The role of audit verification in debt contracting: evidence from covenant violations

We investigate the role of audit verification in the resolution process following debt covenant violations. Using two sets of proxies for demand—audit fees and the independence and diligence of audit committees—we find evidence that covenant violations result in a demand for differentially higher levels of audit verification. Further analyses demonstrate the link between the increased demand for audit verification and the mechanisms designed to control agency costs in debt contracts. We document cross-sectional variations in the observed fee differential with respect to the level of reliance on financial covenants, the type of covenants violated, and waiver decisions. Moreover, we find that the observed audit fee increases are associated with more favorable movements in borrowing costs and the adoption of more conservative investment policies post violation. Our findings suggest that covenant violations increase the demand for audit services to help control contracting costs post violation.     

Informed trading on debt covenant violations: the long and short of it

We examine whether disclosure of complex information events reduces information asymmetry by investigating the long‐ and short‐term impact of firms' disclosure of debt covenant violations on the probability of informed trading. We argue debt covenant violation disclosures provide informed agents with a long window of opportunity to trade on their private information largely due to the uncertainty arising from the debt renegotiation process. We find the probability of informed trading is greater after the disclosure, particularly when the violation outcomes are unresolved or where there is concern about possible future violations.     

Board monitoring and covenant restrictiveness in private debt contracts during the global financial crisis

We examine the association between board independence and restrictiveness of covenants in U.S. private debt contracts around the global financial crisis (GFC). We show that board independence is associated with less restrictive covenants suggesting lenders willingness to delegate some monitoring of firms with independent boards. More nuanced analysis between the pre-GFC, GFC and post-GFC periods shows mixed results and we suggest that, during the GFC and its aftermath, lenders place more emphasis on ex ante screening relative to ex post monitoring. We contribute to the literature by providing evidence on covenant use and lenders choices in periods of credit rationing.     

The importance of accounting changes in debt contracts: the cost of flexibility in covenant calculations

In this paper, we examine how the exclusion of voluntary and mandatory accounting changes from the calculation of covenant compliance affects the interest rate charged on the loan. After controlling for self-selection bias and other factors known to affect loan spreads, we find that the rate charged is 84 basis points lower when voluntary accounting changes are excluded and 71 basis points lower when mandatory accounting changes are excluded. Our results suggest that borrowers are willing to pay substantially higher interest rates to retain accounting flexibility that may help them avoid covenant violations and to avoid duplicate record-keeping costs.     

提升债务本币化程度 完善我国外债管理

外债作为对境外资金利用的一种形式,一定程度上是国家综合实力和经济承受力的体现。从别国本币外债的发展趋势看,发达经济体本币外债占比一直较高,新兴经济体近年来普遍呈上升态势。发展本币外债的主要动因,在于其能消除货币错配风险、规避汇率风险以及便利本币跨境使用等。随着人民币跨境使用需求的增长,人民币外债类型和规模将逐渐增多,建议按照国际标准建立统一的全口径外债统计体系等方式,完善我国本外币外债管理。     

Creditor rights and debt allocation within multinationals

We analyze the optimal debt structure of multinational corporations choosing between centralized or decentralized borrowing. We identify how this choice is affected by creditor rights and bankruptcy costs, taking into account managerial incentives and coinsurance considerations. We find that partially centralized borrowing structures are optimal with either weak or strong creditor rights. For intermediate levels of creditor rights fully decentralized (centralized) borrowing structures are optimal if managers have strong (weak) empire-building tendencies. Decentralized borrowing is more attractive for companies focussing on short-term profitability. Credits are rather taken in countries with better creditor rights and more efficient insolvency systems.     

The cost of debt when all-equity firms raise sfinance: The role of investment opportunities, audit quality and debt maturity

This paper investigates the effect of investment opportunities, audit quality and debt maturity on the interest paid by all-equity firms. Debt holders are likely to charge higher interest to price-protect themselves because of the under-investment and asset substitution problems. All-equity firms, however, could reduce interest charge by employing Big 4 auditors to increase the reliability of audited financial statements or using short-term debt to allow more frequent monitoring of their financial condition by lenders and re-pricing of debt. The results show that interest charge is positively related to investment opportunities of all-equity firms. This relationship is weaker when the firms have Big 4 auditors or a higher proportion of debt due in the next year over total debt. In addition, the above results do not hold for highly levered firms since the lenders are constantly monitoring the financial condition of their borrowers.     

IT infusion within the audit process: Spreadsheet use in small audit firms

This study examines spreadsheet use during different phases of the audit process using a series of case studies on independent, local non-Big 4, audit firms in Thailand. Our study adopted the concept of infusion, i.e., the use of IT to its fullest potential within work processes. We used multiple data collection methods, including face-to-face interviews and the examination of commonly used spreadsheets. The study defined a way of measuring spreadsheet infusion in the audit process based on extended, integrative and emergent use. The data provides new insights into how spreadsheets are used by audit firms. Spreadsheet infusion varied considerably across the firms, which indicates significant opportunities for increased sophistication in spreadsheet use for some small audit firms. The study also identifies many enablers of spreadsheet infusion, including IT competence, IT champion, size and complexity of clients, external support, relative advantage and observability. In contrast, staff turnover, lack of partner support, and clients' willingness to provide soft copy data were noted as infusion inhibitors. By successfully extending infusion literature into the audit arena, this study provides a basis for studying the post-adoption behaviors associated with other applications of IT in auditing.     

Relating audit and internal control objectives: A missing step in specifying compliance tests

Students often have difficulty in conceptualizing the relationship between reliance on a particular control and the attainment of a specific audit objective. In this article, the authors discuss an approach which demonstrates to students one way in which relevant internal controls can be identified and linked to specific audit objectives. The authors explain how a set of relevant internal controls can be selected for testing by relating these controls to specific audit objectives. The approach requires students to associate control objectives with audit objectives in a systematic manner.     

Locating audit expectations gap within a cultural context: The case of Saudi Arabia

This paper offers an insight into the types of ‘audit expectations gap’ that exist within a cultural context. Specifically, it investigates if the business and social environment affect the perceptions of audit performance of users and auditors. Using a combination of mail questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, the study reveals the existence of a ‘performance gap’ with respect to the roles specified in the statutory pronouncements and those that can reasonably be expected of auditors in Saudi Arabia. The results further indicate the ‘performance gap’ arises from four factors in the environment within which auditing is practiced: licensing policy, recruitment process, the political and legal structure, and dominant societal values. Interview results reveal the influence of institutional and cultural settings on the audit expectations gap and indicate that the inclusion of Islamic principles in auditing standards and the code of ethics would help reduce the expectations gap that exists in Saudi Arabia.     

Optimal dividend policy,debt policy and the level of investment within a multi-period DCF framework

This paper simultaneously analyses optimal dividend, debt and investment policy within a conventional multi-period DCF framework, and takes account of differential personal taxation over both investors and types of income, the effect of dividends and interest on the level of share issues and hence share issue costs, and the effect of dividends and interest on the level of internally-financed investment. Application of the model to three distinct tax regimes reveals that the value benefit from debt is small at best whilst the value benefit from dividends is substantial even in a regime without dividend imputation.     

Determinants of short-term debt: a note

Although various measures to lengthen the maturity of foreign debt are being discussed, there is relatively little evidence on the determinants of short-term debt. This paper briefly reviews the theoretical literature and discusses a stylized model which stresses the role of short-term debt under conditions of uncertainty. We then complement earlier empirical work by Rodrik and Velasco. Using a new dataset, we find that the determinants of short-term bank lending do not differ significantly between developed and developing countries. The level of economic development and the share of loans to banks are found to have a positive, OECD membership to have a negative impact on the share of short-term loans.     

How audit effort affects audit quality: An audit process and audit output perspective

Using a unique dataset of audit days in China from 2006 to 2011, this paper examines the relationship between audit effort and audit quality from the perspective of audit process and audit output. The results show that audit effort significantly increases the probability of audit adjustments, which inhibits positive earnings management and improves the quality of audited financial statements. We also find that audit effort does not have a significant effect on the issuance of modified audit opinions overall, but that a modified audit opinion is more likely to be issued in the absence of an audit adjustment. Furthermore, we find that the impact of audit effort on audit quality is attenuated when clients are more complex and when audit firms are larger. Collectively, our evidence suggests that audit effort plays an important role in improving audit quality by influencing audit process and audit output. Our study extends the literature on the impact of audit effort on audit quality in emerging markets, and the conclusions have important implications for the improvement of China’s audit market efficiency.     

Assessing inherent risk during audit planning: The development of a knowledge based model

Within the academic and professional auditing communities there has been growing concern with accurately assessing the various risks associated with the performance of an audit. One approach to developing sophisticated risk assessment models is to study how experienced expert auditors use industry and firm specific factors in making audit judgements. This study presents a model of inherent risk assessment based on literature reviews and a field study that involved structured and unstructured interviews and observations of experts in audit planning meetings. Analysis of the data gathered led to the specification of a conceptual model of inherent risk assessment which has been implemented as a computer program (a computational model). Auditors were asked to assess the behavior and performance of the computational model as a first step in evaluating the expert model.     

Transforming audit technologies: Business risk audit methodologies and the audit field

Business Risk Audit (BRA) methodologies have been promoted by a number of the large audit firms in response, they claim, to the challenges of the information age and corporate clients’ needs for assurance. This paper subjects their claim to critical scrutiny, drawing on the perspectives of neo-institutional theories of legitimacy, the sociology of professional knowledge and the sociology of science and technology. To bring into play new Business Risk Audit methodologies a number of the larger firms have sought, through their auditing practice, to renegotiate the bases of their professional identity and status within audit firms and to widen their jurisdictional claims over other areas of expertise. These moves have been accompanied by the legitimation and embedding of Business Risk Audit in revised constructions of the market for audit, in abstract academic knowledges, reforms of professional education, and professional regulations. In providing a constructivist account of Business Risk Audit technologies, we argue for a theory of audit change that recognises (i) the centrality of legitimation processes and (ii) the co-construction of audit technology and the audit field.     

Switching to a poor business activity: optimal capital structure, agency costs and covenant rules

We address the issue of modeling and quantifying the asset substitution problem in a setting where equityholders decisions alter both the volatility and the return of the firm cash flows. Our results contrast with those obtained in models where the agency problem is reduced to a pure risk-shifting problem. We find larger agency costs and lower optimal leverages. We identify the bankruptcy trigger written in debt indenture, which maximizes ex-ante firm value, given that equityholders will ex-post be able to risk-shift. Our model highlights the tradeoff between ex-post inefficient behavior of equityholders and inefficient covenant restrictions.      

The formation and early development of German audit firms

This paper examines the emergence of audit firms in Germany through an analysis of contemporary sources. Special attention is paid to the range of services offered, their legal forms and ownership structure. In Germany, the demand for external audits developed because the corporate supervisory boards had been unable to fulfil their monitoring task satisfactorily. As a consequence of the major economic crisis of 1929-1931 and the collapse of large corporations caused by the fraudulent actions of managing directors, statutory audits for stock corporations were introduced in 1931. The first German audit and trust company, the Deutsche Treuhand-Gesellschaft, was established much earlier in 1890. Like other trust companies which emerged from 1905 onwards, it was owned by large banks. After the First World War, large commercial groups on the one hand, and the state on the other hand, started to form their own audit firms. Most of the audit and trust companies used the legal form of a corporation. Originally, the main activities of the trust companies were trustee activities and audits. Subsequently, they also offered tax and business advisory services. These features (a broad range of services offered, the corporation as the dominant legal form, and clients who are also owners) help us to understand key characteristics of modern German audit firms such as their limited liability to third parties.     

合规经营,一个复杂而现实的问题

经营是合规还是不合规,这是一个复杂而现实的问题。经营当然要合规,但现实是:眼下的中国是潜规则盛行的国家,在一些生意人看来,按照潜规则办事才是"合规"的经营,官场上有人也乐得潜规则的存在。虽说依法治国在中国是既定的,