤、沈阳华伦等5家会计师事务所2001年未通过年检被取消执业资格,他们的原有客户不得不改聘其他会计师事务所.该事件为强制更换会计师事务所提供了研究背景.以非正常性应计利润(DA)来衡量审计质量发现,在强制更换会计师事务所以后,这些公司的非正常性应计利润不降反升.进一步分析的结果显示,在正DA组,后任会计师没有调低那些公司的非正常性应计利润;而在负DA组,这些公司的非正常性应计利润在更换会计师以后反而增加了.研究显示,在中国这样一个极度分散的审计市场中,强制更换会计师事务所并没有带来大家预期的效果.     

Impact of renewable long-term audit mandates on audit quality

Anglo-American countries like the US and the UK allow companies to switch auditors every year. In contrast, some continental European countries restrict auditor switching by allowing only renewable long-term audit mandates. This paper aims to analyse the impact of renewable long-term audit mandates on audit quality. Audit quality is considered from the viewpoint of the external users of the financial statements. It is questioned whether renewable long-term audit mandates have an impact on the auditor's reporting behaviour and on auditor independence. This research is motivated by the lack of consensus in the literature on the impact of the length of the auditor client relationship on audit quality. Moreover, few empirical studies use publicly available secondary data in order to determine whether perceived threats to auditor independence actually compromise auditor independence. Therefore, our research methodology consists in the development of a logistic regression model in which the explanatory variables are measured using publicly available data. The results of the study suggest that long-term auditor client relationships significantly increase the likelihood of an unqualified opinion or significantly reduce the auditor's willingness to qualify audit reports. A significant difference was also found between the auditor's reporting behaviour in the first two years versus the last year of the audit mandate. Auditors are more willing to issue an unqualified audit report in the first two years of their official mandate than in the last year of their mandate. This could be an indication that the decision to renew the auditor's mandate is already taken and known to the auditor before he has issued his last audit report within his current mandate. The policy implications of these findings could be in favour of mandatory auditor rotation to maintain the value of an audit for the external users. However, given recent theoretic evidence on the adverse effects of mandatory auditor rotation, there is a need to develop alternative measures to safeguard auditors' independence.     

Does an Auditor＇s Within-Industry Market Share Still Capture Auditor Industry Expertise in a Mandatory Audit Partner Rotation Regime？

Prior studies commonly use an auditor＇s market share in an industry as a proxy for auditor industry expertise and find that audit quality is positively related to an audit partner＇s within-industry market share in a voluntary audit partner rotation regime where the length of the client-partner relationship is not limited. Mandatory audit partner rotation, however, limits the length of the client-partner relationship and can artificially increase or decrease the market shares of incoming and departing partners, thus making the audit partner＇s within-industry market share an unreliable proxy for auditor industry expertise. Using a sample of banks in Taiwan, we find that audit quality is positively related to an audit partner＇s within-industry market share in the voluntary audit partner rotation regime. However, such a positive relation disappears in the mandatory audit partner rotation regime. Thus, we conclude that mandatory audit partner rotation decouples the link between an audit partner＇s within-industry market share and auditor industry expertise and caution researchers against using an audit partner＇s within-industry market share as a proxy for auditor industry expertise in a mandatory audit partner rotation regime.     

Review of empirical research on rotation and non-audit services: auditor independence in fact vs. appearance

Confidence in the processes of corporate reporting and auditing has rapidly decreased recently due to front-page accounting scandals in both the United States and Europe. The goal of audit regulations, such as the Sarbanes Oxley Act in the United States (US) and the 8th Directive in the European Union (EU), is to restore public trust in the auditing process. Along with other regulatory aspects, requirements related to audit partner rotation and bans on providing concurrent non-audit services were implemented to maintain auditor independence, both in fact and in appearance. However, the implementation of audit regulation implies that increased requirements are able to enhance the failed audit function. Empirical research should help to understand the impact of these two regulatory aspects and indicate their effectiveness in maintaining auditor independence. Thus, we outline the newest empirical research related to audit partner rotation and non-audit services and independence in fact or in appearance. Overall, we conclude that prior research does not point to one particular requirement that would most effectively restore trust in the audit function. Rather the existence of multiple threats to auditor independence might demand a combination of several requirements to maintain auditor independence. Thus, more research is needed to investigate the joint effects of different threats to auditor independence, e.?g., non-audit fees and audit partner tenure.     

胁迫威胁下的审计独立性问题研究

审计独立性是决定审计质量能否得到保证和审计目的能否实现的关键因素。在我国,审计人员受被审单位管理当局胁迫而出具不实审计报告的问题十分突出,胁迫威胁的存在严重地影响了审计的独立性。本文试图通过博弈分析来专门探讨经营者的胁迫威胁对审计人员独立性的影响,并据此提出保护审计独立性的有效手段。     

自愿性变更审计师与审计意见关系的验证

明晰自愿性交更审计师行为与审计意见二者深层次关系可以更好地把握审计产品质量.之前一些关于上期非标准审计意见将会导致本期公司变更审计师的观点有失偏颇.在关于上期审计意见对本期变更审计师、本期变更审计师对后期审计意见类型影响的研究中,相对于被出具标准审计意见的公司而言,上期被出具非标准审计意见的公司不仅不会倾向于本期变更审计师,而且当公司上期被出具的是持续经营非标准审计意见时,本期发生变更审计师的可能性会显著降低.本期变更审计师行为显著提高了公司后期被出具标准审计意见的概率,显著降低了公司被出具持续经营非标准审计意见的概率.变更审计师的决策依据是预期审计意见的改善而不是上期审计意见类型.     

客户资源控制权与审计师轮换的治理效应

审计师轮换是构建注册会计师审计秩序化格局以防范会计欺诈的重要监管手段。我国资本市场以行政权力和关系网络为主导的治理模式影响了会计师事务所的产权结构安排和资源配置模式,出现了客户资源控制权个人化的现象,致使我国监管政策的微观运行基础与欧美国家存在重大差异,同时也阻碍了会计师事务所的内部治理,从而说明我国审计市场存在审计师轮换的客观需求基础。为此,将审计师的私人人力资本转化为会计师事务所的组织资本是提高审计师轮换质量效应的重要路径。     

审计师行为选择与其独立性偏好关系分析

现行关于审计师行为实证研究中,大都基于审计意见类型推断审计师独立性,没有对审计意见类型为什么能代表审计师独立性进行分析和讨论,本文采用偏好、选择与效用经济学基础理论来进行分析和证明。通过逻辑分析、模型构建和推导发现,对审计意见类型的选择结构能够推断审计师对独立性的偏好关系,这种关系是基于审计师效用最大化做出的。     

审计师轮换制度下的审计成本分析

审计师轮换制度是目前的热门话题,理论上实施该制度有利于提高审计质量和有助于实现审计实质上的独立,但审计成本也会随之大幅增加,而成本的增加将可能抵销制度所带来的收益。本文通过例证分析了审计师轮换制度下各项审计成本的变化情况,结论是现阶段我国不宜实行审计师轮换制度。     

Changing the Institutional Framework of Statutory Audit: Internal Stakeholders' Perceptions of the Associated Benefit and Costs

This paper analyses the expected benefits and costs associated with changes to the institutional framework of statutory audits. We focus on five changes: Mandatory external audit firm rotation, auditor appointment by an independent regulator, a general ban on providing non-audit services, a ban on providing non-audit services to audit clients, and mandatory joint audits. We survey supervisory board members and management representatives from German companies to analyse how these changes affect the following beneficial attributes: Client-specific expertise and knowledge, general professional competence and expertise, independence and professional scepticism, and reputation. Our results show that none of the proposed changes is expected to increase the benefit of audits. A ban on non-audit services to audit clients is perceived to have the least disadvantageous effect, followed by a general ban on non-audit services, mandatory external audit firm rotation, appointment by an independent regulator, and mandatory joint audits. Although all changes are expected to increase auditor independence and professional scepticism, this increase is offset by a decrease in other beneficial attributes, particularly client-specific expertise and knowledge. Compared to supervisory board members, management representatives anticipate significantly larger decreases in the benefit of audits and significantly larger increases in costs.     

Audit firm tenure and audit quality: A cross‐European study

Directive 2014/56/EU and Regulation (EU) No. 537/2014, which came into effect in June 2016, introduced the mandatory rotation of audit firms after a maximum period of 10 years with the same client. We conduct a cross‐European study with the aim of assessing whether long audit firm tenures are associated with lower levels of audit quality. The sample for the study is based on the constituents of the Standard & Poor's Europe 350 index for the years between 2009 and 2016, and we utilize three different sets of proxies for audit quality: discretionary accruals, differences between reported earnings and earnings benchmarks, and accounting restatements. The main result of the study finds that companies with more than 10 years of tenure with their auditors do not have a lower audit quality than other firms. In fact, this study provides some evidence of a higher audit quality for these firms. The results are robust to various checks. Therefore, if there does not seem to be a problem of a lack of audit quality associated with long audit firm tenures, the necessity of establishing a maximum tenure, as the new European regulation does, may be questioned.     

An Experimental Analysis of the Effects of Non‐audit Services on Auditor Independence in Appearance in the European Union: Evidence from Germany

The provision of non‐audit services by the statutory auditor may have a negative impact on auditor independence. Therefore, the European Union decided to prevent auditors from offering a significant extent of non‐audit services to audit clients. Prior research has revealed that different advisory services have different effects on perceived auditor independence. This could be caused by differences in number and intensity of independence threats (self‐interest, familiarity, self‐review, advocacy). Therefore, this experimental study investigates the effect of such threats on independence perceptions in the case of German individual investors. Multivariate analyses indicate that a high self‐interest and a high‐familiarity threat may impair auditor independence in appearance. On the other hand, our findings do not reveal a significant effect of an existing advocacy threat on investors’ trust in auditor independence. A negative effect of a self‐review threat is not directly confirmed. However, the provision of services with regard to internal controls, and thus the self‐review threat, interacts with the self‐interest threat. They potentially impact perceived auditor independence negatively when non‐audit fees are high. In contrast, no significant interactions with familiarity are found. Based on these findings, a general prohibition of non‐audit services does not seem to be necessary. On the other hand, a non‐audit fees cap might be reasonable.     

论上市公司审计基金--解决上市公司审计失败问题的一种新构想

上市公司审计的失败应归因于注册会计师未能保持应有的独立性，而现有的上市公司审计法律关系三方主体中的委托人与被审计者合二为一是问题的关键。对此，审计业务转移、审计委员会委托、监管当局委托等多种重构思路被提出，但大多都有难以避免的缺陷。设立一个能代表众多审计报告使用者来进行审计委托并从中支付审计费用的上市公司审计基金是一个新的构想。     

Auditor independence in economies in transition: a study of Russia

The independence of auditors is regarded as key to their credibility as external verifiers of external financial statements. The requirement for external auditors to be independent of their clients when undertaking an audit is enshrined in the International Federation of Accountants' (IFAC) Code of Ethics and in the European Union's Eighth Directive. In the IFAC code this requirement is translated into various situations where observance of certain rules should ensure independence. As the countries of Central Europe and the former Soviet Union have drafted and implemented new laws on external audit, some of these auditor independence rules have been included in the new laws and codes of professional practice. Yet the rationale for the inclusion of these rules is not always clear, particularly given the different cultural and business contexts. In this paper, the authors have identified the auditor independence rule requirements that have been implemented into the laws and codes of practice in Russia. These requirements are then analysed against the economic, social and historic background in Russia, based to a large extent on interviews with auditors, enterprise management and users of financial statements, to generate questions about the efficacy of the auditor independence rules. This should provide relevant input to international and national bodies concerned with the drafting of rules relating to auditor independence in countries with different social and economic traditions.     

Auditor Independence,Current and Future NAS Fees and Audit Quality: Were European Regulators Right?

Abstract

European Union adopted the Regulation (EU) No 537/2014, which in practice prohibits the joint provision of audit and most types of non-audit services (NAS). Regulators presume that NAS fees weaken auditor independence and, as a result, impair audit quality. As the evidence at the European level does not support this view, the question of whether the new regulation will enhance auditor independence remains open. We examine the association between future NAS fees and audit quality by distinguishing among tax, audit-related and other services. We base the analysis on a sample of Spanish listed companies for the period between 2005 and 2016, finding a consistent negative association between future other NAS fees and audit quality. This suggests that the expectation of future purchases of this type of NAS may impair auditor independence. Conversely, for tax and audit-related services results are not significant. Taken together, results suggest that European regulators should seek for further evidence before banning NAS, as some of them may in fact enhance audit quality.     

政府管制、事务所规模与审计意见——基于我国SEO管制的实证研究

结合我国特有的SEO管制环境,从制度变迁的视角动态地考察事务所规模对审计意见签发的影响及其相应的监管后果。经验数据表明,事务所规模对审计意见签发的作用程度会随着SEO管制环境的加强而得到强化,表现为小型会计师事务所在管制环境变迁后显著的不倾向于签发非标意见,而监管者对这一行为在统计上并没有如同变迁前一样进行有效的识别。本文的研究不仅为深入理解事务所规模对审计意见签发的作用程度受制度变迁的影响及其监管后果提供了直接的经验证据,也为当前我国证券市场的改革提供一定的政策启示。     

内部控制审计强制规则对会计信息价值相关性的影响研究

我国内部控制审计经历了由自愿规则至强制规则的转变,以2007—2021年内部控制审计上市公司为样本,研究不同规则下内部控制审计与会计信息价值相关性之间的关系。研究发现：相对于自愿规则,强制规则减弱了会计信息价值相关性;强制规则在审计意见类型和审计模式对会计信息价值相关性的影响程度上有所不同。盈余质量、机构投资者和分析师关注均可以缓解强制规则对会计信息价值相关性的负向影响。研究结论表明在当前强制规则下,上市公司在加强内部控制建设以获取无保留审计意见的同时,还应关注独立审计模式带来的增量价值;提高盈余质量,充分发挥机构投资者和分析师的作用,也有助于缓解信息不对称,提高会计信息价值相关性。