Audit Pricing of Shared Leadership

This study explores audit implications of shared leadership in client firms. Analyzing data from 2002 to 2013 of Korean listed companies, we find that auditors spend fewer audit hours and charge lower audit fees for clients with multiple CEOs. Additional tests reveal that the lower audit fees for co-CEO clients are likely attributable to reduced audit effort rather than to reduced hourly rates. We also document that firms with co-CEOs exhibit better-reporting quality than do firms with a solitary CEO. In sum, this article presents evidence that mutual monitoring via co-CEO appointments assures high-quality financial reporting of audit clients, and thus leads to reduced audit fees.     

媒体负面报道、审计定价与审计延迟

本文利用我国A股非金融类上市公司2008-2014年数据,考察了媒体针对上市公司的负面报道对审计定价及审计延迟的影响,结果发现,媒体负面报道与审计定价呈显著正向关系,但与反映审计努力程度的审计延迟没有显著关联。这表明,对于负面报道较多的客户,审计师会收取风险溢价来转移自身风险,而不会通过提高审计投入来降低风险。进一步研究发现,公司财务状况、分析师跟踪、控制权性质对于负面报道与审计定价之间的关系具有调节作用,但上述因素对负面报道与审计延迟之间的关系均没有显著影响。这一研究不仅有助于了解负面报道对审计投入的影响,而且有助于进一步理解负面报道对审计定价的影响机理。     

The Effects of Business Risk on Audit Pricing

This paper examines the pricing of business risk by homogeneous auditors in a two period model. Incumbent auditors learn the client's business risk type during the course of the engagement. They subsequently compete in prices with prospective auditors. In such an environment, we show that equilibrium audit fees do not fully reflect the cost of business risk. Moreover, there exists differential auditor turnover between high and low risk firms; cross-subsidization of the audit fees of high risk firms by low risk firms; and low-balling by auditors.     

Public Equity and Audit Pricing in the United States

To what degree are audit fees for U.S. firms with publicly traded equity higher than fees for otherwise similar firms with private equity? The answer is potentially important for evaluating regulatory regime design efficiency and for understanding audit demand and production economics. For U.S. firms with publicly traded debt, we hold constant the regulatory regime, including mandated issuer reporting and auditor responsibilities. We vary equity ownership and thus public securities market contextual factors, including any related public firm audit fees from increased audit effort to reduce audit litigation risk and/or pure litigation risk premium (litigation channel effects). In cross‐section, we find that audit fees for public equity firms are 20–22% higher than fees for otherwise similar private equity firms. Time‐series comparisons for firms that change ownership status yield larger percentage fee increases (decreases) for those going public (private). Results are consistent with litigation channel effects giving rise to substantial incremental audit fees for U.S. firms with public equity ownership.     

中国审计定价实证研究述评

审计定价一直是审计市场研究的热点问题之一。本文围绕着政策制定者所关注的四个问题,即审计定价的决定因素、低价揽客、盈余管理、事务所规模以及品牌与审计定价之间的关系,回顾了我国对审计定价研究的经验证据,指出目前实证研究结论的分歧之处,然后总结这些证据的研究启示,最后指出未来该领域的研究方向。     

会计师事务所合并与审计定价——基于2003—2009年十起合并案面板数据的研究

会计师事务所合并究竟是会提高还是会降低审计收费,取决于合并后事务所声誉及市场势力提升所带来的审计溢价与规模效应所导致的审计成本降低两方面孰者相对占优。文章以我国2003—2009年间十起事务所合并案为对象,利用其上市公司客户在事务所合并前后各2年的面板数据,检验了事务所合并对审计定价的影响。结果发现,事务所合并后,其审计收费显著提高。对所有事务所客户审计费用的横向比较也印证了上述结论。研究还发现,事务所合并后第一年审计收费的提升较第二年更为明显;就稳定客户数据而言,本土事务所之间合并对审计定价的影响不如涉及"四大"的合并显著;此外,新设合并与吸收合并对审计定价的影响没有显著差异。     

The Pricing of Property Trust IPOs in Australia

Following Brounen and Eichholtz (2002) this paper adds to the international literature investigating the underpricing of REIT initial public offerings (IPOs), with a study into Australian property trusts. This study finds that initial day returns can in part be explained by forecast profit distributions (or dividends) and the market sentiment towards property trusts from the date of the prospectus to the date of listing. There is some support for the “winners curse” explanation of underpricing with evidence that large investor or institutional involvement at the outset of the IPO also has some explanatory power.     

注册会计师审计定价模型中的风险溢价及其内在化研究

审计定价行为一方面体现着注册会计师预期在审计过程中投入的人力资源水平;另一方面体现着注册会计师因潜在的民事赔偿责任而要求的风险补偿。审计收费水平决定着执行审计测试程序的性质和范围,从而决定着审计质量的高低和独立审计社会价值的实现。本文在分析审计定价模型框架的基础上,着重分析了风险溢价的含义及其内在化的途径,揭示了审计契约中蕴含的期权特征,尝试运用期权定价模型确认风险溢价。     

Audit Reports in Australia during the Global Financial Crisis

The Global Financial Crisis reduced economic growth, impacted equity and credit markets, and increased business risk. To the extent that this increased risk translates into greater uncertainty of companies’ ability to continue as going concerns, this should be reflected in audit reports. This paper investigates how the crisis impacted auditor reporting in Australia by examining the period 2005–2009. It finds that the main reason for audit report modification is going concern and that modification rates increased from 12% in 2005–2007 to 18% in 2008 and 22% in 2009. Serious audit report qualification rates remain around 3%.     

The Provision of Non-audit Services and the Pricing of Audit Fees

There have been a number of studies examining audit fees and this research has covered various nations. Recent legislation in Norway requires a company to disclose information on the audit fee and the fees for non-audit services paid to its auditor. Using this data, models of audit fee structure are developed. As with other studies, the size of the company is a major determinant of the audit fee. Payments for non-audit services are positively and significantly associated with audit fees; this relationship is difficult to explain although it parallels some research in the United States. Overall, the models explain about 75 per cent of the variability in audit fees.     

The Pricing of Audit Services: Further Evidence from the Canadian Market

Since the seminal work of Simunic (1980), many studies have investigated audit pricing, competition in the audit industry, product differentiation and audit cost functions. This study expands on the work done to date by examining Canadian audit fees across time, audit firm and industry. The observations of audit fee data span the period of time during which the provincial codes of professional ethics with respect to fee tenders and advertising in general were relaxing in Canada. The results reported in this study support the existence of differentiated audit services in the Canadian audit market, and are consistent with DeAngelo's (1981) size interpretation of audit quality. Although no significant differences in the pricing of audit services across time are detected, the data provide evidence of significant pricing differences across (pre-merger) Big Eight audit firms in the small auditee market, suggesting that treating these audit firms as a homogeneous group in future research may not be appropriate. These inter-firm pricing differences do not appear to be due to the potential confounding effects of the auditee's industry. In contrast to previous studies, a significant positive association between internal and external audit costs is observed, suggesting a complementary, rather than a substitute, relationship.     

美国、澳大利亚和中国的内部控制审核报告

在企业内部控制日益受到重视的同时,对内部控制有效性进行独立审核并签发报告也日益受到关注.     

Cointegration Analysis of Audit Pricing Model: A Panel Unit Root Test Approach

In this study, we provide evidence on the stationarity of real audit fees and the major explanatory variables frequently used in the audit pricing models from a pooled data set, using panel unit root tests developed by Im et al. (1997). The panel unit root test supports the hypothesis of non‐stationarity of audit fees and their major determinants. We demonstrate that variables in the audit pricing model that were previously found to have impact on audit fees may turn out to be useless when more powerful tests like panel tests are applied to these variables. Our evidence implies that failing to employ appropriate procedure to test cointegration and to specify the appropriate model for audit fees and their determinants would generate results that may have exaggerated the effects of some variables on audit fees.     

Jurisdictional Differences in Contracting Out GBE Audits: The Impact on Audit Pricing

This paper examines audit costs for government business enterprises in various Australian jurisdictions, focusing on whether contracting private-sector suppliers induces competitive pricing and hence lower-priced audits. One jurisdiction (New South Wales) is shown to have low levels of contracting-out. It is argued that this lowers price competition and therefore, we predict, audit costs in NSW will be higher than elsewhere in Australia. An empirical comparison shows that, controlling for other factors, NSW is statistically significantly more expensive than other Australian jurisdictions. Alternative explanations relating to variation in audit quality, jurisdiction differences and relative cost are also discussed.     

注册会计师职业责任保险合约的差异化定价与审计质量效应

注册会计师职业责任保险作为会计师事务所的一项风险分散机制,近年来受到我国政府主管部门和公共会计行业组织的关注.一方面,事务所购买注责险可能使审计人员的尽责程度下降,不利于审计质量的维护;另一方面,保险公司作为风险被转移方,有动机对高风险事务所加以约束,以避免审计失败对自身利益造成损失.基于近年来我国证券业务会计师事务所的注责险合约数据,我们发现保险公司对中小型证券所购买注责险收取了显著更高的保费,且更不倾向于与其签订特殊赔偿条款.双重差分模型结果显示,中小型证券所购买注责险后,审计调整(尤其是调减利润的审计调整)幅度显著提高.这些证据支持保险合约对高风险审计中介的治理功能.