The Use and Characteristics of Foreign Component Auditors in U.S. Multinational Audits: Insights from Form AP Disclosures*

This paper investigates the common, yet previously opaque, practice of using foreign audit firms (component auditors) to conduct portions of audit work for U.S. public companies. U.S. regulators have expressed concern for the transparency and quality of audits using component auditors. Employing data disclosed in the newly mandated PCAOB Form AP, we find that component auditor use is largely structural, determined by the size and complexity of clients' multinational operations. We do not find that the mere use of component auditors is detrimental to audit outcomes, but rather the amount of work conducted by component auditors is associated with lower audit quality (i.e., higher likelihood of misstatement), higher likelihood of nontimely reporting, and higher audit fees, which collectively suggest that component auditor engagements are associated with adverse outcomes. Furthermore, we find that only the work performed by less competent component auditors and those facing geographic and cultural/language barriers, including significant geographic and cultural distance, weak rule of law, and low English language proficiency, is associated with adverse audit outcomes. Overall, these findings provide initial archival evidence that the use of certain component auditors on U.S. multinational audits is associated with audit coordination issues, which suggests that PCAOB Form AP disclosures provide relevant information.     

整合审计、审计质量与审计收费

2012年,我国规定上市公司在进行财务报表审计的基础上,进行内部控制审计并披露相应报告,但未强制要求进行整合审计,即由同一事务所对同一被审计单位既执行财务报表审计又执行内部控制审计。文章选取2012-2013年我国A股上市公司为研究对象,实证检验整合审计的效用。研究发现,相较一致非整合审计,一致整合审计的审计质量更优,但整合审计在提高审计质量的同时未能显著降低审计收费,为我国开展整合审计工作提供经验参考。     

Office Size of Big 4 Auditors and Client Restatements

Francis and Yu (2009) and Choi, Kim, Kim, and Zang (2010) report evidence that Big 4 audits are of higher quality when the engagement office is of larger size. Specifically, client earnings quality is higher and auditors in larger offices are more likely to issue going‐concern audit reports. We extend this line of research to test if larger Big 4 offices have fewer client restatements. A client restatement provides more direct evidence of a low‐quality audit than earnings quality metrics or going‐concern reports, because a restatement indicates the client's auditor did not effectively enforce the correct application of GAAP at the time the original financial statements were issued. We analyze 2,557 firm‐year restatements in a sample of 23,190 financial statements originally issued by U.S. firms from 2003 to 2008. We find that Big 4 office size is associated with fewer client restatements after controlling for innate client characteristics that may affect restatements (client size, financial performance, industry membership, nonfinancial measures, off‐balance sheet activities, and market‐related measures), and a set of controls for other auditor factors such as fees and industry expertise. The study raises important questions about the ability of smaller offices to deliver high‐quality audits for SEC registrants.     

Improving Jurors' Evaluations of Auditors in Negligence Cases*

Prior research indicates that individuals acting as jurors experience outcome effects in audit negligence litigation. That is, jurors evaluate auditors more harshly in light of negative outcomes, even when audit quality is constant. I posit that outcome effects in this setting are caused by jurors using their negative affect (i.e., feelings) resulting from learning about negative audit outcomes as information relevant to auditor blameworthiness. I tested this hypothesis in an experiment in which I manipulated audit quality, outcome information, and provision of an attribution instruction. The attribution instruction was designed to discredit negative affect as a cue to auditor blameworthiness. Consistent with expectations, attribution participants' evaluations of auditors exhibited less reliance on outcome information and more reliance on audit quality information than did evaluations made by control participants. In fact, outcome effects were eliminated for attribution participants. Courts may be able to improve the quality of jurors' decisions in such cases by employing an attribution instruction.     

重庆高交会:凸现军民结合特色的西部科技盛会--专访重庆高交会组委会办公室主任、市科委主任周旭

2006年4月20日至23日,第七届中国重庆高新技术交易会暨第三届中国国际军民两用技术博览会在重庆国际会议展览中心举行。第七届重庆高交会是重庆市委、市政府与主办单位共同决定高交会逢双年4月举办的首届科技盛会。自1999年以来．重庆市已成功举办了六届高交会和二届军博会,在国内外产生了积极影响,重庆高交会已成为国内著名的综合性展会之一。     

重庆高交会合特色的西——专访重庆高交会组委会办公室主任、市科委主任周旭

2006年4月20日至23日，第七届中国重庆高新技术交易会暨第三届中国国际军民两用技术博览会在重庆国际会议展览中心举行。     

Norms, Values, and Technological Change

Within the context of a repeated game framework, this paper formalizes various roles of norms and values in facilitating economic cooperation. Moreover, the paper explores how technological progress in general and information and communication technology (ICT) in particular affect these roles.     

经济周期、行业竞争与公允价值相关性

文章采用2007-2013年A股上市公司的数据作为样本,研究了不同行业的市场竞争程度及经济周期的不同阶段对公允价值的价值相关性的影响。研究表明,行业竞争程度越高,市场环境越完善,投资者越愿意公允价值会计信息作为重要的决策依据,从而使得公允价值越具有相关性。相对于经济复苏期,当处于经济衰退期时,投资者会更加注重由于公允价值计量的使用而带来的资产损失,从而使得公允价值信息与股价的相关性更强。结论对研究我国公允价值会计及其与应用环境的关系,以及如何有针对性地改进宏观环境,提高会计准则的应用效果等具有参考意义。     

确保公开公平公正交易的制度保障——学习贯彻《暂行办法》的体会

国务院国资委和财政部联合颁布的<企业国有产权转让管理暂行办法>(以下简称<暂行办法>)是我国第一个明确规范企业国有产权转让行为的部门规章,于2004年2月1日起正式实施.     

Enterprise Risk Management and the Financial Reporting Process: The Experiences of Audit Committee Members,CFOs, and External Auditors

The recent financial crisis has brought to the forefront the need for companies to effectively manage their risks. In this regard, one approach that has gained prominence is enterprise risk management (ERM). Importantly, little is known about the link between ERM and the financial reporting process. This link is critical, because it is imperative that financial reporting adequately depicts the financial status (e.g., valuations, estimates) and associated risks of a company as revealed by ERM. Additionally, from an auditing perspective, ERM affects the risks of misstatement, which should impact audit planning. Accordingly, the objective of this study is to examine the experiences of audit partners, CFOs, and audit committee (AC) members (“the governance triad”) on the link between ERM and the financial reporting process. To determine whether members of the governance triad focus on monitoring, strategy, or both, we also examine their definition of and experiences with ERM with respect to agency and/or resource dependence theory. To address these issues, we conduct semistructured interviews of experienced individuals that form the governance triads from 11 public companies. There are three major findings from our study. First, importantly, all three types of participants see a strong link between ERM and the financial reporting process. Second, despite recognition of the broad nature of ERM, the predominant experiences of the actual roles played by triad members center on agency theory, while resource dependence may be relatively underemphasized by all triad members. Finally, CFOs and AC members indicate that auditors may be especially underutilizing ERM in the audit process, suggesting an “expectations gap.”     

Earnings,Book Values,and Dividends in Equity Valuation*

Abstract. The paper develops and analyzes a model of a firm's market value as it relates to contemporaneous and future earnings, book values, and dividends. Two owners' equity accounting constructs provide the underpinnings of the model: the clean surplus relation applies, and dividends reduce current book value but do not affect current earnings. The model satisfies many appealing properties, and it provides a useful benchmark when one conceptualizes how market value relates to accounting data and other information. Résumé. L'auteur élabore et analyse un modèle dans lequel il conceptualise la relation entre la valeur marchande d'une entreprise et ses bénéfices, ses valeurs comptables et ses dividendes actuels et futurs. Deux postulats de la comptabilisation des capitaux propres servent de charpente au modèle: a) la relation du résultat global s'applique et b) les dividendes réduisent la valeur comptable actuelle sans influer, cependant, sur les bénéfices actuels. Le modèle présente de nombreuses propriétés intéressantes et il peut, fort utilement, servir de repère dans la conceptualisation de la relation entre la valeur marchande et les données comptables et autres renseignements.     

Trade,Social Values,and the Generalized Trust

The present paper investigates, empirically, whether global economic integration can lead to national social disintegration, as proclaimed by Rodrik. One can perhaps conjecture that a drop in the generalized trust in a country may signal a rise in social disintegration. Using the survey data on the generalized trust provided by the World Values Surveys, the present paper finds that, in general, there is a positive openness-trust relationship. However, when globalization undermines domestic income distribution, it will weaken this openness-trust relationship. There is also evidence of a threshold inequality above which the openness-trust relationship turns negative.     

The Interaction between Internal Control Assessment and Substantive Testing in Audits for Fraud*

We examine the interaction between internal control assessments and substantive testing in a model of fraud detection. The purpose of our study is to examine a two‐stage model of the auditor‐manager interaction in which the auditor assesses the “likelihood” or possibility of fraud in the first stage and conducts substantive tests in the second stage. We examine the allocation of audit resources across these two distinct facets of the audit. We find that, regardless of the auditor's allocation, the probability of undetected fraud remains the same, but the allocation of some audit resources to internal control assessment may provide cost savings for the auditor.     

Audit Hours and Unit Audit Price of Industry Specialist Auditors: Evidence from Korea

Higher audit fees associated with auditor industry specialization could represent higher unit price charged by industry specialist auditors (ISAs) or the provision of a greater quantity of audit services. This study exploits a field setting in Korea, where the disclosure of audit hours is required in company annual reports, and finds that ISAs charge significantly higher total audit fees but also expend significantly greater audit hours than non‐ISAs. When audit fees and hours are considered together, the unit audit price of ISAs is significantly lower than that of non‐ISAs. This indicates that higher total audit fees associated with ISAs are likely to be attributable to greater audit hours associated with ISAs. However, greater audit hours for ISAs may suggest higher audit quality or may simply indicate that the additional audit work performed by ISAs is conducted by relatively cheaper junior auditors. Our work provides an alternative explanation for the higher total audit fees documented in the previous studies.     

The Fair Value of Cash Flow Hedges,Future Profitability,and Stock Returns

The SEC and FASB recently expressed concerns that investors do not fully assimilate all of the information provided by complex and incomplete derivatives and other comprehensive income (OCI) disclosures. My evidence supports these concerns. Specifically, I examine the information content of unrealized cash flow hedge gains/losses for future profitability and stock returns. An unrealized gain on a cash flow hedge suggests that the price of the underlying hedged item (i.e., commodity price, foreign currency exchange rate, or interest rate) moved in a direction that will impair the firm's profits after the hedge expires. Consequently, I find that unrealized cash flow hedge gains/losses are negatively associated with future gross profit after the firm's existing hedges have expired. This association only holds after the firm has reclassified its hedges into earnings, and is weaker for firms that can pass input price changes on to their customers. Finally, investors do not immediately price the cash flow hedge information. Instead, investors appear surprised by future realizations of gross margin, consistent with the view that complex and incomplete disclosures delay pricing. These results are relevant to policymakers involved in the current FASB and IASB project designed to simplify the accounting and disclosure for derivatives and, in particular, cash flow hedges.     

近代山西集市数量、分布及其变迁

集市、市镇研究是新时期史学研究成绩斐然的领域之一 ,相比之下 ,山西集市的研究显得很不充分。而实际上 ,近代山西集市变迁自有其独特之处 ,与外省结合进行对比研究不仅可以丰富市镇研究的内容 ,而且可以从学术上提供不同的范例。本文以山西清代、民国各州县地方志资料为基础 ,通过解剖典型、计量分析的方法 ,从社会史的角度对近代山西集市数量、分布及其变迁作一探讨。