Consequences of the Abandonment of Mandatory Joint Audit: An Empirical Study of Audit Costs and Audit Quality Effects

This paper focuses on the unique Danish setting in examining the consequences of abandoning a mandatory joint audit regime. We study the effects on audit costs (measured by audit fees) and audit quality (measured by abnormal accruals) of the abandonment of the mandatory joint audit in Denmark in 2005. We perform our analysis on non-financial listed Danish companies for the 2002–2010 period. Our results show that a joint audit is associated with higher fees, but that the association between joint audit and abnormal accruals is insignificant. This suggests that the higher audit fees cannot be explained by higher audit quality. Our results are robust to alternative measurements of fees and audit quality. Additional analyses show that the fee premium related to a joint audit decreases over time and that the Big 4 concentration in our sample has increased since the switch from mandatory to voluntary joint audit. Our results are consistent with the motivations driving the regulatory change in Denmark and are of interest to regulators and actors in the audit market.     

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.     

审计定价与审计质量——文献回顾与政策含义

审计市场激烈的价格竞争是否削弱审计师的独立性,审计师对公司的财务依赖性是否降低审计质量,这两个问题始终是审计职业界、监管者和社会公众争论的焦点。围绕这两个问题,文章回顾了审计定价与审计质量的实证研究文献,总结我国目前相关研究的缺失,最后阐明这些经验证据的政策含义。     

Experience of Audit Committee Members and Audit Quality

Abstract

We investigate whether the experience of audit committee members is associated with audit quality. In order to comprehensively analyse the experience of audit committee members, we include audit committee member tenure, age and multiple-directorships in our analysis. Using observations from 2001 to 2012, we undertake analysis on 13,155 firm-year observations and find that all our proxies of audit committee member experience are positively associated with audit fees. A range of additional tests, including using discretionary accruals as an alternative measure of audit quality and differences-in-differences analysis, support our main findings and our results consequently make a number of contributions to both the literature and policy making. One possible policy contribution is that regulators may wish to consider audit committee characteristics representing experience when framing recommendations to improve audit quality and thereby, financial reporting by firms.     

Mandatory Audit Firm Rotation and Audit Quality

In a setting where mandatory audit firm rotation has been effective for more than 20 years (i.e. Italy), we analyse changes in audit quality during the auditor engagement period. In our research setting, auditors are appointed for a three-year period and their term can be renewed twice up to a maximum of nine years. Since the auditor has incentives to be re-appointed at the end of the first and the second three-year periods, we expect audit quality to be lower in the first two three-year periods compared to the third (i.e. the last) term. Assuming that a better audit quality is associated with a higher level of accounting conservatism, and using abnormal working capital accruals as a proxy for the latter, we find that the auditor becomes more conservative in the last three-year period, i.e. the one preceding the mandatory rotation. These results are confirmed using Basu's [1997. The conservatism principle and the asymmetric timeliness of earnings. Journal of Accounting and Economics, 24(1), 3–37] timely loss recognition model. In an additional analysis, we use earnings response coefficients as a proxy for investor perception of audit quality, and we observe results consistent with an increase in audit quality perception in the last engagement period.     

签字注册会计师任期、行业专长与审计质量

对审计任期与审计质量的关系,以往研究并未得出统一结论。理论上,专业胜任能力和独立性共同影响着审计任期与审计质量的关系,行业专长能够弥补专业胜任能力不足对审计质量产生的不利影响。从行业专长的视角对签字注册会计师任期和审计质量之间的关系进行回归分析发现,签字注册会计师任期与审计质量呈非线性的正U型关系(拐点≈3年)。进一步分析发现,在签字注册会计师任期较短(≤3年)时,行业专长有助于提高审计质量;但在签字注册会计师任期较长(>3年)时,行业专长对审计质量没有显著影响。研究结果表明,在签字注册会计师任期与审计质量的关系中,专业胜任能力发挥着比独立性威胁更重要的作用。     

独立审计质量影响因素研究:一个文献综述

审计质量是近年国内外引人瞩目的研究领域。本文系统回顾了有关审计质量影响因素的研究现状与发展动态,从事务所规模、审计任期、行业专长、法律责任、公司治理等方面进行了梳理和综述,对该领域的未来研究热点进行了展望,为进一步研究审计质量提供一些思路。     

审计监管与审计质量

监管应当重点促进和辅助竞争，通过政策导向来提高信息的透明度以及辅助事务所建立自我质量控制的程序来强化市场的作用，达到提高审计质量的目的。     

内部审计特征与内部控制质量研究

以内部审计制度建立和披露较完善的中小板市场作为研究对象，采用迪博内部控制指数衡量内部控制质量，从内部审计部门规模和内部审计负责人专业能力角度实证检验内部审计特征对内部控制质量水平和内部控制质量变化的影响，结果显示内部审计负责人专业能力能显著改进内部控制质量，在进行了相关稳健性检验后，这一结论依然稳健。这表明内部审计负责人专业能力在完善和改进内部控制质量方面发挥了重要的作用。但研究结果没有发现内部审计规模特征对内部控制质量水平和改进产生显著影响。     

政府审计质量管理的问题与对策——一项基于问卷调查的分析

公共需求全面快速增长与基本公共产品短缺日益突出的矛盾,对政府审计质量提出更高要求。政府审计质量管理是一个总体概念,审计管理中的计划、组织、领导、控制等各项职能的执行都会对最终的审计质量产生影响。从政府审计质量管理可能存在的问题(共14项)与可行的改进措施(共18项)两个维度设计问卷,数据分析发现,影响审计质量的审计管理各项职能中,领导职能存在的问题最多,其余依次为控制职能、组织职能和计划职能。政府审计质量管理应当回归管理的本质——做好以人为中心的协调工作。应以各项职能存在问题的严重性程度为顺序,以调动审计人员积极性为核心,制定相应的治理对策。     

论我国上市公司审计市场结构及对审计质量的影响

本文认为,审计市场结构研究的目的,是了解审计市场的竞争特性及其对总体执业质量的影响。国外审计市场具有高集中度的特点,寡占型审计市场结构对审计质量的提高有积极影响。我国上市公司审计市场结构具有低集中度特征,并且对审计服务市场的执业质量产生不利影响。本文基于审计市场集中度应该与其所服务的股票市场集中度相适应的观点,提出了我国审计市场现行结构的改进和发展战略。     

控制权安排、事务所定价策略和审计质量——来自Ａ股市场的证据

本文通过对2003 ～ 2009年A股上市公司审计费用的分析,讨论控制权安排和事务所定价策略对审计质量的影响.研究结果表明,中央政府控股和地方政府控股的国有上市公司的审计费用会显著低于民营上市公司;国内十大所对中央政府控股的上市公司会采取低价竞争策略.研究结果表明政府行为对事务所定价策略产生重要影响,为今后完善法律制度环境、推动事务所做大做强提供了经验支持.     

会计师事务所扩张方式对审计质量的影响

以2005年信永中和合并香港何锡麟会计师行案例、2006年中天华正和广州羊城加盟立信的品牌联盟案例作为实证研究对象,利用基本和修正的Jones模型计算的DA值作为审计质量的替代变量,考察事务所扩张前后三年审计质量是否发生显著变化。研究发现:第一,信永中和合并何锡麟会计师行后,审计质量整体上有明显提高,主要是内地分所的审计质量有明显改善,信永中和(香港)的审计质量亦略有提高;第二,立信系各成员所通过品牌联盟的方式扩张,虽然加盟小所审计质量有所提高,但是立信会计师事务所本身的审计质量明显下降,立信系整体审计质量在联盟后出现下降。研究表明,会计师事务所扩张的实质性整合是提高审计质量的关键。     

从会计师事务所变更看审计质量一个实证分析

本文考察了2000年至2002年我国深圳证券交易市场变更会计师事务所上市公司的审计意见情况,并以此分析了我国会计师事务所的审计质量。结果发现,近年来我国的审计质量正在逐年提高,同时会计师事务所变更的事例有减少的趋势。但是,我国的审计质量仍未达到令人满意的水平,有许多问题还需有关监管部门给予关注。     

我国上市公司会计信息披露暨审计质量分析

通过统计分析2001—2010年度我国沪深两市上市公司会计信息披露违规占比和具有审计合格意见的上市公司会计信息披露违规占比两个指标,来了解我国上市公司披露会计信息的质量及其审计质量,在对信息披露成因分析的基础上,提出改善上市公司会计信息披露质量及其审计质量的政策性建议。     

论内部审计的质量控制

审计质量是审计的生命线。加强内部审计质量控制对于维护财经纪律、防范财务风险、保证审计工作效果有着十分重要的意义。本文从内部审计的发展现状、内部审计质量控制的重要性方面入手,提出了强化内部审计质量控制的途径和措施。     

初始审计定价折扣与审计质量——基于客户与会计师事务所相对地位的视角

从审计市场的供需双方——客户与会计师事务所的相对地位和议价能力出发,研究不同客户-事务所组合的初始审计定价折扣及审计质量问题。结果发现,初始审计定价折扣现象并不普遍存在,只有在大客户-小事务所组合中才存在;同时,这一组合中无论是否存在审计定价折扣,审计质量均低于其他客户-事务所组合。研究为审计市场低价揽客现象提供了新的视角和经验证据,并对完善我国审计市场结构提出了政策建议。     

审计收费与审计质量关系研究

审计收费是影响审计质量的重要因素,本文通过理论和实证检验等方法进行分析得出审计收费和审计质量在一定程度上是正相关关系,结合我国审计收费现状,提出了一些可行性建议。     

质量目标的建立与审核

文章阐述了质量目标建立中的常见问题,给出了改进建议;对如何从质量目标的审核中,获取质量管理体系建立、运行及效果的证据,给出了思路。     

独立审计质量的经济学分析

本文通过对审计质量的经济学分析,提出高质量的审计是增进契约效率的内生需要,中小股东和上市公司之间的“隐性契约”是推动审计质量提高的重要力量。我国特有的经济环境背景,决定了审计质量的提高存在着制度性障碍,审计质量是各方利益相互均衡的结果。