媒体负面报道、诉讼风险与审计费用

本文研究媒体负面报道对审计收费的影响,并进一步探讨这种影响的实现路径。利用2001-2009年我国A股主板上市公司的数据研究发现,公司面临的媒体负面报道越多,审计收费越高。进一步分析发现,会计方面的媒体负面报道和首次媒体负面报道会引起审计师提高审计收费,然而这些影响均只存在于高诉讼风险的环境下。此外,本文还发现,无论是高风险阶段还是低风险阶段,媒体负面报道都会使公司容易受到监管部门的行政处罚。本文可能表明,在转型经济中,媒体对审计行为的治理作用可能需通过法律环境的改善来实现。     

制度变迁、集团客户重要性与非标准审计意见

客户重要性是否影响审计师独立性,是审计理论界和实务界都非常关注的话题。本文以企业集团作为一个整体来研究集团客户重要性对审计师独立性的影响,发现集团客户经济依赖性会损害审计师的独立性,这种现象对于小规模事务所而言尤为严重。此外,本文还进一步考察了2007年新会计准则、审计准则及事务所民事诉讼风险加强等制度环境变化对审计师行为的影响。研究发现,在制度环境改善之后,审计师执业总体上变得更加谨慎,大规模事务所尤其如此。     

The Effect of Client Fee Dependence on Audit Independence

This paper examines the effect of client fee dependence on the independence of audit firms. For the largest 25 audit firms for which fee revenue and total revenue could be determined, three research approaches were used to identify whether inappropriate audit opinions are being issued to large-fee clients. All situations identified by an audit opinion prediction model as having a high probability of qualification were duly qualified. It was found that for the top 25 audit firms, the level of fee dependence from any one client was substantially below the level suggested in auditing standards. In summary, the investigation was unable to identify any instances of fee dependence impairing the independence of auditors.     

Client Importance and Audit Quality at the Individual Audit Partner,Office, and Firm Levels

We investigate whether audit partner level data provides a more powerful measure than office or firm level measures of client importance. We find that the likelihood of issuing a going-concern opinion (any and first-time) increases, and the absolute value of discretionary accruals decreases, in relation to the proportion of audit fees to the total audit fees received by audit partners from all their clients. We also find that the likelihood of issuing a going-concern opinion (any and first-time) increases, and the absolute value of discretionary accruals decreases, in relation to the proportion of non-audit services fees from a client to total non-audit service fees, and the proportion of total audit and non-audit service fees from a client to total fees from all their clients at the office and firm levels. Our findings provide evidence to regulators, audit clients, and stakeholders that audit partners do not succumb to pressure from economically more important clients as audit quality has a positive association with client importance.     

管理层内部联盟与审计意见购买

本文以2003－2020年中国沪深A股上市公司为样本,研究管理层内部联盟与审计意见购买之间的关系。研究发现,管理层内部联盟关系越紧密,上市公司越可能进行审计意见购买。进一步研究发现,在国有企业、第一大股东持股比例低以及股权制衡度高的企业,管理层内部联盟与审计意见购买之间的关系更为显著;而声誉机制会提升会计师事务所的独立性,抑制审计意见购买行为。研究结论丰富了管理层内部联盟、审计意见购买和审计独立性等领域的文献,为优化公司治理和上市公司审计市场监管提供了理论支持和经验证据。     

注册会计师审计职业风险刍议

我国注册会计师审计在审计委托、审计收费、法规建设等方面均存在严重的缺位问题。为了在市场经济中更好地发挥注册会计师审计的作用，应理性认识注册会计师及其所从事的职业，采取措施促使审计委托人到位，提高审计收费标准并完善有关法规建设，从而促进我国注册会计师职业健康发展。     

金融生态环境、审计意见与债务融资成本

本文旨在研究金融生态环境、审计意见对于上市公司债务融资成本的影响。以2006—2009年1555家中国A股上市公司为样本,实证发现,良好的金融生态环境有助于上市公司获得较低成本的债务融资,民营上市公司承担了比国有上市公司显著更高的债务融资成本,而金融生态环境的改善有助于降低这种信贷融资成本差异。同时,被出具非标审计意见的上市公司相比获得标准审计意见的上市公司具有显著更高的债务融资成本,并且无论是对国有企业抑或民营企业来说,良好的金融生态环境都有助于增强审计意见的风险揭示功能。研究结果表明,在我国良好的金融生态环境以及外部审计监督有助于增强债务融资的市场化定价,提高信贷资源的配置效率。     

审计意见的决定因素：来自中国上市公司的证据

利用中国上市公司和相应会计师事务所2001—2003年的综列数据,本文研究了审计意见和会计师事务所规模、上市公司的风险和盈余管理等因素之间的关系。本文发现有破产风险的、进行盈余管理的或小规模的上市公司更可能得到非标准审计意见。如果它们又是大会计师事务所的客户,则得到非标意见的概率更大。本文不支持合资会计师事务所的审计质量更高的结论。     

媒体负面报道与审计收费：基于事务所组织形式变更的视角

事务所向特殊普通合伙制的转变,为研究审计师法律责任的增强对媒体治理作用的影响提供了现实样本.以公司层面的负面报道和审计收费数据进行研究发现,转制后,负面报道与审计费用和正向异常收费显著正相关,但在转制前均不显著;考虑事务所规模的差异后,发现对大型事务所,转制提高了负面报道与正向异常收费的相关性,但对小型事务所,审计收费和异常收费与负面报道的相关性在转制前后没有显著变化,表明审计师法律责任的强化是媒体发挥治理作用的重要路径.     

我国上市公司独立审计意见的预测价值分析

选取沪、深两市2000～2002年样本的综合数据和各年度子样本数据,运用超额收益和Logistic回归分析方法,同时考虑公司规模和样本所属板块的影响,对各解释变量与累计超额收益率的价值相关性及审计意见类型对股价超额收益的增量解释能力进行了研究.单变量检验结果表明,净资产收益率与股价超额收益具有显著的正价值相关性,审计意见类型则弱之;联合价值检验显示,审计意见类型和其他相关因素的联动作用与审计意见类型单独作用相比,对样本累计超额收益的影响具有显著差异;Logistic回归分析得出,审计意见类型具有预测价值.     

The Association Between Client Factors and Audit Fees: a Comparison by Country and by Firm

This study investigates whether the factors identified by prior research as being associated with intra-country Big Eight audit fees are consistent (i) among countries (across the Big Eight) and (ii) among Big Eight auditing firms (across countries). Fees from 410 audits in five countries were analysed. Results indicate a similarity in the influence of client size and complexity variables among four of the five country audit-fee models and among seven of the Big Eight audit-fee models.     

Public Disclosure of Audit Fees and Bargaining Power between the Client and Auditor: Evidence from China

Before the public disclosure of audit fees was mandated, it was unlikely for an audit client to have accurate information about how much other companies were charged by their auditors. Public fee disclosure decreases the cost of auditees' access to audit fee information for the auditor's portfolio of clients and is thus likely to increase the relative bargaining power of auditees over auditors when they negotiate audit fees. Using both proprietary and public audit fee data before and after public fee disclosure was mandated in China, we provide evidence consistent with the preceding conjecture. We find that public fee disclosure reinforces the magnitude of audit fee decreases for overcharged clients and weakens auditors' ability to raise audit fees for undercharged clients. These findings suggest the existence of unintended consequences of public fee disclosure regulation, the original rationale of which was a concern about audit pricing practices that could undermine auditor independence.     

Why 1886? Historical Notes on the Passage of the Exchequer and Audit Departments Act

The British 1866 Audit Act was the direct outcome of Gladstone's vision for public-sector audit and the recommendations of the influential Select Committee on Public Monies in 1857. The Committee's recommendations to establish appropriation audits for all government departments received general approval on both sides of parliament. Its proposal to combine the Comptrollership of the Exchequer with the Board of Audit was not as well received. It was not until nearly a decade later that reform to give effect to the audit recommendations was finally brought about. A crucial factor in this delay was the resistance of Lord Monteagle to the abolition of the Comptrollership of the Exchequer.     

审计意见购买的有序多项Logit实证检验——一个自愿性变更审计师的视角

2004年以来我国资本市场制度环境发生了重大变化,运用有序多项Logit模型对我国A股上市公司2004~2008年利用变更审计师购买审计意见的行为结果进行实证检验,结果发现,上市公司可以成功购买审计意见,审计师对带强调事项段的无保留意见和保留意见的判断缺乏一致性,对于公司的盈余操纵、持续经营风险、债务风险、关联交易、存货所隐含的审计风险还缺少充分的职业关注,审计意见购买的治理有赖于加强相关制度的执行力度和变更审计师行为的监管,开发定量审计技术与提高独立审计全行业技术水平。     

The Importance of Business Risk in Setting Audit Fees: Evidence from Cases of Client Misconduct

Previous research provides evidence that, for the clients of a large audit firm, audit clients with higher perceived business risk bear the expected costs of this risk with higher audit fees. We extend the literature, which focuses on the relation between litigation risk and audit fees, by examining alleged client misconduct that is not illegal but possibly increases business risk. In particular, we examine the relation between audit fees and business risk for audit clients doing business in developing countries where bribery of top government officials has been an accepted business practice. We hypothesize that bribery‐paying clients are riskier because of both client business risk and audit business risk. Using data collected from Securities and Exchange Commission filings and audit fee data in the 1970s, before the passage of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, we provide evidence that audit fees were higher for clients that disclosed paying bribes. This evidence is consistent with an audit market where auditors assess business risk at the client level, then pass their expected costs to the client in the form of higher audit fees.     

审计收费、审计师变更与意见购买

实证研究表明,虽然变更审计师增加了上市公司年报被出具非标准审计意见和审计意见恶化的可能性,但是审计师变更更为显著地提高了审计意见改善的可能性;审计收费异常增加与被出具非标准审计意见和审计意见恶化的可能性负相关.公司管理层在一定程度上可以成功实现审计意见购买的动机.此外,异常审计收费、审计收费异常增加和异常降低与审计师变更之间不存在显著的交互效应.     

Prompting the Benefit of the Doubt: The Joint Effect of Auditor‐Client Social Bonds and Measurement Uncertainty on Audit Adjustments

We design an incentivized experiment to test whether measurement uncertainty elevates the risk that social bonds between auditors and reporters compromise audit adjustments. Results indicate that, when audit evidence is characterized by some residual uncertainty, the adjustments our auditor‐participants require are sensitive to whether auditors have an opportunity to form a modest but friendly social bond with reporters. In contrast, although auditors do not adjust fully even when misstatements are known with certainty, social bonding has no effect in this scenario. Accordingly, our experiment contributes beyond the main effects of social bonding and measurement uncertainty demonstrated in prior research by showing that these forces interact. A practical implication is that regulators and practitioners should consider both the technical and the social challenges facing audits of complex estimates.     

Toward an Archival Measure of the Likelihood of Auditor–Client Management Negotiation: An Exploration of the Audit Lag Measures Conjecture*

Salterio (2012) hypothesized that adaptations of an audit efficiency measure, audit report lag (the length of time between the financial statement year‐end date and the auditor's report date), could provide measures of underlying auditor–client management (ACM) negotiation likelihood. Salterio argued that these measures would enable archival researchers to examine issues that heretofore were the exclusive domain of experimental and field researchers. Using an audit report lag measure and a measure of abnormal audit report lag lags (the residual based on audit report lag determinants model), we show that a larger lag is associated with higher audit fees after controlling for other known determinants of audit fees. We also show that larger lags are associated with higher levels of discretionary accruals—that is, lower accrual quality. Based on our findings, we suggest that there is support for Salterio's hypothesis that audit report lags and abnormal audit report provide valid archival proxies for the differences in year‐end ACM negotiation likelihood. We suggest that this proxy will allow researchers to study issues related to published accounting numbers in light of whether negotiations are likely to have occurred in addition to providing regulators and others the means to determine what clients of audit firms are more likely to have different types of ACM relationships.     

系统审计——审计模式进化的方向

进化本是生态系统中的一种自然现象,本文把"进化"的概念引进审计系统,通过分析审计的发展历程,得出"审计系统每一次进化都是为了适应环境的变化",和"审计系统的每一次进化都有赖于相应的理论和技术的支持"的结论.面对新经济和数字化的挑战,本文认为:传统审计应向"系统审计"这种在系统科学及信息技术支持下的审计系统进化.