Voluntary CSR disclosure,institutional environment,and independent audit demand

Using a sample of A-share listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges, this study examines the impact of voluntary corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure on independent audit demand in different institutional environments. The sample covers the 2008–2016 period and excludes firms that are required to disclose CSR information. The findings show that compared with companies that choose to not disclose such information, companies that voluntarily disclose CSR information prefer to employ “small” accounting firms for auditing services, although the auditing fees are much higher. However, as the institutional environment improves, this preference is weakened. Further analyses show that this preference is stronger in enterprises where CSR disclosure is driven by strong political motivations and managerial self-interest motivations. Legitimate motivations and economic motivations do not significantly impact the preference for “small” audit firms. Furthermore, this preference is more obvious in enterprises with poor operational performance and low information disclosure quality, and it increases as CSR disclosure level decreases. The study enriches our understanding of the economic consequences of voluntary CSR disclosure and the factors that influence independent audit demand. The results also have implications for the construction and regulation of China’s system for supervising CSR information disclosure in the transitional phase.     

提升企业内部控制有效性的重要制度安排——关于实施企业内部控制注册会计师审计的有关问题

实施企业内控注册会计师审计具有十分重要的意义。在实施企业内控审计中,应当正确处理好企业内控责任与注册会计师审计责任的关系、企业内控自我评价与注册会计师内控审计的关系、内控审计和财务报表审计的关系、财务报告内控和非财务报告内控的关系、企业层面控制测试与业务层面控制测试的关系、重大缺陷披露与其他缺陷沟通的关系。同时,应当深入研究非财务报告内控测试的范围界定和方法技术问题、内控测试评价的样本选取问题、首次执行内控审计与连续实施内控审计的策略问题、内控审计报告的披露形式问题、内控审计信息系统的开发建设问题、内控审计结果的利用问题,推动内控审计扎实有序开展。     

Explaining the (non-) adoption of advanced data analytics in auditing: A process theory

Audit firms are increasingly engaging with advanced data analytics to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of external audits through the automation of audit work and obtaining a better understanding of the client’s business risk and thus their own audit risk. This paper examines the process by which audit firms adopt advanced data analytics, which has been left unaddressed by previous research. We derive a process theory from expert interviews which describes the activities within the process and the organizational units involved. It further describes how the adoption process is affected by technological, organizational and environmental contextual factors. Our work contributes to the extent body of research on technology adoption in auditing by using a previously unused theoretical perspective, and contextualizing known factors of technology adoption. The findings presented in this paper emphasize the importance of technological capabilities of audit firms for the adoption of advanced data analytics; technological capabilities within audit teams can be leveraged to support both the ideation of possible use cases for advanced data analytics, as well as the diffusion of solutions into practice.     

The Uses of Advanced Information Technology in Audit Planning

Expert systems, intelligent databases and other forms of advanced information technology are quickly becoming pervasive tools in accounting and auditing. All the major public accounting firms are either using such systems in their auditing practice or have them under development. This paper describes the use of several systems used for audit planning. These are divided into three functional areas: audit risk assessment, internal control evaluation and audit program development. The advantages and disadvantages of these systems as they relate to auditing are discussed.     

New year's eve party?

Sometimes companies attempt to inflate reported earnings and assets by recording dubious transactions near the end of the fiscal year. Auditors often refer to such transactions as “New Year's Eve Parties”. This case study is based on reports in the business press about what appears to be a classic “New Year's Eve Party”. At the end of 1993 Bausch & Lomb (B&L) recorded some very questionable sales, which in essence involved B&L forcing distributors to take large shipments of inventory. The case, which is designed for use in auditing courses, requires students to consider indications of risks and to evaluate several accounting and auditing questions from the perspectives of an audit manager, a partner in charge, a controller, and a member of a quality review team.     

Audit committee characteristics and investment in internal auditing

Regulators and others recently highlighted the increasingly important role of internal auditing in supporting and interacting with the audit committee to ensure the integrity and quality of financial reporting. Likewise, one of the roles of the audit committee is to oversee the quality of monitoring mechanisms implemented by the firm, which includes the internal audit function. However, our understanding of the relationship between the audit committee and internal auditing is limited. We fill this void by providing the first empirical evidence of the association between audit committee characteristics and the investment in internal auditing. Our analyses, from a sample of 181 SEC registrants, suggest that the investment in internal auditing (internal audit budget) is negatively related to the presence of auditing experts on the committee and the average tenure of audit committee members, but positively related to the number of audit committee meetings (a proxy for audit committee diligence). These observations suggest potential complementary and substitution effects between the audit committee and internal auditing, and thus raise important implications for future research.     

A Maturity‐level Assessment of Generalised Audit Software: Internal Audit Functions in Australia

The advancement of information technology in today's technologically driven era has had a significant impact on the way corporate organisations are conducting their business, especially in a developed country such as Australia. Consequently, it is now almost impossible to conduct effective and efficient audits without the use of technology‐based tools in control environments that are dominated by big data and increasing volumes of electronic audit evidence. Generalised Audit Software (GAS) is one of the most frequently used technology‐based tools available for the internal audit function for tests of controls purposes. The objective of this article is to explore the maturity of the use of GAS by internal audit functions in Australia. The literature review reveals that the use of GAS by internal audit functions globally is still at a relatively low level of maturity, despite the increased adoption of information technology and the generation of big data within organisations. Similarly, the empirical results also confirm the low level of maturity in the use of GAS by internal audit functions in Australia. Only 17.4% of the respondents displayed a high level of maturity with regard to the use of GAS.     

External monitoring of private firms: A cross-country empirical analysis

There is limited research which focuses on the use of external monitoring by private companies, domestic or international. We use World Bank data to explore the factors that are associated with the probability of using external monitoring by private firms in emerging and developing countries. In this research, the service of external auditors is considered as a proxy for external monitoring. We tested our results both on the full sample (114 countries) and on 5 different income clusters based on World Bank economic development categorization. From our results, we conclude that there is not a single set of “universal” factors associated with firms' decision to engage external auditors. We observe that factors associated with external auditors, a proxy for monitoring, differ across the various categories of economic development. As a policy implication, there is a need for a voluntary adoption of a uniform set of standards for external monitoring and auditing in this area.     

Corporate Governance and Audit Fees: Evidence of Countervailing Relations

This study documents that audit fees, and hence audit quality, and governance reflect two countervailing relations, namely, a fee increase because of exogenous changes in expected liability that require greater auditing and other mechanisms to attain better governance, and a fee reduction because auditors reduce the price of risk to reflect the benefits of better governance. The study period provides an interesting setting to test these relations because it covers the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation, which imposed a substantial cost on many companies to strengthen governance, including increased auditing and internal control spending. Yet, after controlling for such increased spending, our results also suggest that better governance reduces the cost of auditing.     

财务报告内部控制审计收费的影响因素——基于中国内地在美上市公司的实证研究

本文以中国内地在美国上市的公司为样本,研究了财务报告内部控制审计收费的影响因素及影响方式。研究发现,公司规模、会计师事务所的声誉与审计收费显著正相关;公司财务报告内部控制的复杂性与审计收费正相关,而且,在会计师事务所看来,相对于有传统的常规业务流程的公司,没有传统的常规业务流程的公司的财务报告内部控制更复杂。研究还发现,由于风险导向审计模式的应用、SOX法案特定的制度安排以及财务报告内部控制的特性,公司财务报告内部控制失效的风险与审计收费之间并不是以往研究结论和常识中的正相关,而是显著负相关,即上一年披露了财务报告内部控制重大缺陷的公司的审计收费反而低,产生了"极反效应"。     

Alternatives for addressing major challenges in teaching introductory auditing courses

Due to the numerous and extensive recent changes in business, regulatory, and auditing environments, instructors are faced with difficult choices when designing an introductory auditing course that sufficiently meets the needs of students and the firms that will employ them. Instructors whose students are primarily hired by firms that audit SEC registered companies, for example, might allocate significant class time to PCAOB Auditing Standard No. 5 [Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (2007). Board proposes new standard on internal control over financial reporting. www.pcaob.com]. On the other hand, instructors whose students are primarily hired by firms that audit non-SEC registered companies, might allocate significant class time to reviews and agreed-upon procedure services. This paper presents four alternatives for designing introductory auditing courses, and discusses some of the major issues and constraints that instructors should consider in choosing which alternative best suits their needs. Finally, the paper provides an example that illustrates the differences among the four alternatives by discussing how each might incorporate one such specific regulatory change—PCAOB Auditing Standard No. 5.     

内部控制信息披露经济后果实证研究

2002年《萨班斯法案》颁布实施以来,内部控制信息披露作为预防舞弊保护投资者利益的重要制度安排,受到世界各国证券监管部门的重视.我国要求2011年起境内外同时上市公司全面披露内部控制信息,2012年起两大交易所主板上市公司强制披露内控信息.研究发现披露内部控制鉴证报告的样本公司支付的审计费用更高,而是否披露内部控制自我评价报告及是否披露内部控制缺陷与审计费用变化不存在显著关系.研究结论提供了我国内部控制信息披露制度在审计领域引发经济效果的客观证据,同时发现与验证了新制度环境下影响上市公司支付审计费用变化的新的重要影响因素.     

Responsiveness of Auditors to the Audit Risk Standards: Unique Evidence from Big 4 Audit Firms

We examine the effect of changes in audit risk standards on the conduct of financial statement audits in a European setting. We investigate this by analysing the audit hours and audit fees for clients of Big 4 audit firms in Finland in 1996 and 2010. Our results show that audit firms became more sensitive to clients’ business risk due to the introduction of the new audit risk standards, with more audit hours allocated to owner-managed companies in 2010 than in 1996, and fewer audit hours allocated to low-risk clients in 2010 than in 1996. Also, the labour mix in the audit team changed for owner-managed companies, with a greater work load carried by junior auditors in 2010 than in 1996. Regarding the price of audit, we find an increase in audit fees for clients with high business risk, while audit fees remained at roughly the same level for low-risk clients. These findings should be of interest to the auditing profession and those involved in the development of auditing regulations.     

基于财务报表审计的会计舞弊揭示机制研究

目前企业会计信息失真主要因会计舞弊引起,CPA能否有效揭示重大会计舞弊已经直接影响到CPA行业的生存价值。中注协因此发布了大量的新准则,试图借鉴国外先进的审计技术,将风险导向审计理念引入到我国的审计实践中来,以提高CPA揭示会计舞弊的能力。但CPA不能有效揭示重大会计舞弊主要的不是技术问题,本文在借鉴国外经验的基础上,分析我国CPA不能有效揭示会计舞弊的原因,提出应将CPA审计和政府审计相结合,共同揭示企业会计舞弊。     

Smart Growth—Creating Real Long-term Value

Most U.S. business leaders appear to believe that all businesses either “grow or die”—and many act as if they believed that all growth is good, and that public companies should grow in a linear, continuous manner as reflected in ever-increasing quarterly earnings. But if these tenets of “the U.S. Growth Model” inform the short-term business view that prevails in many C-suites and boardrooms, there has been surprisingly little analysis of the extent to which the pursuit of continuous growth translates into longer-run success. In this article, the author reports finding no theoretical or empirical support in the fields of economics, finance, strategy, organizational design (or biology) for the idea that continuous growth is either a realistic possibility or a useful corporate objective. In business organizations, the pursuit of continuous growth can drive bad corporate behavior and inhibit real growth and innovation. Based on extensive research, the author suggests a new model of “smart growth”—one in which companies grow successfully by building internal comprehensive systems designed to encourage growth through specific kinds of culture, leadership, and processes. Smart-growth companies use experimental learning processes designed to test growth ideas and build diversified “growth portfolios” while also attempting to limit the risks associated with the pursuit of growth.     

Demand for and Assessment of Audit Quality in Private Companies

Financial statement audits are mandated in most countries, thus making it difficult to distinguish between auditing driven by private incentives versus that driven by regulation. Who would ask for an audit, and how would its quality be assessed in the absence of regulation? Many private companies in Canada get their financial statements audited even though the law does not require it. In this field study, we conduct interviews to discover reasons for demanding an audit, and criteria used to assess their quality. Our study reveals that both internal stakeholders (management, boards, and employees) as well as external stakeholders (customers, banks, and private equity firms) request audits. Users evaluate audit quality based on a variety of criteria such as the auditor's accounting expertise, the absence of errors, the fees involved, risk assessments offered, allocation of effort, internal control, and general business advice. Implications for audit regulations are discussed.     

Adjustment costs of institutional tax changes from the audit pricing perspective: Empirical evidence from the VAT reform

Institutional changes inevitably impose adjustment costs on firms while also generating benefits. However, empirical evidence regarding the adjustment costs of institutional changes is limited, with much of the focus centered on benefits. Using data on China’s A-share listed companies from 2010 to 2018 and the nation’s staggered adoption of the “business tax to value-added tax reform” (hereafter, “VAT reform”) as a natural experiment, we examine the impact of this reform on a particular corporate cost: audit fees. We find audit fees to be 8.11% higher for VAT reform firms than for non-VAT reform firms. This difference does not exist before or after the reform year. That is, it is only observed in the year of VAT reform implementation. This indicates the existence of an adjustment cost specifically related to the VAT reform. Furthermore, we observe larger fee increases among firms audited by Big 4 international audit firms, firms that require more audit work, firms that are more complex, and firms with weak internal controls. From the audit pricing perspective, we provide evidence of the economic consequences of tax reform. The corporate adjustment costs that arise from institutional changes deserve more attention from decision-makers.     

General theory of cost minimization strategies of continuous audit of databases

The minimization of cost is an important issue in the domain of continuous auditing (CA) research [Pathak Jagdish, Chaouch Ben, Sriram Ram, 2005. Minimizing cost of continuous audit: Counting and time dependent strategies. Journal of Accounting and Public Policy 24(1), 61–75]. This cited study of continuous audit of databases motivated us to work further and provide a general, complete and precise solution. In the present study, we propose an efficient algorithm in terms of long term cost for counting and periodic strategies of continuous auditing as suggested by Pathak et al. study. The improved algorithms contribute to accounting literature in general and continuous audit in particular in the form of general theory proposed for minimizing the cost of CA of databases.     

大股东制衡机制对审计约束有效性的影响

在内部治理机制亟待完善、外部审计约束乏力的情况下,集中持股、具有绝对信息优势的第一大股东(基本为非流通股)不仅有动机也有能力粉饰甚至虚构财务报表,掩盖实际存在的问题,避开外部审计约束；而此时,其他大股东很有可能不选择通过内部治理机制实施对第一大股东的制衡,而是更多地求助于外部治理机制,利用自身的信息优势与外部审计者合作,降低信息不对称性,配合注册会计师审计、发现控股股东的财务粉饰和造假行为,提高外部审计约束的有效性。此外,持股比例和制衡能力的消长以及对成本和收益的权衡。使得大股东持股比例、大股东制衡度和上市公司年报被出具非标准审计意见的可能性之间表现为正“U”形关系。     

Discussion of ‘The antecedents of the use of continuous auditing in the internal auditing context’

Gonzalez et al. (2012) apply the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT, Venkatesh et al., 2003) to the issue of adoption of continuous auditing (CA) by internal auditors. The authors make a very convincing case for the slow evolution of CA and propose that this can be explained by the four factors contained in the UTAUT as well as annual sales and voluntariness of use. They find, in their revised model, that effort expectancy and social influence directly impact intentions to use the technology, while performance expectancy is moderated by annual sales and social influence is moderated by voluntariness of use. Interestingly, the authors also identify geographical differences in these influences. I offer commentary on these findings and suggest avenues for future research in the domain of technology adoption and use in accounting.