The changing public sector: from transition to transformation

This paper contributes to the empirical audit-quality literature and provides evidence on (the lack of) audit-quality differentiation in the private client segment of the Belgian audit market. Auditor size is used as audit-quality proxy. Prior evidence on audit-quality differentiation between Big Six and non-Big Six auditors in the private client segment of the Belgian audit market is mixed. In this paper we investigate whether these mixed results stem from the inability of the dichotomous Big Six/non-Big Six variable to capture auditor-size differences in a less concentrated audit market. To that end we examine whether alternative continuous measures of audit-firm size (i.e. auditor market share, number of audit-firm clients, number of partners in the audit firm, total assets and operating profit of the audit firm) have a constraining impact on earnings management in a large sample of privately held Belgian companies (n?=?1,302). Overall, we do not find evidence that is supportive of quality differentiation in the private client segment of the Belgian audit market.     

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.     

审计投入水平、审计师个体决策行为与独立审计质量——基于前景理论的解析

现有关于独立审计质量的文献一般以会计师事务所整体为对象进行研究,由于执行审计程序和决定审计意见的是会计师事务所内不同层级的审计师,本文从会计师事务所内各层级审计师的个人动机出发,研究独立审计质量更具体的形成机制。采用前景理论的研究成果,从审计投入水平和发现错报是否报告两方面,考察审计师在不确定条件下的决策,并据此提出政策性建议,认为完善的会计师事务所内部制度和民事赔偿责任的建立是提高独立审计质量的必要手段,且应使法律责任落实到过错人。改变合伙人报酬支付方式和增大违规事件披露强度也是提高独立审计质量的重要对策。     

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.     

Audit committee effectiveness and the audit fee

The UK is the only major country within the European Union the majority of whose listed companies have formed audit committees composed of non-executive directors to monitor financial reporting, the external auditors, and internal control strength. The adoption of audit committees in contrast to the approach in Europe has arisen despite the lack of evidence on their effectiveness even in the USA and Canada, where they have been mandatory since the 1970s. This paper seeks to establish whether audit committees are effective in ensuring audit quality by protecting the auditors from fee cuts which might affect audit quality, and signal tighter internal controls which help to reduce audit time and hence audit fees. The problem is that the audit committee may be expected to exert a two-way pressure on audit fees. To the extent that audit committees should enhance audit quality, partly by ensuring that audit hours are not reduced, an audit committee may be expected to increase total audit fees. At the same time, an audit committee may reasonably be thought to be a proxy for internal control strength. Ceteris paribus, companies with strong internal controls may be expected to pay lower audit fees than those with weak internal controls. Our paper argues that the ‘quality’ aspect of the audit can be captured through a dummy firm size variable, whilst the internal control aspects can be captured through dummy risk and complexity variables. The hypotheses examined are that size related audit fees are higher in companies with an audit committee; and that risk- and complexity-related audit fees are lower in companies with audit committees. The hypotheses are tested by developing a regression model for audit fees of a sample of the companies which comprise the FT-SE 500, with variables being included for the presence or absence of an audit committee. The results show that the relationship between size-related audit fees and the presence of an audit committee is positive and statistically significant, but that although there is a negative relationship between risk- and complexity-related audit fees and the presence of an audit committee, the relationships are not conclusively significant. The findings provide support for the contention that audit committees are at least partially effective in preventing reductions in the audit fee to levels where the quality of the audit may be compromised.     

Audit Services and Fees of Large Accounting Firms

In the audit literature, it was postulated that audit firms are differentiated due to their quality and, thus, the fees charged are a function of quality. We hypothesize that this may lead to audit firm specialization in different amounts of auditing, leading to a differential audit fee structure. This hypothesis is empirically tested by using a very large sample of audit fees paid to then Big Eight auditors. The results are consistent with the hypothesis in that three Big Eight auditors are observed to charge significantly different fees when compared with the other firms.     

基于审计主客体特征的审计收费的影响因素分析

本文在以往研究成果的基础之上,从会计师事务所和被审计单位主客体的角度研究审计收费的影响因素。基于会计师事务所角度,影响审计收费的因素有:审计成本、事务所的规模、事务所的品牌效应;基于被审计单位角度,影响审计收费的因素分别是:资产规模和子公司个数、盈余管理、所有权集中程度和股东的制衡度、风险水平、区域位置。     

签字注册会计师重新上任会影响审计质量吗? ——来自强制轮换签字注册会计师公司的经验证据

以2003—2017年沪深两市A股上市公司中发生签字注册会计师强制轮换的公司为研究样本,研究签字注册会计师强制轮换后重新上任对审计质量的影响以及事务所规模对此影响的调节作用,并考察这种调节作用在财务状况不同的上市公司间的差异。研究结果表明：签字注册会计师强制轮换后重新上任会降低审计质量;大规模会计师事务所能有效削弱签字注册会计师重新上任对审计质量的降低效应;相比财务状况较好的公司,事务所规模在财务状况较差公司中的调节作用更加显著。研究结论可以为完善签字注册会计师轮换制度以及加强对注册会计师行业的监管提供经验支持和价值参考。     

变更会计师事务所对上市公司审计质量的影响研究

近几年来,上市公司变更会计师事务所的现象呈逐年递增的趋势,理论界和实务界普遍认为这种现象可能会导致审计质量降低。为了验证这种观点的可信程度并寻求相关的纠正措施,本文首先提出一些研究假设,然后采取定量分析和定性分析相结合的方法进行研究,发现上市公司变更会计师事务所后,明显呈现出非标准无保留审计意见降低、聘请会计师事务所趋于异地化、支付的平均审计费用增高三个特点,从而得出变更会计师事务所不一定影响审计质量的结论。在此基础上,我们对如何保证上市公司的审计报告质量提出了一些相关建议。     

The Firm as a Multicontract Organization

The firm is often considered as a nexus of contracts linking the management and its different stakeholders: claim-holders, workers, unions, customers, suppliers, and the state, among others. This paper surveys recent work in contract theory, the multiprincipal incentive theory, and the theory of side contracts, which provides some insights into the structure of those contracts and therefore into the structure of the firm. First, we discuss the incomplete contracting assumptions underlying these variations of the usual grand contract approach. Second, we explain how the theoretical lessons learned from this work—the distribution of contracting rights, the power of incentive schemes within organizations, and the design of communication channels—apply to the theory of the firm.     

CPA审计的独立性研究:威胁、防护及成效分析

独立性是社会审计的精髓,是CPA履行社会责任的根本保证。论文以CPA审计为视角,分析了影响CPA审计独立性的诸多因素,阐述了缺乏独立性对社会的威胁,探索了防护独立性的相关措施,其中对扩大会计师事务所规模的成本效益关系进行了较深地、有创意地数理推论,从而逻辑性地得出通过扩大事务所规模以提高审计独立性的必然结论。     

Internationalization and Auditor Choice

Prior research shows that internationalization increases information asymmetry and conflicts of interest between managers and outside investors, which lead to greater agency problems. Agency theory predicts a demand for higher quality auditors when agency problems are more severe. This study investigates whether the extent of internationalization influences auditor choice and whether audit quality has performance implications for internationalization. Using a set of U.S. firms from 2003 to 2009, we find the extent of internationalization positively related to audit quality. Furthermore, higher quality audits positively moderate the relation between internationalization and firm performance. Taken together, these results suggest that higher quality audit mitigates the agency problem associated with internationalization.     

Cost–quality conflict in audit firms: an empirical investigation

Findings are reported from an empirical investigation of cost–quality conflict using a survey of audit juniors and seniors in four of the Big Five audit firms in Ireland. Prior findings, mainly from US studies, indicate the presence of a cost–quality conflict in the audit environment. Conventional accounting controls are only partially effective and, in response to such controls, auditors sometimes engage in dysfunctional behaviours. Evidence from this study suggests that dysfunctional behaviours are significantly related to time pressure (created through a combination of budgets and deadlines) and performance evaluation (incorporating both style and frequency of evaluation). The relationship between dysfunctional behaviours and other specified variables (participation and leadership style) was not statistically significant. There was evidence that major changes have taken place in the audit environment such as a flattening of organizational structures and a de-emphasis on budgets as a form of control. The findings are interpreted in the context of the changed audit environment. Implications for resolving the cost–quality conflict from the perspective of audit firm management are set out and future research opportunities are identified.     

中央企业更换会计师事务所的调查及建议

调查显示,与注册会计师轮换不同,注册会计师事务所轮换较为彻底,但事务所轮换也带来了较高的审计成本。为提高事务所轮换的效果应改进中央企业事务所聘任模式;加强对形式上轮换而实质上没有轮换的上市公司聘任事务所工作的检查;担任其他类型审计的事务所也应纳入轮换范畴;协调好各部门相关规定的关系。     

儒家文化会影响企业审计行为吗？

儒家文化作为中国非正式制度的典型代表在规范社会成员行为方面具有一定影响力。以2010—2017年A股上市公司为样本,通过logit模型分析儒家文化对审计行为的影响,研究结果表明：在审计准备期,儒家文化与选聘的事务所规模、事务所地缘关系正相关,与事务所更迭负相关,即企业更愿意选择规模较大和具有较强地缘关系的本地事务所,并且不会轻易变更与事务所的合作关系;在审计实施和终结期,儒家文化与审计延迟负相关,与审计费用正相关,并且随着儒家文化影响程度加深,非标准类审计意见的出具概率也会上升。进一步检验高管儒家文化背景和外来文化冲击影响下儒家文化对审计行为的现实效应,结果发现儒家文化仍对企业审计行为产生显著作用。     

The role of the board and the audit committee in corporate risk management

This paper examines the impact of corporate governance on corporate risk-management activities in S&P 500 firms over the period 2004–2010 by measuring the characteristics of the board directors and audit committee. Our results show that the board of directors, especially the audit committee, plays an important role in the firm’s hedging decisions, including whether to hedge and to what extent. Such evidence is even stronger in high-leveraged firms with large risk-shifting incentives. These results are robust to the consideration of endogenous concerns, a board corporate governance index, and industrial effects. Our study contributes to the literature by showing the influential role of the audit committee on corporate risk management.     

Does Board Independence Affect Audit Fees? Evidence from Recent Regulatory Reforms

To enhance board oversight, since 2002, US legislation has required listed companies to have a majority independent board. This paper uses this legislative change to examine the relation between board independence and audit fees. To provide a clean estimate of this relation, we adopt a difference-in-difference approach using a sample matched on client firm characteristics. We find that greater board independence is insignificantly associated with a change in audit fees when client firms operate in a weak information environment. When the information environment is strong, greater board independence is associated with an increase in audit fees. Our results are consistent with the nascent theory emphasizing information asymmetry and provide insight into the effectiveness of the mandated board independence in relation to audit quality.     

When is Contracting Preferable to Employment? An Exploration of Management and Worker Perspectives

abstract    Managers make choices regarding the types of employment structures that meet the needs of the firm, and workers make choices regarding the types of arrangement that meet their needs. Various streams of literature offer perspectives on why employment or contracting might be preferred but it is often the perspective of the firm that dominates the analysis. This kind of one-sidedness weakens our understanding of employment as a relationship . It lacks recognition of the importance of mutuality: of matching the needs of the worker with the needs of the business. This paper reports research investigating management decisions to use self-employed contractors or employees for particular jobs, and workers' decisions to seek or accept organizational employment or self-employment. Some 80 in-depth interviews were conducted with managers and workers across two industries (energy supply and engineering consultancy) with the intent of studying two groups of workers differing dramatically in skill levels. While largely confirming existing theory on the management conditions relevant to the contracting-out of work, the study identifies factors that make a contracting relationship more mutually beneficial, thus suggesting propositions for further research on worker preferences.     

审计师轮换类别与审计结果——基于“关系”的视角

审计师强制轮换制度能够从制度上对审计师独立性给予一定程度的保证,而社会关系的存在会对审计师的独立性产生影响,但同时也能够增加前后任审计师工作交接的效率。以2007—2019年签字审计师轮换为样本研究发现,同一事务所内签字审计师的变更会使得后任审计师出具清洁审计意见的可能性提升,后任审计师审计当年发生财务重述的可能性较低,且可操纵性应计利润较低。但是,后任审计师获取的审计费用并没有显著降低。与不同事务所之间的签字审计师轮换相比,同一事务所审计师轮换情况下,由于更易进行信息共享与沟通,后任审计师的审计质量更高,且与前任审计师审计质量相比,后任审计师审计质量有所提升。