The impact of auditor rotation on auditor–client negotiation

This paper reports the results of an experiment designed to investigate how mandatory audit firm rotation affects auditor–client negotiations. Drawing upon process theories of negotiation, we examine the strategies used by auditors and clients as well as the outcomes of their negotiations in alternative settings in which mandatory rotation is imposed or is not imposed. We posit that mandatory rotation changes (1) the dynamics of the audit market by increasing the number of clients who are in the market for a new auditor, and (2) the political costs to a client who switches auditors. These changes, in turn, alter the willingness of the auditor and the client to cooperate during negotiation. The results suggest that with mandatory rotation auditors adopt less cooperative negotiation strategies, producing asset values that are more in line with the auditor’s preferences than with the client’s preferences and more negotiation impasses.     

The effect of cost information on buyer–supplier negotiations in different power settings

We investigate the influence of total cost of ownership (TCO) information on buyer–supplier negotiations in different power settings. Based on social exchange theory and recent literature on information processing, we expect that buyers with detailed TCO information and less power than their negotiation partners may try to (re)gain control over their own outcomes by sharing information. The results of our experiment indicate that the performance disadvantage of less powerful buyers is less pronounced when the buyer has detailed TCO information, whereas more powerful buyers do not seem to be able to profit from TCO information. These somewhat counterintuitive findings are explained through detailed analysis of the buyer’s negotiation behavior, which shows that less powerful buyers who have access to TCO data use problem solving techniques more frequently than powerful buyers, who tend to rely on distributive bargaining techniques instead. We conclude that power can motivate a failure to share TCO information, resulting in less effective interfirm negotiation outcomes.     

The effect of outcome and process accountability on customer–supplier negotiations

Prior studies on customer–supplier negotiations ( and ) find that negotiators who have access to relevant activity-based cost information are not always able to use this information to improve joint outcomes. Our study extends this literature by examining how the type of accountability (process and outcome accountability) influences the extent to which negotiators can obtain lower joint costs. We hypothesize and test a model that predicts that the type of accountability affects negotiated outcomes through its effect on negotiators’ fixed-pie bias revisions and the negotiation tactics they employ during customer-supplier negotiations. Results from an experiment show that negotiators held accountable for their negotiation processes are better able to reduce their fixed-pie biases and achieve lower joint costs compared to those who are held accountable for their negotiation outcomes. Using rich data based on taped negotiations, we demonstrate that the effect of accountability on joint costs is indirect through its effect on negotiators’ choice of negotiation tactics and the extent to which negotiators can reduce their fixed-pie biases.     

The measurement of harmonization in the form and content of the auditor’s report in the European Union

This study attempts to determine the degree of harmonization in the form and content of the auditor’s report in the European Union. To accomplish this goal, audit reports from 1995 annual reports of the largest industrial companies in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom are analyzed. The analysis uses the basic elements of the auditor’s report listed in the International Standard on Auditing, “The Auditor’s Report on Financial Statements” as the control. Comparability is tested using the chi-square statistic which tests for equality of the proportions of the various elements in the auditor’s report across the Member States. The results reveal that harmonization exists in three of the five elements in the auditor report relating to form (appropriate title, the dating of the report and the listing of the location of the auditor’s office). Harmonization does not exist for the remaining two elements related to form, nor does it exist for any of elements related to content.     

On the effort-saving effect of audit committee–auditor interlocking

Using unique data on audit hours from China, this paper investigates the effort-saving effect of the audit committee–auditor interlocking (AClk). We find that AClk is negatively associated with audit effort without any deterioration in audit quality. The results suggest that AClk has an effort-saving effect through information sharing between interlocked audit committee members and auditors. However, auditors retain the effort-saving benefits of AClk without sharing them with their client firms. Further analysis shows that the effort-saving effect of AClk is more pronounced for client firms whose auditors have industry expertise, for client firms that share the same individual auditor, or for client firms that share audit committee members with financial expertise.     

The ‘public auditor’: an experiment in effective accountability

Mutual associations were created to provide, through a system of self-help, for the welfare of members of the British working class increasingly separated from the family unit characteristic of an agricultural-based economy. The appropriate method for protecting the resources required at some future date by the poorly off in conditions of need produced a challenge for Parliament. This paper examines the development of the concept of the ‘public auditor’ to describe the individuals considered suitable to undertake the audit of mutual associations, and the increasing statutory emphasis on the desirability of appointing a person ‘carrying on publicly the business of an accountant’ to certify the annual returns made to the Registrar of Friendly Societies. This paper argues that statutory recognition of the accountant as a member of a skilled occupational group represents an important stage in the professionalisation process. This paper shows that the concept of the public auditor was rejected by most mutual associations, while the larger organisations made the voluntary decision to appoint professional accountants to undertake the audit function.     

The relative importance of foreign and domestic disturbances for aggregate fluctuations in the open economy: Switzerland, 1964–1981

This paper studies whether the advent of floating exchange rates served to insulate Switzerland from economic shocks of foreign origin. It estimates a vector autoregression comprising four Swiss and three world aggregate time series and interprets the results in terms of the properties of the vector moving average representation implied by the estimates. The chief finding is that foreign shocks explain most of the systematic variation of the Swiss variables in both regimes.     

The impact of revolving door practice and policy on nonprofessional investors’ perceptions of auditor independence

This study investigates whether an ex-auditor’s employment with an audit client impairs nonprofessional investors’ perceptions of auditor independence, and whether the strength of the US revolving door policy improves their perceptions of auditor independence. Despite nonprofessional investors owning over one-third of the US equity holdings, the literature has not examined how revolving door policy impacts their perceptions of auditor independence. Two between-subjects experiments examine these issues. The first experiment finds that investors perceive the ex-auditor’s integrity to be significant in explaining the firm’s decision to manage earnings, irrespective of the firm’s previous working relationship with the ex-auditor. The results from experiment two indicate that strengthening the revolving door policy above that of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ policy does not improve perceptions of auditor independence. Academics may be interested in triangulating the independence ‘in appearance’ results of this study to the independence ‘in fact’ results of other studies, since the Securities and Exchange Commission asserts that both facets of independence are equally important. The results may also be of interest to academics and practitioners, as prior research suggests that restricting auditors’ moves to management positions with the client impairs firms’ abilities to hire quality auditors.     

Does size matter? The influence of large clients on office-level auditor reporting decisions

Large clients create an economic dependence that may cause auditors to compromise their independence and report favorably to retain valuable clients. Economic dependence is measured as a client's size relative to the size of the office that contracts for the audit and issues the audit report. We find no evidence economic dependence causes Big Five auditors to report more favorably for larger clients in their offices. However, larger clients also pose greater litigation risk, and we do find that Big 5 auditors report more conservatively for larger clients, suggesting that reputation protection dominates auditor behavior.     

The anatomy of buyer–seller dynamics in decentralized markets

In this paper I investigate the nexus between buyer–seller dynamics, financial frictions and market efficiency in decentralized markets. To do so, I introduce financial frictions in a dynamic market with heterogeneous traders. Heterogeneously constrained buyers sequentially enter the market to acquire units of a generic good from heterogeneously endowed sellers. I characterize two closely related classes of equilibria, respectively called homogeneous equilibrium with no entry (HEWNE) and homogeneous equilibrium with entry (HEWE). Both equilibria prescribe a market where only the efficiently endowed type of seller exists in the limit. However, the two equilibria diverge in the specification of agents’ behavior subsequent to trade. In HEWNE, sellers and buyers exit the market upon successful trading. In HEWE, like in supply chains, in every period certain types of buyers replace exiting sellers, thus becoming potential sellers for subsequent waves of buyers. First, I identify the critical role of frictions in steering the complex evolution of market heterogeneity for both classes of equilibria. Secondly, I operationalize the combined study of HEWNE and HEWE to obtain sharp predictions on market efficiency for a range of empirically-relevant situations in which buyer–seller dynamics are decoupled, for example when entry of new sellers is delayed or stopped. Third, I test the theoretical findings against a simulated artificial market.     

Better than the original? The relative success of copycat funds

We construct hypothetical copycat funds to investigate the performance of free-riding strategies that duplicate the disclosed asset holdings of actively managed mutual funds. On average, copycat funds are able to generate performance that is comparable to their target mutual funds, taking into account transaction costs and expenses. However, their relative success increased significantly after 2004 when the SEC imposed quarterly disclosure regulations on all mutual funds. We also find substantial cross-sectional dispersion in the relative performance of copycat funds. Free-riding on the portfolios disclosed by past winning funds and funds that disclose representative holdings generates significantly better performance net of trading costs and expenses than the vast majority of mutual funds. The results indicate that free-riding on disclosed fund holdings is an attractive strategy and suggest that mutual funds can suffer from the information disclosure requirements.     

Consequences of adopting an expanded auditor’s report in the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom has recently required an expanded auditor’s report for large public companies. We investigate whether this requirement is associated with an increase in the decision usefulness of the auditor’s report and whether it has indirect consequences on audit fees and quality. Our analyses cover four years surrounding the changes, including companies that transitioned to the new regime and companies that continued issuing the previous report’s format. We do not find evidence that the regulatory change significantly affected investors’ reaction to the release of auditors’ reports, audit fees, or audit quality. Furthermore, we do not find that variation in the expanded reports’ content has affected these outcomes. Although companies with long reports pay comparatively higher fees, the mere increase in disclosure does not affect audit fees or quality. Collectively, our evidence is consistent with the expanded auditor’s report providing little incremental information to investors.     

The role of institutional investors in propagating the crisis of 2007–2008

Using novel data on investors' bond portfolios, we study the contagion of the crisis from securitized bonds to corporate bonds. When securitized bonds became “toxic” in August 2007, mutual funds retained the now illiquid securitized bonds and sold corporate bonds. Funds with negative flows or high liquidity needs liquidated more than others. Yield spreads increased more for corporate bonds whose pre-crisis bondholders were more heavily exposed to securitized bonds, compared to same-issuer bonds held by unexposed investors. The findings suggest that liquidity-constrained investors with exposure to securitized bonds played a role in propagating the crisis from securitized to corporate bonds.     

The effects of disclosing critical audit matters and auditor tenure on nonprofessional investors’ judgments

In an effort to provide more meaningful information to financial statement users, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) recently adopted sweeping changes to the audit report, requiring the audit firm to disclose whether or not it identified a critical audit matter (CAM) and its tenure with the client. To our knowledge, ours is the first study to explore how nonprofessional investors’ judgments are influenced by (1) the relative effects of a CAM disclosure versus a disclosure that the auditor did not identify a CAM, and (2) the disclosure of the audit firm’s tenure. We find that, relative to disclosing that no CAMs were identified, disclosing a CAM reduces investment intentions. We do not find a significant effect of tenure disclosure on investment intentions, despite evidence that participants attended to and understood the tenure manipulation. Concerning investors’ cognitive processes, we find that perceptions of both risk of material misstatement and management disclosure credibility mediate the effect of CAM disclosure on investment intentions, while perceived audit quality suppresses this effect. Our contributions include furthering the understanding of cognitive mechanisms through which CAM disclosure influences investment intentions, identifying a relatively unique setting in which perceptions of management disclosure credibility and audit quality move in opposite directions, and providing evidence that auditor tenure disclosure does not appear to affect investment intentions. Our findings should be of interest to regulators, auditors, issuers, and investors.     

The role of jump dynamics in the risk–return relationship

Surprisingly, a positive risk–return relationship has not been consistently observed for the traditional GARCH in the mean model in other studies. In this paper, we employ a combination of the jump diffusion and GARCH model in the mean equation to test the risk–return relationship for U.S. stock returns. The results suggest a statistically significant relationship between risk and return if the risk measure includes components of smoothly changing variance and jump events.     

Did amakudari undermine the effectiveness of regulator monitoring in Japan?

The principal–agent problem between the regulator, regulated banks, and taxpayers is critical to the viability of the financial system’s safety net. There exists the danger that the regulator will collude with regulated banks to pursue their benefits at the expense of taxpayers, thereby reducing effectiveness of financial supervision. This paper proposes that the human relationship prevailing between the regulatory authorities and private banks referred to as “amakudari” is a form of collusion between the regulator and banks that endangers the safety net mechanism in Japan. Statistical analysis of data on regional banks shows that those banks accepting post-retirement officials from the Ministry of Finance have reduced capital adequacy levels and increased non-performing loans. Thus, the statistical result supports the hypothesis proposed in this paper.     

The association between individual audit partners’ risk preferences and the composition of their client portfolios

We explore whether audit partners’ attitude towards risk, as measured by their personal criminal convictions, are reflected in the composition of their client portfolios. Analyzing a unique dataset of Swedish audit partners’ criminal convictions, we find that the clients of audit partners with criminal convictions are characterized by greater financial, governance, and reporting risk than those of audit partners without criminal convictions. Also, clients of audit partners with criminal convictions pay larger audit fees, on average, than those of auditors without criminal convictions.     

A local realisation of auditor independence construct in Poland: counteracting ‘iron curtain’ syndrome in academic writing

This paper discusses the local construction and realisation of auditor independence in Poland. In the last decade, in the context of European Union (EU) harmonisation and accession processes, the institution of external auditing (and its Anglo-Saxon perspective) has been imported to economies in transition together with what forms professional best practice and the requirements for auditors to be independent.As a result, patterns of conduct (based on Western ideas in terms of best practice) have travelled to the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region but without the recognition that there are ‘differences’ in local culture and accounting traditions and that professional ethics is historically constructed by somewhat different sets of predispositions (i.e. ideas of freedom in Poland). New levels of perceived normality are established for an emerging professionalism without any reference to cultural constructions within the CEE.It therefore seems relevant to research how auditor independence has been de jure constructed and de facto implemented in economies in transition. The paper addresses the globalisation of constructs, such as auditor independence, through the process of EU harmonisation and local responses. The authors’ objective was to enable local, ‘other’ voices to contribute to the auditor independence debate through interviews with practitioners and regulators and insights from local media. Those silent voices from the CEE economies, in this example, Poland, may contribute to shifting the ‘Iron Curtain’ syndrome which prevails in Western academic writing about this part of the world.     

Discussion of “Explicit relative performance evaluation in performance-vested equity grants”

Carter, Ittner and Zechman (2009) examine the use of explicit relative performance evaluation (RPE) conditions in performance-vested equity plans in a sample of United Kingdom (U.K.) firms in 2002. They find that factors suggested by economic theories (for example, removal of common shocks, tournament theory) are more closely associated with specific features of the plan than with the firm-level decision to use an RPE equity plan. My discussion focuses on the interpretation of these findings and the opportunities and implications for future research. I also summarize the views of five U.K. directors who were involved in the design and use of performance-vested equity plans.     

The relative influence of price and non-price factors on short-term retail deposit quantities?

This study explores how price and non-price factors influence change in the quantity of short-term retail deposits held by depository institutions. The analysis is undertaken for a sample of UK building societies over 23 years using a disaggregated data set with a two-stage econometric procedure involving system estimators in a panel framework using seemingly unrelated regression, generalised method of moments and an ordinary least-squares fixed effects estimators to control for contemporaneous correlation and endogeneity concerns. Price factors examined include the policy or base rate and retail deposit interest rates set by individual building societies and non-price factors including the branch network and the number of deposit accounts offered by individual building societies. The cost of funds, one non-price factor and occurrence of mergers are consistently significant influences of retail deposit quantities. We conclude risk assessment of retail deposit quantity and monetary policy transmission would benefit from considering both price and non-price factors, rather than only price factors.