会计师事务所的地区竞争优势与审计质量

本文研究会计师事务所的地区竞争优势与审计质量之间的关系。文章以2002—2009年为样本区间,以会计师事务所在某一地区的市场份额来衡量其地区竞争优势,以操纵性应计的绝对值和正向、负向水平衡量审计质量。研究发现,会计师事务所的地区竞争优势越大,操纵性应计的绝对值以及正向应计的水平越低,而会计师事务所的地区竞争优势对于负向应计的影响程度较弱。本文的研究表明,会计师的地区竞争优势越大,审计质量越高。     

审计委员会与审计质量——来自中国A股市场的经验证据

本文以中国2004年—2005年期间获得无保留审计意见的A股上市公司为研究样本,采用截面Jones模型估计出的公司操纵性应计利润(盈余管理)的绝对值作为审计质量的衡量指标,考察了审计委员会与审计质量之间的关系。研究发现,在控制了"会计师事务所规模"、"公司是否面临退市风险"、"审计意见是否带强调事项"、"公司经营活动现金流"、"公司盈余数量"、"年度"等指标后,设立审计委员会的公司的盈余管理绝对值显著比未设立审计委员会的公司小,这说明审计委员会能够显著的提高审计质量。进一步研究发现:审计委员会的成立时间越长,审计质量越高;审计委员会在2005年的作用比2004年更加显著。     

审计市场结构与审计质量:来自中国证券市场的经验证据

本文以我国证券市场2004年~2005年的上市公司为研究样本,使用调整后的KS模型估计出的公司操纵性应计利润的绝对值作为审计质量的衡量指标,考察了审计市场结构和审计质量的关系。研究发现在控制了影响审计质量的相关变量之后,市场结构与审计质量存在以下关系:审计市场集中度与审计质量成正相关关系;市场的进入退出壁垒越高,审计质量越高;但审计师的行业专长不但没有提高审计质量,反而在一定程度上降低了审计质量;审计市场的强地域性与审计质量也没有明显的相关关系。     

会计师事务所任期会影响审计质量吗？——来自中国上市公司的经验证据

本文在我国会计师事务所自愿性变更的大环境下，研究事务所任期的长短是否对耳计质量造成影响，试图为会计师事务所强制轮换制度的制定提供实证证据。我们以1995年至2002年中国证券市场3466家上市公司为样本，以上市公司盈余乍理程度作为审计质量的衡量指标，研究会计师事务所任期与审计质量之间的关系。分别以主观应计利润和线下项目度量上市公司的盈余管理程度，研究结果显示：首先，对于与会计师事务所的审计业务委托关系持续时问在五年及五年以上戢上市公司，随着事务所任期的增加，上市公司利用主观应计利润进行盈余管理的程度更加严重。而这种行为主要是将利润调低的盈余管理。其次，随着会计师事务所任期的增加，上市公司利用线下项目进行盈余管理行为的程度加重了。而且，这一关系对于存在稳定的审计业务委托关系的上市公司来说更加明显。这种行为不仅包括将盈余调高的盈余管理，也包括了将盈余调低的盈余管理。以上两个结论均支持会计师事务所任期的增加加重了上市公司盈余管理程度的观点，与会计师事务所强制轮换制度暗含的假设是一致的。     

审计师任期、事务所任期与审计质量

本文选择2007年至2012年沪深A股上市公司为研究对象,使用估计的可操控性应计间接衡量审计质量,来验证强制审计师轮换制度的实施是否起到预期的作用,并探讨了事务所任期与审计质量的关系.通过一系列的实证检验得出,当审计师任期超过5年后,随着审计师任期的增加,审计质量逐渐下降验证了签字会计师5年期强制轮换制度的适当性.另外,也得出在控制审计师任期后,随着事务所任期的延长,审计质量随着下降,为事务所轮换提供了证据.     

地理因素对会计师事务所审计质量影响的研究

会计师事务所审计质量的影响因素是多方面的,但从地理因素这一外部环境因素研究其对审计质量的影响较少。本文以深市主板A股2012年228家由会计师事务所分所审计的上市公司为研究样本,以上市公司的可操纵性应计利润的绝对值作为审计质量的代理变量,采用多元线性回归模型,分析会计师事务所与被审计单位地理接近度、会计师事务所所在地理位置以及被审计单位所在地理位置与审计质量的关系。研究结果发现,会计师事务所与被审计单位地理接近程度与审计质量正相关,会计师事务所所在地理位置与审计质量不相关,被审计单位所在地理位置与审计质量负相关。     

行业自律监管能改进审计质量吗?——基于中注协约谈的证据

本文考察了注册会计师行业自律监管对事务所审计质量的影响。基于2012—2015年我国上市公司年报审计期间,中注协约谈会计师事务所提示审计风险的数据,以操控性应计利润绝对值作为事务所审计质量的替代变量,在控制年份和事务所效应后,研究发现约谈行为对事务所审计质量没有显著影响。进一步细分事务所规模后,发现约谈对大规模事务所审计质量影响不显著,但约谈对小规模事务所审计质量产生了积极的显著影响。实证研究结果表明在上市公司年报审计期间,中注协约谈会计师事务所提示审计风险,对小规模事务所起到了事中提示和警醒的效果,发挥了行业自律监管的作用,使得上市公司年报审计质量有所提高。     

高管会计师事务所关联、审计任期与审计质量

本文研究了高管会计师事务所关联对审计任期(事务所任期)和审计质量的影响,以及事务所关联存在和不存在的条件下审计任期与审计质量的关系。实证结果表明,有事务所关联的公司更可能收到标准审计意见,从而说明事务所关联降低了审计质量;同时,事务所关联关系延长了审计任期,即存在事务所关联的公司比没有事务所关联的公司与事务所合作的时间更长。在有事务所关联的公司和没有事务所关联的公司中,审计任期与审计质量之间的关系不同,进而说明有事务所关联公司的审计质量并不取决于审计任期,而是事务所关联本身的影响所造成的。     

会计师事务所规模与其审计质量的关系——基于新三板企业的研究

本文基于2011至2013年新三板企业的财务数据和其对会计师事务所的选择情况进行了分析,研究会计师事务所的规模与其审计质量是否存在正相关关系。文章将会计师事务所分成国内十大和非十大两类,根据修正琼斯模型计算企业年度操纵性应计值作为审计质量的替代变量。通过描述性统计和回归分析,发现大规模事务所对应企业的操纵性应计值更低,说明大所对企业盈余管理的考察能力和抑制能力更强,进而说明其审计专业程度更高,审计质量更好。     

审计费用与审计质量:基于分位数回归分析北大核心

本文利用2001-2013年中国上市公司的经验数据,采用分位数回归方法,使用可操控性应计绝对值表示审计质量,考察审计费用与审计质量之间的关系。研究发现:审计费用和审计质量之间不是一直存在显著性的关系,当审计质量处于较低的分位数水平时,审计费用和审计质量无显著关系,随着审计质量分位数水平的提高,即审计质量的降低,审计费用对审计质量的影响逐渐显著,而且该影响表现出"马太效应":随着审计质量分位数水平提高,审计费用对审计质量的回归系数值越来越大。考虑审计师规模后,与非十大事务所相比,十大事务所表现出的对审计质量的敏感性更强,对较低的可操控性应计容忍度更低,说明十大的审计质量更高,其政策含义是事务所做强做大有助于提高审计质量。     

The interaction effects of firm and partner tenure on audit quality†

This paper investigates the impact of firm and partner tenure on audit quality, where audit quality is proxied by discretionary accruals. We study a sample of Spanish listed companies between 2005 and 2011 and address both the individual and the interaction effects of firm and partner tenure. Our study is motivated by the current debate, particularly intense at the EU level, on the impact of the auditor rotation regime on the quality of auditing. We find that, without considering the interaction effects, firm and partner tenure do not seem to play a relevant role as determinants of audit quality. Importantly, the interaction of firm and partner tenure shows stronger effects on audit quality than both forms of tenure separately considered. Finally, our analysis suggests that audit quality is maximized when medium firm and partner tenures interact. However, results for the interaction variables are sensitive to the accruals estimation method.     

On the Relationship between Audit Tenure and Fees Paid to the Audit Firm and Audit Quality

Abstract

We investigate the impact of audit firm tenure, partner tenure, audit fees, fees for non-audit services and total fees on audit quality, as measured by discretionary accruals. Our sample consists of Spanish non-financial public companies for the years between 2006 and 2013. Results indicate that audit quality increases with audit firm tenure but decreases with partner tenure. Moreover, the level of fees paid to the audit firm seems to have a negative impact on audit quality, which is mainly driven by fees for audit services. In this regard, we do not observe any significant relationship between fees for non-audit services and audit quality. Our results also show that the negative relationship between either long partner tenures or high fees and audit quality does not occur when the tenure with the audit firm is long. Therefore, long audit firm tenures do not only seem to involve higher audit quality ‘per se’, but also moderate the negative effects of partner tenure and audit fees on audit quality. The results of this study, which are robust to several sensitivity checks, may be relevant for the current debate on auditor rotation and the joint provision of audit and non-audit services.     

Effects of audit committee chair characteristics on auditor choice,audit fee and audit quality

We investigate whether the characteristics of audit committee (AC) chairs are associated with decisions about auditor choice, audit fees and audit quality. Using hand-collected Australian data, firms with AC chairs who have longer tenure and multiple AC memberships across several boards are found to be more likely to choose Big 4 and/or industry specialist auditors, pay higher audit fees and have lower discretionary accruals. Those AC chairs with higher business qualifications are more likely to hire a Big 4 auditor, pay higher audit fees and have lower discretionary accruals, while AC chairs with professional qualifications are more likely to hire a Big 4 and/or industry specialist auditor. In contrast, firms with AC chairs who are executive directors are less likely to hire a Big 4 auditor and have higher discretionary accruals. Our findings contribute to the literature by documenting that various characteristics of AC chairs are important for enhancement of auditor selection and audit quality.     

Do seasoned industry specialists provide higher audit quality? A re-examination

The purpose of this paper is to re-examine the recent findings in Gaver and Utke (2019) (GU) who find that seasoned industry specialist auditors provide higher audit quality. We first illustrate how the magnitude of residuals from the accruals model can vary significantly by industry, thus highlighting the importance of including industry fixed effects when the dependent variable is discretionary accruals. We next replicate GU’s findings. We first attempt to replicate prior literature after including industry fixed effects in the audit quality (discretionary accruals) models. This is an important control, as the relevant benchmark for a firm with an industry specialist auditor is a peer firm in the same industry with a non-specialist auditor. We find that after including industry fixed effects, there is no association between seasoned industry specialist auditors and discretionary accruals. We also find that the association between industry specialization and discretionary accruals is very sensitive to the way in which the researcher calculates specialization. Our findings are informative for shareholders of public companies who vote on auditor ratification.     

An examination of the influence of mutual CFO/audit firm tenure on audit quality

This study examines whether the extent of professional relationships between an audit firm and their client’s CFO influences audit quality. If regulators’ concerns that the relationship that develops over time between an audit firm and their client’s CFO impairs auditor judgment are justified, then we should observe a negative relationship between the length of audit firm’s tenure with their client’s CFO and audit quality. The results suggest that mutual audit firm-CFO tenure is associated with lower audit quality measured by the magnitude of discretionary accruals, the reduced incidence of issuance of going-concern audit opinions for distressed companies, and an increased likelihood of the receipt of an Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Release (AAER) from the US. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These affects are concentrated in a subsample of firms with higher levels of corporate governance concerns. These findings have implications for policies related to audit firm rotation. Specifically, the results suggest that regulators need to consider other relationships underlying audit firm tenure, such as the relationships that form between audit firm and client personnel, when evaluating audit firm rotation policies.     

Does sharing the same network auditor in group affiliated firms affect audit quality?

We contribute to the literature on audit quality by examining whether sharing the same network auditor among group affiliated firms is related to lower or higher audit quality in China. We find that choosing the same network audit firm among group affiliated firms is associated with more sanctions by regulators regarding fraudulent financial reporting, higher abnormal accruals, larger standard deviation of abnormal accruals, higher likelihood of a downward restatement in earnings, and lower likelihood of receiving a going concern modified opinion. We further identify contexts that moderate audit quality. Higher audit quality is associated with the use of a specialist auditor and firms that operate in more homogeneous industries. Lower audit quality is associated with longer auditor tenure (more than five years), greater geographic distance between a parent company and its subsidiaries, and greater control by a parent company over its subsidiaries.     

Big Six auditors and audit quality: The Korean evidence

This study investigates the association between discretionary accruals and Big Six and non-Big Six auditors, and the direction of auditor change. We hypothesize that there is no significant difference in discretionary accruals between Big Six and non-Big Six clients when there is low incentive for auditors to provide high-quality audits, as in Korea.Upon examination of the discretionary accruals of firms listed on the Korean Stock Exchange from 1994 to 1998, we find there is no significant difference between the discretionary accruals of firms with Big Six and non-Big Six auditors. This holds true for firms that switch from non-Big Six to Big Six auditors and vice versa. These resources imply that there may be no difference in audit quality between Big Six and non-Big Six auditors in Korea. This is consistent with other studies in Korea, while inconsistent with the findings of previous studies on audit quality in other countries.     

Income smoothing and audit fees

In this study, we examine the effect of income smoothing on auditors' pricing decisions. Analyzing a sample of 12,823 firm-year observations from U.S. companies in non-regulated industries for the period 2000–2018, we find that income smoothing is negatively associated with audit fees, suggesting that auditors favorably view smoothed earnings. This result holds when we control for other variables that have been identified as determinants of audit fees in prior literature, including client-specific (e.g., client size, audit complexity, litigation risk, and corporate governance), auditor-specific (e.g., auditor quality, auditor tenure, and auditor expertise), and engagement-specific (e.g., audit opinion, busy season, reporting lag) factors. Our results also hold across (1) alternative smoothing measures (with and without considering the use of accruals to smooth earnings), (2) different sources of income smoothness (innate vs. discretionary components) and (3) various robustness tests. Overall, our evidence supports the notion that auditors perceive income smoothing as signaling rather than opportunistic behavior, and thus charge lower audit fees. To our knowledge, this is the first study that examines income smoothing directly from the perspective of auditors.     

Independent and joint effects of audit partner tenure and non-audit fees on audit quality

We examine the individual and joint effects of auditors’ non-audit services (NAS)/abnormal NAS fees and length of audit partner tenure on audit quality. Our results raise questions about the ‘one size fits all’ approach imposed by the current audit partner rotation requirement in Australia as a result of (1) a learning differentiation that we observe between Big 4 and non-Big 4 auditors and (2) higher discretionary accruals associated with non-Big 4 auditors. We find abnormal NAS fees to have a positive association with both absolute and positive (income-increasing) values of discretionary accruals for firms with short audit partner tenure. NAS/abnormal NAS fees are also negatively associated with the issuance of going concern opinions to financially distressed firms when partner tenure is short. In terms of policy implications, regulators are able to gauge the efficacy of the CLERP 9 reforms which currently impose a five year mandatory audit partner rotation requirement.