Gestaltung der Abschlussprüferhaftung – Implikationen theoretischer Modelle

Business scandals such as Enron, WorldCom or Parmalat have sparked intense discussions on the quality of corporate governance as well as the trustworthiness of statutory auditors. It is therefore no surprise that regulators have issued a large number of new regulations concerning auditing. The civil liability of external auditors has not changed in Germany, but such changes have already been announced by the German government. An increase in the existing liability cap in cases of negligent misconduct and extended third-party liability are planned. As a consequence, the results of analytical research on this topic are highly relevant. This paper summarises and comments on prior analytical research, in particular its assumptions and results, and focuses on important elements for the design of a liability regime. To this end, the paper addresses the questions of joint–and-several vs. proportionate liability rules, negligent vs. strict liability regimes, the extent of third party liability, and limited vs. unlimited liability.     

Enforcement Actions and Auditor Changes

In this paper, we examine whether the uncovering of erroneous financial statements by German enforcement agencies is related to subsequent auditor changes. We argue that enforcement actions are likely to reveal information about the client or its auditor, which might affect auditor choice by initiating an update of mutual expectations. Our empirical findings indicate that firms with erroneous financial statements indeed have an increased probability of subsequent auditor changes. Firms also tend to change from a non-Big4 auditor to a Big4 auditor in this situation, suggesting that clients increasingly seek the reputation and services of Big4 auditors. Big4 auditors in turn do not appear to refrain from taking over error-firms as new clients in the German setting, which is characterized by limited auditor liability. Additionally, auditor changes are more likely to occur before the public announcement of an error, indicating that firms take action as soon as the uncovering of an accounting error becomes sufficiently certain.     

Auditor independence,incomplete contracts and the role of legal liability

We develop a model in which there is conflict of interest between the management and the shareholders of an organization. Incompleteness of contracts prevents a simple contracting solution to this problem. We suggest that auditors can play a role in aligning the conflicting interests. However, this result is dependent on auditors maintaining independence from management. Again however, incompletenesses in contracting causes difficulties because it may be hard to ensure that auditors maintain this required independence. In this context, the imposition of potential legal liability (punishment) on the auditor, may be an important commitment mechanism for the auditors, making it credible that they will not collude with the management. In order to give our model institutional structure we study how this collusion may take place through the reappointment concerns of the auditor. In the reappointment game, we consider how legal liability levels could be chosen so that it becomes credible to expect that auditors will not implicitly collude with management and provide a low duty of care.     

Legal Liability,Government Intervention,and Auditor Behavior: Evidence from Structural Reform of Audit Firms in China

This paper investigates how legal liability influences audit quality and audit fees, particularly in the presence of government intervention. Since 2010, all Chinese audit firms were required to transform from a structure of limited liability company (LLC) to limited liability partnership (LLP), which removes the cap on the liability exposure of negligent auditors. By adopting this natural experiment, we document the following findings: first, after audit firms reorganize as LLPs, auditors are more likely to (1) issue modified audit opinions and going-concern opinions, (2) constrain clients’ earnings management, and (3) charge a premium in audit fees, which suggest that exerting unlimited legal liability on negligent auditors improves both audit quality and audit fees. Second, the effect of the LLP adoption is more pronounced when auditors are from local audit firms, and clients are controlled by local governments. Further analyses suggest that the stock prices of clients positively react to the reform event, which indicates that LLP adoption improves the overall value of audits. In summary, our empirical findings are consistent with the argument that legal liability is able to effectively shape auditor behavior in emerging markets where the other institutional mechanisms are relatively weaker and government intervention is heavy.     

审计侵权责任中第三人范围认定的经济学分析

对注册会计师侵权责任中的第三人范围认定的经济学分析表明,一味强调扩大注册会计师民事法窜责任的边界,并不是解决注册会计师审计侵权民事责任的最优方法.应将审计侵权民事责任置于公司治理结构的框架下,合理设定注册会计师审计侵权责任的预防水平,寻求最小的预期社会成本,在注册会计师、被审计单位及公众投资者等利害关系人之间实现利益平衡.     

Auditor liability rules under imperfect information and costly litigation: the welfare-increasing effect of liability insurance

This paper examines auditor liability rules under imperfect information, costly litigation and risk-averse auditors. A negligence rule fails in such a setting, because in equilibrium auditors will deviate with positive probability from any given standard. It is shown that strict liability outperforms negligence with respect to risk allocation and the probability that a desired level of care is met by the auditor if competitive liability insurance markets exist. Furthermore, our model explains the existence of insurance contracts containing obligations a type of contract often observed in liability insurance markets.     

事务所转制效果存在差异吗？——原因与后果

借助理论模型将会计师事务所转制对审计质量及审计收费的影响纳入一个整合的分析框架,推导出影响转制效果的关键因素：除审计师法律责任的增加程度以外,客户经营风险以及转制前审计质量水平也同样影响审计质量及审计收费的提高。基于2007—2015年中国A股上市公司数据,在控制了客户经营风险之后进行实证研究,结果表明审计质量及审计收费的提升确实在初始审计质量较低的中小型事务所样本中更加显著。进一步研究发现,在事务所转制的过程中及完成后,更多的审计客户从中小型事务所转换为前十大事务所,且这种客户流动趋势在异常审计收费较高的样本中更加显著。     

Audit Team Attributes Matter: How Diversity Affects Audit Quality

How audit teams are structured and function plays a crucial role in determining the level of audit service quality. Despite this claim, little empirical research has been conducted on this effect. Using private data from two of the Big 4 audit firms, we fill this gap and document how diversity of audit teams influences audit quality. By combining the existing work in psychology and sociology with that in auditing, we develop our model by arguing that teams are composed not simply of single auditors but of sub-teams of individuals whose various combinations affect team performance. Starting from this premise, we study how the diversity of audit teams in terms of the different mix of work assigned to staff, seniors, managers, and partners influences audit quality and how this effect varies depending upon years of tenure. We also show that the proportion of leading auditors characterized by a common educational background and the percentage of female leading auditors affect audit quality. As an additional analysis, we examine how team diversity affects audit efficiency. The same elements found relevant for audit quality also affect audit efficiency.     

审计师强制轮换的利弊分析与抉择

审计师强制轮换具有双重性,关键是利大于弊还是弊大于利。本文认为,不能期望通过审计师强制轮换解决审计工作的全部问题,其影响的实际结果还要经过经验的积累和实践的探索。因此,应加强审计师的职业道德教育和诚信教育,规范收费标准和审计师的报告行为,强化上市公司财务的披露义务,加强审计师强制轮换的制度设计等,以使审计师强制轮换尽可能发挥扬长避短的效果,更好地发挥审计师的鉴证作用,提升资本市场信息披露质量。     

training in germany: a dissident view

The German system of training is often seen as an example for Britain. Len Shackleton and David Lange, of Westminster University, argue that, in fact, it handicaps the German economy.     

审计处理随意性的实证分析——基于审计部门1984年—2006年的经验证据

按照法规公正处理审计中发现的问题是审计的基本要义,但是有实验研究发现,审计人员在处理过程中,存在着审计随意性现象.分析审计部门1984年至2006年审计处理数据后发现,在审计处理中存在着根据上期违纪金额确定本期违纪金额大小的现象;审计机关级别不同,审计处理方式不同;对不同审计对象,处罚力度也存在差异.为此,审计机关应当尽可能使审计执法的标准客观化,以减少人为因素对审计处理的影响.     

顺从还是懈怠？中注协约谈与执业质量检查的叠加监管压力研究

基于压力理论和制度理论,以2014—2018年沪深A股非金融类上市公司为研究对象,探究中注协约谈与执业质量检查的叠加监管压力对审计质量的影响。实证结果表明,在中注协约谈与执业质量检查的叠加监管压力下,审计师显著提升了审计质量。进一步研究发现,行业叠加监管压力对审计质量的提升作用只在当面约谈、签字注册会计师同性别、签字注册会计师平均执业年限较长、签字注册会计师年平均客户数量较少时才明显;行业叠加监管压力与法律监管压力之间存在着替代作用;在面对行业叠加监管压力时,审计师也收取了一定的溢价。研究结论能够明晰审计师面临行业叠加监管压力时的行为表现,也对证券审计市场行业自律性监管具有借鉴意义。     

Audit Fees in a Joint Audit Setting

Abstract

This paper uses the uniqueness of the French audit environment to conduct an in-depth study of audit pricing issues associated with the requirement to hire two independent auditors (joint audit). I use a model derived from Simunic's [(1980). The pricing of audit services: Theory and evidence. Journal of Accounting Research, 18(1), 161–190] seminal work to examine to what extent audit fees are influenced by the number of Big 4 joint auditors (zero, one, or two). After controlling for well-known drivers of audit fees that are specific to audit client firms (size, complexity, and risk), for governance characteristics and for auditor selection, the paper shows that the decision to hire two Big 4 auditors as joint auditors does not require the payment of a higher Big 4 premium compared to the choice of one Big 4 auditor paired with a smaller auditor, other things being equal. The choice of two Big 4 auditors thus appears to be a rational economic choice for large and international firms.     

The impact of litigation risk on the association between audit quality and auditor size: Evidence from China

We examine whether audit quality varies across different sizes of CPA firms under high or low auditor‐specific litigation risk exposure. We measure audit quality by the issuance of modified audit opinions and the audit fees charged to clients, and we use the organizational form of CPA firms as the proxy for auditors’ litigation risk exposure, where a partnership (limited liability) CPA firm represents a high (low) litigation risk exposure. Built on Choi, Kim, Liu, and Simunic's (2008) theoretical framework, we hypothesize that the litigation risk exposure of CPA firm moderates the association between auditor size and audit quality. Our results show that when the auditor's liability is capped (i.e., registered as a limited liability form of CPA firm), larger size CPA firms are associated with higher audit quality when compared to smaller size CPA firms. However, this positive association between auditor size and audit quality disappears for audit firms that are subject to high litigation risk exposures (i.e., registered as a partnership form of CPA firm). Our research provides new insights on the impact of auditor‐specific litigation risks on the relation between audit quality and auditor size. In particular, we show that only when auditor‐specific litigation risk is limited, do large CPA firms appear to perform higher quality audits than small CPA firms.     

Co‐determination and strategic integration in German firms

Looking at the economic development and importance of German companies in Europe, one might expect that an important aspect of a good economic performance is a well‐functioning HR system. Although a number of scholars claim this, the empirical evidence seems to point to the opposite. Several comparative studies have found that HRM in German companies is less strategically integrated and proactive than that of comparable firms in other countries. This article argues that the empirical results reported fail to grasp the essence of HRM in German firms. This lacuna is partly due to the co‐determination structure. HRM in large German firms has to be evaluated within the co‐determination structure, with the Betriebsrat (works council) being an important actor. For German firms co‐determination might even be a strategic resource. By examining this issue within such a framework, a more favourable picture of HR integration in German firms emerges.     

The Audit Reporting Debate: Seemingly Intractable Problems and Feasible Solutions

While the audit reporting debate has a long history, a number of recent regulatory initiatives and policy reviews increase the likelihood of change in this area. The purpose of this study is to use this momentum and examine whether there is consensus between audit report users and auditors with regard to the form and content of the audit report. This seems necessary because past audit reporting reforms have failed due to a lack of common ground. Based on interviews with users and auditors, we conclude that reaching a level of consensus seems feasible. Using these insights, we propose an alternative audit reporting model that may significantly reduce the information gap between users and auditors and improve transparency on the quality of audit practice.     

浅析我国工伤保险立法中的几个问题

我国的工伤保险制度曾在我国社会保障体系的建立和完善中发挥了重要作用,但经过几年的实践,逐渐显露出一些问题,主要体现在社会保障作用发挥得不够,工伤范围、工伤认定申请程序不合理,工伤赔偿责任与民事侵权责任的关系不明确等方面。     

经济法教学中如何运用任务驱动法

经济法课程内容不像应用技术类课程一样具备很强的操作性,但同样适合项目导向和任务驱动法的教学运用。文章以高职《经济法》为例,阐述了"任务驱动法"教学过程设计步骤,同时,以其中的一个子项目"公司法——有限责任公司"为例,着重阐述任务驱动法在课程单元设计中的应用。     

The effects of environmental risk information on auditors' decisions about prospective financial statements

This study tests a model of how auditors make decisions when presented with environmental risk information in the context of a task that requires their professional opinion on a company's forecasted information. Auditing provided a small-world context where declarative and procedural knowledge have been well documented in terms of the rules for analysing financial information. This research uses a conceptual modelling approach to determine auditors' perceptions of environmental risk information and the effects on their judgement and decision choices when issuing an examination report supporting forecasted financial statements. Auditors were provided with environmental risk information that they had to process and integrate in their decision-making. The results demonstrated that auditors act on unfamiliar declarative knowledge using their standard procedural knowledge. The results from eighty-four senior auditors displayed evidence that auditors' perception of environmental risk information is downplayed compare to the traditional accounting information during their judgement and decision choice phases. When confronted with conflicting information, auditors tend to place more reliance on financial rather than environmental risk information. One of the implications of this study is that auditors should be trained to handle non-traditional information, such as environmental risk.     

基于德国“双元制”的钦州学院物流管理专业实践教学调查分析

文章基于德国"双元制"实践教学对钦州学院物流管理专业实践教学现状进行调查,借鉴国外"双元制"教学实例剖析了该专业实践教学存在问题,并提出了发展建议。