审计市场集中度与审计质量相关性新探——基于我国证券审计市场的证据

本文以1993-2009年上市公司年报为样本数据,进行了描述性统计分析,通过构建模型对我国审计市场集中度与审计质量的关系进行了实证检验.结果表明:我国审计市场仍然处于低集中状态,不过正在逐步提高;与前人的研究结论不同的是,作为审计质量替代指标的非标准意见比率与审计市场集中度并没有正相关关系,而是整体上呈现出相反的发展趋势,同时,新准则的实施并未引起非标准意见比率明显上升.     

多客户审计、审计公司组织形式与审计失败

本文通过建立审计质量的二次函数模型,分析了不同组织形式的审计公司在同时审计多个客户时,其审计报告的外部性对审计失败的影响。研究结果表明:1)在有限合伙制和赔偿机制完善的前提下,随着客户数量的增多,审计公司的审计质量上升,发生审计失败的概率下降;2)赔偿额越高,审计公司的审计质量也越高,其审计失败的概率降低;3)有限合伙制是一种较好的组织形式;4)审计师的诚信度越高,审计公司审计失败的概率越低;5)审计市场集中度越高,整个审计市场的失败概率越低。由此,本文认为建立有限合伙制、实施赔偿机制、提高审计师的诚信度和审计市场的集中度是提高审计质量和降低审计失败的有效途径。     

事务所客户重要性影响审计质量吗?——来自A股市场2003—2006年的证据

客户重要性对审计质量的影响是不确定的,随着时间的推移,各国制度环境发生变化,客户重要性对事务所审计质量的影响也在改变。本文以我国A股市场2003—2006年数据为样本,实证检验客户重要性对事务所审计质量的影响。结果发现,在2004年和2005年,客户重要性与审计质量不存在统计上的显著关系;2006年,客户重要性与审计质量显著正相关。进而对会计师事务所分组检验,在"十大"样本组,客户重要性与审计质量没有显著统计关系;在"非十大"样本组,2006年客户重要性与审计质量在1%水平上显著正相关。统计结果表明,我国审计环境得到了有效改善,对重要客户更加谨慎。     

董事会特征、资产质量与审计收费研究

本文利用我国2001-2003年上市公司数据,实证研究了董事会特征、资产质量与审计收费的关系。研究发现,总体上看,上市公司资产质量越差,董事会越独立,审计收费越低。而董事会越勤勉,审计收费越高,董事会规模与审计收费没有呈现相关性。同时,会计事务所会综合考虑公司资产质量与董事会特征,表现在对资产质量越差,董事会越勤勉的公司收费越高。同时也发现,“四大”与非“四大”会计事务所审计费用影响因素存在显著差异。     

事务所规模、审计收费、品牌与审计质量关系的实证研究——来自审计市场的证据

本文以2010年和2011年的沪市A股上市企业为样本,研究会计师事务所规模、审计收费与审计质量之间的关系,研究结果表明,事务所规模与审计质量正相关,审计收费与审计质量的关系则取决于公司规模的大小。本文旨在了解中国审计市场审计质量的形成机理和影响因素,为中国审计市场的良好发展提供理论支持。     

事务所规模、审计收费、品牌与审计质量关系的实证研究——来自审计市场的证据

本文以2010年和2011年的沪市A股上市企业为样本,研究会计师事务所规模、审计收费与审计质量之间的关系,研究结果表明,事务所规模与审计质量正相关,审计收费与审计质量的关系则取决于公司规模的大小。本文旨在了解中国审计市场审计质量的形成机理和影响因素,为中国审计市场的良好发展提供理论支持。     

我国审计市场集中度与审计质量关系的实证分析

本文对我国审计市场集中度和审计质量的关系进行了实证研究。文章运用了回归分析的方法 ,结果表明我国审计市场集中度与审计质量之间呈现倒U型的函数关系 ,因而我们认为我国有必要构造“寡占型”的上市公司审计市场结构来提高审计质量和会计师事务所的国际竞争力     

诉讼风险、内部控制质量与审计收费

审计收费的高低受审计风险和审计成本的影响,内部控制质量高低则直接影响审计风险和审计成本.本文以2010-2013年主板A股上市公司为样本,从注册会计师审计角度讨论内部控制质量与审计收费的关系.研究发现:(1)内部控制质量越高,审计收费越低,内部控制与外部审计存在相互替代作用;(2)在引入诉讼风险后发现,当公司发生诉讼时,内部控制质量与审计收费的负相关关系被削弱.     

审计委员会与审计总监任期重叠影响公司盈余质量吗

本文以审计委员会和内部审计总监任期重叠为视角,采用2008-2018年上市公司数据,考察两者任期重叠时间长短对公司盈余质量的影响,研究发现:审计委员会和审计总监的任期重叠时间越长,公司盈余质量越高;并且,这一正向关系在审计委员会信息获取成本和公司股权制衡度越高时更显著;进一步研究发现,审计委员会特征、审计总监的财务专长和内部审计部门权威性以及外部审计任期和行业专长对两者关系的影响不显著,但审计总监在内部审计部门工作年限对两者关系则有显著增量影响,且签字会计师变更会削弱任期重叠的的正面作用.本文研究结论为公司内部治理机构之间相互长期合作的重要性和必要性提供了经验证据,对如何完善内部治理和监督具有一定启示作用.     

法律责任压力、审计质量与审计收费

会计师事务所面临较大法律责任压力时将提供更高质量的审计服务,同时也应该获取更高的审计收费。但实证研究表明,我国会计师事务所无论是采取合伙制还是有限责任制,在审计质量和审计收费方面都不存在显著差异。在抑制上市公司盈余管理行为方面,合伙制事务所并没有表现出更加谨慎的态度。但无论合伙制还是有限责任制下,审计质量与审计收费之间却存在显著的负相关关系,审计收费越高,审计质量越低,上市公司通过付出更多的审计费用获得了更大的盈余管理空间。     

审计任期与审计质量:来自中国证券市场的经验证据

本文以中国证券市场上2000年至2002年期间获得标准无保留审计意见的上市公司为样本,使用经过一定调整后的截面Jones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,考察了会计师事务所审计任期与审计质量之间的关系。研究发现,在控制了事务所变更、事务所特征、行业成长性、公司规模、经营业绩、资产负债率、上市年龄以及样本所在年度后,审计任期与公司操纵性应计利润的绝对值呈正U型关系,即审计任期与审计质量呈倒U型关系。进一步分析发现,当审计任期小于一定年份(约6年)时,审计任期的增加对审计质量具有正面影响,而当审计任期超过一定年份(约6年)时,审计任期的增加对审计质量具有负面影响。     

Some Economics of Audit Market Reform

The purpose of audit market reforms since 2001 is to restore public confidence in the institution of auditing based on two considerations: (1) ensuring audit quality; and (2) controlling the ‘adverse effect of competition’ in audit supply. Market reforms for audit quality are delivered through a package of prescribed actions motivated by an analytical relationship between audit quality and its possible determinants: (1) limiting audit tenure through a combination of mandatory firm rotation, partner rotation and re‐tendering; (2) limiting provision of non‐audit services (NAS) by the incumbent auditor; and (3) joint auditing and empowering the audit committee to enhance audit quality. This paper examines the competing independence hypothesis and expertise hypothesis that produce ambiguous theoretical relationships for audit quality–audit tenure and the independence‐provision of NAS. We then review whether the empirical literature resolves these conundrums. We also review the usefulness of joint auditing and empowering the audit committee to improve audit quality in the context of audit market reform.     

Audit Market Structure and Competition in Australia

The purpose of this review is to synthesise the existing research literature regarding the underlying structure and competitiveness of the Australian audit market. We consider the findings of Australian academic research, which has examined audit fees, non‐audit fees, market concentration, auditor choice, auditor switching and audit firm mergers. We identify the key metrics used to evaluate market structure in the academic literature and then document changes in these metrics in the Australian audit market for listed company audits during the period 2000–2011. Our analysis shows that the audit market is both highly segmented and supplier‐concentrated. We find that audit fees in Australia have increased over this period, which can be attributed to increased regulation and resulting increased audit effort needed to complete audit engagements in times of regulatory change and more recently, the global financial crisis. We provide regulators, standard setters and the profession with an evidenced‐based perspective on the market for the listed company audits, which is an important input into any future proposals to regulate the Australian audit market.     

How individual auditor characteristics impact the likelihood of audit failure: Evidence from China

Audit failure imposes a severe loss on investors and damages market participants' confidence in financial reporting quality. This study investigates the impacts of individual auditor characteristics on the likelihood of audit failure. Chinese regulators mandate listed firms to disclose the engagement auditors' identity. Furthermore, the information regarding individual auditor characteristics in China is also publicly available. Utilizing this unique setting, we examine the relationship between individual auditor characteristics and the likelihood of audit failure in China during the period from 2000 to 2009. We document that individual auditors with more auditing experience are less likely associated with audit failure. We also find a weaker negative relationship between auditor education level and audit failure. Our study has important implications for both auditors and regulators by shedding lights on the determinants of audit failure and by providing guidance to the human resource management in audit firms.     

Audit Quality and the Market Valuation of Banks’ Allowance for Loan Losses*

The recent banking crisis has led market participants to focus on the adequacy and quality of banks’ balance sheet items such as the allowance for loan losses. Beaver and Engel (1996) document that the capital market prices the nondiscretionary component of loan loss allowance negatively and the discretionary component less negatively. Using data from the pre‐crisis period and three measures of audit quality, auditor type (i.e., Big 5 versus non–Big 5), auditor industry specialization/expertise, and audit and nonaudit fees paid to auditors, we examine the effect of audit quality on the market valuation of the discretionary component of the allowance for loan losses. We find that, relative to the nondiscretionary component, the market valuation of the discretionary component of loan loss allowance is higher for banks audited by Big 5 auditors than for banks audited by non–Big 5 auditors. We also find that the relative market valuation of the discretionary component of loan loss allowance is increasing in auditor expertise. Regarding the impact of fees paid to auditors, we find that banks paying higher audit fees have higher relative market valuation of the discretionary component of the allowance for loan losses, but banks that pay higher nonaudit fees do not.     

How Do Various Forms of Auditor Rotation Affect Audit Quality? Evidence from China

The Enron/Arthur Andersen scandal has raised concerns internationally about auditor independence, audit quality, and the need for regulatory action such as mandatory auditor rotation. China's unique institutional features provide a setting in which we can compare comprehensively the various forms of auditor rotation at different levels (partner vs. firm) and in different settings (voluntary vs. mandatory). In addition, institutional conditions vary dramatically across China, which provides us with an opportunity to test whether the development of market and legal institutions affects the impact of rotation on audit quality. We expect that auditors are less (more) constrained by market forces and less (more) self-disciplined to maintain audit quality in regions with less (more) developed market and legal institutions. Therefore, mandatory rotation may play a more (less) important role in less (more) developed regions. Using auditors' propensity to issue a modified audit opinion (MAO) as a proxy for audit quality, we find that firms with mandatory audit partner rotations are associated with a significantly higher likelihood of an MAO than are no-rotation firms. However, this effect is restricted to firms located in less developed regions. We find similar evidence for voluntary audit firm rotation although the significance level is much weaker than for mandatory partner rotation. Other forms of auditor rotations (i.e., mandatory audit firm rotation and voluntary audit partner rotation), have no effect on MAOs.     

Audit Firm Tenure and Audit Quality in a Constrained Market

We examine the relation between audit quality and audit firm tenure in the Iranian audit market, which is constrained by government policies that create intense competition for clients among many small audit firms. We develop arguments that these circumstances create cost pressures that entrench low audit quality and render auditors' plans more predictable to managers wishing to misstate their accounts. Using publicly available data for the audits of listed companies in Iran prior to mandatory audit firm rotation and the incidence of misstated financial reports identified by the Iranian Association of Certified Public Accountants Inspection Office, we find that the likelihood of a misstatement is lowest in the first two years of audit firm tenure. We also find that the likelihood of misstatement is not associated with the year preceding a mandatory audit firm rotation, suggesting outgoing auditor effort is not sensitive to the prospect of subsequent revelations of deficiencies. Although our results from a pre-mandatory rotation period show that frequent rotations appear to improve the financial reporting quality in our sample, we are wary of interpreting these results as support for the mandatory audit firm rotation policy in Iran. Rather, we suggest this is a peculiar consequence of deficiencies in audit quality inherent in the Iranian market.     

Market reactions to auditor switches under regulatory consent and market driven regimes

We examine market reactions to announcements of auditor switches by Australian-listed companies during the ‘regulatory consent’ period (2000–2011) under which auditor resignations require consent by the corporate regulator before taking effect at annual general meetings. Overall, we find no clear evidence of significant market responses to firms announcing auditor switches, consistent with a lack of information content or potential information leakage argument. However, examination of a more recent sample in the ‘partial deregulation’ period (2015–2017), whereby timing and consent provisions have been relaxed under a more market-driven regime, uncovers univariate evidence of market reactions directionally consistent with the audit quality interpretation. Overall, these results provide support for the regulator’s recent initiative to deregulate the auditor resignation process in Australia to become more disclosure driven as in other jurisdictions.     

The Market for External Audit Services in the Public Sector: An Empirical Analysis of NHS Trusts

This study investigates the market for audit services in the UK National Health Service (NHS). The market has a number of interesting features, including the presence of the Audit Commission as a regulator, appointer and provider of audit services. Following a theoretical overview of audit pricing in the NHS, evidence is provided on the behaviour of private sector auditors in an environment where audit risk characteristics differ from the private sector. The research also investigates, for the first time in the public sector, the relationship between audit fees and non–audit (consultancy) fees. Comparisons are also drawn between audit fees in the public and private sectors in an analysis of audit fees by industry. Despite some key similarities, the study shows that a number of differences exist between private and public sector audit fee models. In particular, we find no evidence of Big 6 (or mid–tier) auditor premiums, but we do find a significant negative relationship between audit and consultancy fees providing support for the 'knowledge spill–over' hypothesis. In addition, the fees charged to trusts appear significantly lower than their private sector counterparts, despite trust auditors having additional duties to perform. Possible explanations for this finding are offered in the paper.     

Audit value and charitable organizations

I examine whether donors favor charities that use high quality auditors and whether the propensity to donate varies directly with audit quality. I find that audit quality affects donor decisions in the market for contributions. From a signaling perspective, charities benefit simply from engaging a higher quality auditor. From an information perspective, donors are more sensitive to changes in reported accounting information verified by a high quality auditor. I also find that, after conditioning on the charity’s reputation, donors are still willing to give more to charities aligned with a quality auditor, but the effect of audit quality choice dissipates with the size of the charity. Thus, a charity’s reputation and the choice of auditor are substitute mechanisms for signaling the credibility of financial information to donors.