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.     

European Market Reaction to Audit Reforms

Abstract

This paper investigates European stock market reaction to events associated with the proposed EU audit reforms that were ultimately implemented in 2016. These include, inter alia, mandatory audit firm rotation, prohibition of non-audit services, and fee caps. We find that investors react positively to the proposals, lifting aggregate market value by approximately €108,630 million. In cross-sectional analysis at both country and firm level, we find that these net benefits arise from the prohibition of non-audit services and the placing of a cap on total fees charged by the auditor. Furthermore, we find investors in firms with low earnings quality appear to perceive the greatest benefits from the proposed reforms.     

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.     

What matters in disclosures of key audit matters: Evidence from Europe

New regulation in the European Union has introduced the mandatory disclosure of key audit matters (KAMs) to audit reports. The EU has identified KAMs as significant risks, significant transactions or events, or significant judgments by auditors. This paper aims to determine the factors that influence the number of KAMs that auditors disclose in the main European countries under the new regulation. We predict that the litigation risk, reputation loss, auditor–client relationship, precision of accounting standards, and the effect of regulators and supervisors’ activities affect the number of KAMs that auditors disclose. The sample consists of firms on the FTSE 100, CAC 40, or AEX 25 that have disclosed KAMs at the 2016 fiscal year‐end. In line with our hypotheses, the findings show that a higher number of business segments (complexity) and more precise accounting standards lead to the disclosure of a higher number of KAMs. Contrary to our expectations, the results indicate that a positive association exists between the audit fee and the number of KAMs disclosed. As audit fees can be related to higher client risk, this finding could indicate that litigation risk dominates any auditor–client dependence. Further, although auditors often view their audits of banks as complex, the findings show a negative association between banks and the number of disclosed KAMs. This evidence may be related to the fact that financial institutions are in a highly regulated and supervised industry that reduces the need to disclose the KAMs.     

The influence of countries' climate change-related institutional profile on voluntary environmental disclosures

This paper analyzes how the regulative, normative, and cultural dimensions of institutions exert pressure both on companies' decisions to voluntarily disclose environmental information and on the quality of the information disclosed. Prior research has focused on the influence of economic, disclosure, and generic institutional determinants, although little attention has been paid to the analysis of the influence exerted by climate change-related institutional pillars. The results show that the three institutional pillars have different effects as regards both the decision to respond and the quality of disclosure. The regulative pillar positively influences the response decision but does not influence disclosure quality. The normative pillar positively affects both the propensity of companies to disclose and the quality of the information reported. Meanwhile, the cultural pillar positively influences disclosure quality, but it has no effect on firms' decisions to disclose environmental information. This paper is the first to analyze whether the institutional profile of climate change in different countries influences voluntary environmental disclosures.     

上市公司自愿性披露信息监管体系构建

上市公司自愿性披露信息是指除强制性披露的信息外,上市公司基于公司形象、投资者关系、回避诉讼风险等动机主动披露的信息,是企业披露信息的重要组成部分,也是上市公司展示核心竞争力的有效途径。本文在分析我国上市公司自愿性披露信息中存在问题的基础上,提出了构建上市公司自愿性披露信息监管体系的建议。     

未预期盈余、审计意见与年报披露及时性——来自上海证券交易所上市公司年报的证据

以2001-2004年度所有沪市上市公司为样本,实证检验了未预期盈余、审计报告类型、公司业绩等多个因素对上市公司年报披露绝对及时性和相对及时性的影响。研究结果发现,未预期盈余为正的年报、被出具标准审计意见的年报以及业绩好的年报披露较早;反之亦然;当年会计师事务所变更的公司和亏损公司年报披露较晚。在变更年报预约披露日期的公司中,未预期盈余为正的公司、被出具标准审计意见的公司以及业绩好的公司通常提前披露年报;反之亦然。     

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.     

管理者能力与权力对内部控制审计费用的影响

Taking the internal audit fees in listed companies disclosed by Shenzhen and Shanghai main board from 2012 to 2015 as research samples, this paper makes an empirical study on the influence of managerial ability and power on internal control audit fees. The research shows that both managerial ability and power are negatively related to internal control audit fees. After distinguishing the nature of property right, this paper finds that, as far as the influence of managerial power on internal controls audit fees is concerned, there is no significant difference both in the state-owned and non-state-owned listed companies, while in state-owned listed companies, managerial power has a more significant negative impact on internal control audit fees. Conclusions of this paper extend the research on upper echelons theory, managerial ability and power, and regulate the internal control audit fees instructively.     

企业ESG表现影响关键审计事项披露吗？

基于2017—2021年我国A股上市公司的经验证据,实证检验企业ESG表现对关键审计事项披露的影响。研究发现,企业ESG表现越差,审计师为应对风险披露的关键审计事项越充分,具体表现为披露数量更多、披露内容更详细。进一步分析发现,ESG表现通过影响企业的经营风险和信息风险,从而影响到关键审计事项披露的信息量,并且在审计师具有行业专长和媒体关注度较高的情况下,企业ESG表现对关键审计事项披露的影响更明显。研究结论不仅丰富了企业ESG表现经济后果的相关文献,而且对新审计报告准则实施后审计师更准确地识别审计风险、提供更有效的审计服务具有启示意义。     

Audit committee effectiveness and the audit fee

The UK is the only major country within the European Union the majority of whose listed companies have formed audit committees composed of non-executive directors to monitor financial reporting, the external auditors, and internal control strength. The adoption of audit committees in contrast to the approach in Europe has arisen despite the lack of evidence on their effectiveness even in the USA and Canada, where they have been mandatory since the 1970s. This paper seeks to establish whether audit committees are effective in ensuring audit quality by protecting the auditors from fee cuts which might affect audit quality, and signal tighter internal controls which help to reduce audit time and hence audit fees. The problem is that the audit committee may be expected to exert a two-way pressure on audit fees. To the extent that audit committees should enhance audit quality, partly by ensuring that audit hours are not reduced, an audit committee may be expected to increase total audit fees. At the same time, an audit committee may reasonably be thought to be a proxy for internal control strength. Ceteris paribus, companies with strong internal controls may be expected to pay lower audit fees than those with weak internal controls. Our paper argues that the ‘quality’ aspect of the audit can be captured through a dummy firm size variable, whilst the internal control aspects can be captured through dummy risk and complexity variables. The hypotheses examined are that size related audit fees are higher in companies with an audit committee; and that risk- and complexity-related audit fees are lower in companies with audit committees. The hypotheses are tested by developing a regression model for audit fees of a sample of the companies which comprise the FT-SE 500, with variables being included for the presence or absence of an audit committee. The results show that the relationship between size-related audit fees and the presence of an audit committee is positive and statistically significant, but that although there is a negative relationship between risk- and complexity-related audit fees and the presence of an audit committee, the relationships are not conclusively significant. The findings provide support for the contention that audit committees are at least partially effective in preventing reductions in the audit fee to levels where the quality of the audit may be compromised.     

审计师客户不匹配关系如何影响资本市场信息环境？——基于关键审计事项披露视角

新审计报告准则增加了披露关键审计事项的要求,以2016—2020年的关键审计事项文本数据为研究对象,考察了审计师客户不匹配关系对关键审计事项披露的影响。研究发现,向上的审计师客户不匹配关系显著提升了关键审计事项可读性、详细程度和数量,有助于优化资本市场信息环境;向下的审计师客户不匹配关系显著降低了关键审计事项可读性、详细程度和数量,无益于资本市场信息环境的改善。进一步分析发现,在向上的审计师客户不匹配关系中,审计师更倾向于清晰说明关键审计事项的披露原因,给出结论性评价,并且会披露更多的行业共性风险事项和公司特性风险事项。研究结论为完善关键审计事项披露制度、持续优化资本市场信息环境提供了有益借鉴。     

开发支出资本化、内部控制与审计收费——基于企业异质性特征的实证检验

以2007—2018年沪深A股上市公司为样本，研究了开发支出资本化对审计收费的影响以及内部控制对开发支出资本化与审计收费关系的调节作用，并从产权性质和是否高新技术企业的企业异质性特征角度进行了分组检验。研究发现，存在开发支出资本化的公司会被收取更高的审计费用，高质量内部控制能够负向调节开发支出资本化对审计收费的影响，非国有控股公司和高新技术企业内部控制的负向调节作用更强。研究结果说明审计师在对上市公司进行审计时，充分考虑了开发支出资本化存在的风险以及内部控制的负向调节作用，并将其作为影响审计收费的重要因素。     

Are Joint Audits Associated with Higher Audit Fees?

In its October 2010 Green Paper on audit policy, the European Commission suggested that joint audits might be a way of improving the audit market in Europe. However, some parties consider that a joint audit system is not an efficient solution because the perceived improvements in audit quality, if any, are not commensurate with the significant increase in audit fees. We compare audit fees paid during the years 2007–2011 by listed companies in France, where joint audits are mandatory, with those paid by British and Italian companies. Theory suggests that audit fees in countries with high investor protection, such as the UK, are likely to be greater than those in countries with lower investor protection, such as France and Italy, ceteris paribus. However, we find significantly higher audit fees in France after controlling for well-documented auditor, client, and engagement attributes, which vary across countries. Furthermore, since we do not find statistically significant differences in the magnitude of abnormal accruals, the higher audit fees observed in France do not appear to be associated with higher audit quality.     

Non-audit Services and Audit Quality: Evidence from Private Firms

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between audit quality in private firms and the provision of non-audit services (NAS) – an issue that has rarely been considered in prior research. The threats to auditor independence are different in private firms compared to public firms. The same is true of the opportunities to use the same knowledge for audit and for NAS. Therefore, the effect of the provision of NAS on audit quality is also likely to be different. In this study, audit quality is measured by discretionary accruals, as well as by managers' perceptions of the extent to which the audit improves accounting quality. The regression analysis is based on 420 surveyed private firms in Sweden and suggests that audit quality is positively associated with NAS in general and accounting services in particular. The findings indicate that the joint provision of audit and NAS do not necessarily result in impaired auditor independence, but rather support the existence of knowledge spillover between the services.     

资本市场开放提高了审计费用吗？——基于行业竞争和市场竞争地位的双重调节效应

资本市场开放后,互联互通机制引进了国际资本和先进治理经验,这既增加境内资本市场信息风险水平,亦带来监督效应,审计费用也发生相应变化。基于2010—2019年中国上市公司数据分析发现：在资本市场开放后,上市公司审计费用显著提高;行业竞争程度负向调节资本市场开放对审计费用的正向影响且这一调节作用在高市场竞争地位的公司中更显著,而市场竞争地位负调节效应主要体现在高竞争行业中。结果表明,行业竞争与市场竞争地位会对资本市场开放与审计费用的关系产生双重调节效应,资本市场开放有助于低竞争行业公司和高竞争行业中的低市场竞争地位公司提高审计质量需求。进一步研究表明,资本市场开放后,非国有企业和内控弱有效企业审计费用显著提高。     

食品安全信息披露的博弈分析

食品质量安全信息披露不足,导致消费者难以分辨食品的安全性,不能对市场中的食品产生信任。本文建立消费者与生产者的信号博弈模型并找寻了动态均衡路径,分析认为:食品生产企业要获得消费者信任并实现与低质量企业完全分离,必须披露更多的质量安全信息,同时高质量企业披露安全信息对企业有利。通过比较国外为获得消费者信任而加强食品安全信息披露的情况,指出现阶段国内食品安全信息披露的不足,提出引导高质量企业进行更多信息披露、加强信息沟通交流和落实信息披露机制的建议。     

浅析非审计服务对审计独立性的影响

审计独立性是审计服务的核心和灵魂,随着非审计服务在会计师事务所业务中所占的比例越来越大,对审计独立性的影响也随着增大。文章阐述了非审计服务对审计独立性的影响,并提出了应对措施。     

Consequences of the Abandonment of Mandatory Joint Audit: An Empirical Study of Audit Costs and Audit Quality Effects

This paper focuses on the unique Danish setting in examining the consequences of abandoning a mandatory joint audit regime. We study the effects on audit costs (measured by audit fees) and audit quality (measured by abnormal accruals) of the abandonment of the mandatory joint audit in Denmark in 2005. We perform our analysis on non-financial listed Danish companies for the 2002–2010 period. Our results show that a joint audit is associated with higher fees, but that the association between joint audit and abnormal accruals is insignificant. This suggests that the higher audit fees cannot be explained by higher audit quality. Our results are robust to alternative measurements of fees and audit quality. Additional analyses show that the fee premium related to a joint audit decreases over time and that the Big 4 concentration in our sample has increased since the switch from mandatory to voluntary joint audit. Our results are consistent with the motivations driving the regulatory change in Denmark and are of interest to regulators and actors in the audit market.     

我国独立审计收费现状的博弈思考

审计收费在独立审计中占有重要地位,它是联系审计服务供求双方的桥梁。首先全面介绍了我国独立审计收费普遍较低的现状;然后深入分析了会计师事务所之间、事务所与被审计单位之间在审计收费方面的博弈行为;并在此基础上提出了相应的解决办法,以期规范我国的独立审计收费,促进注册会计师行业的健康快速发展。