The joint effects of social identity and institutional pressures on audit quality: The case of the Chinese Audit Industry

This article examines how social identity links institutional pressures and audit quality. Combining institutional theory and social identity theory, we theoretically argue that the interaction between social and institutional forces shapes audit quality. Through an analysis of Chinese audit firms from 2000 to 2007, we show that isomorphic imitation has a more significant effect on firms belonging to the same-identity group than firms across cross-identity groups; foreign-affiliated audit firms are more willing to conform to normative pressure from professional networks than local firms; and foreign-affiliated firms are coerced to adapt to the local government’s expectation, particularly when they have a geographically concentrated customer base. We further reveal that a larger customer base attenuates within-identity group imitation but strengthens cross-identity group imitation. The results shed light on the role of social identity in shaping conformity in the audit industry, thus contributing to international convergence–divergence literature and institutional theory.     

我国会计师事务所信息化发展现状及对策研究

互联网的普及和信息化时代的到来让每个行业的数据快速增长,大数据时代的接踵而至更是让各行各业的数据呈指数型增长。会计师事务所与各个行业都有接触,其日常接触的数据量之大是很多行业所不能相比的,其信息化程度的高低有时直接影响审计效率和审计效果。然而我国会计师事务所信息化程度与国际大型会计师事务所相比依然有较大差距,我国会计师事务所信息系统审计发展并不是很高。本文将我国会计师事务所信息化发展的现状与国际会计师事务所信息化现状进行对比,尝试阐释导致这些现象发生的原因并提出相关的改进措施。     

会计师事务所特征影响审计报告时滞吗

审计报告是会计师事务所、上市公司、监管部门和投资者等密切关注的一个重要信息载体,其及时性好坏直接关系到决策有用性的大小。以审计报告时滞作为替代变量,使用1999-2009年沪深非金融类上市公司的12831个观察值,考察了会计师事务所特征对审计报告时滞的影响。结果发现:(1)非标意见的时滞显著更长;(2)事务所更换方向和审计报告时滞显著负相关;(3)大所和小所的审计报告时滞并无显著差异。     

Auditor Experiences,Accounting Firm Size,and Client Ownership

This study investigates whether accounting firms match the experience level of individual auditors with the risk level of clients in order to control audit risk. We find that accounting firms tend to assign more experienced auditors to non-state-owned clients that typically have higher tendency to engage in earnings management. Such an assignment pattern is more pronounced for non-Big 4 accounting firms. Further analysis suggests that auditors＇ experience helps reduce clients＇ earnings management level, proxied by abnormal accruals, and thus improves the audit quality. This study enriches the literature on the allocation of human resources and the risk control mechanism in the audit services industry, which has been seldom explored in prior studies.     

New audit partner identification rules may offer opportunities and benefits

From the WorldCom and Enron accounting debacles that triggered the demise of Arthur Andersen to Ernst & Young’s 2013 and 2015 settlements of claims that its audits facilitated massive accounting fraud by financial services firm Lehman Brothers, large-scale financial scandals have led to increasing scrutiny of public auditors. Investors are justifiably eager to ascertain the quality of audits of public companies when making investment decisions. In the U.K., the reputation of the audit partner is recognized as a signal of audit quality, and as such, the names of the lead partners have been disclosed to the public since 2009. The U.S. standard of providing the auditing firm name without identifying the lead partner recently changed to match the U.K. and EU standard after much debate. As of May 2016, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has adopted—and the Securities and Exchange Commission has approved—new regulations that will require the public disclosure of the individual audit partner responsible for each public company audit, as well as the identification of any additional accounting firms that contribute to the audit. This article examines the new rules in light of disclosure requirements imposed on other professionals, as well as international auditor disclosure requirements. The accounting profession has generally opposed the new disclosures, but this article suggests opportunities and benefits for the profession as a result of the changes, including the opportunity for audit partners to develop individual reputations for quality and specialization. In addition, this article makes recommendations for business managers, owners, and investors for making the best use of the information the new disclosures will provide.     

会计师事务所规模与审计质量——基于审计意见视角的经验研究

文章利用沪深两市上市公司2007-2008年数据,以审计意见类型作为审计质量的替代变量,并分别以业务收入、CPA人数和从业人员人数来衡量事务所规模,检验事务所规模与审计质量之间的关系。结果发现,无论采用何种方法度量事务所规模,其与审计质量之间均未表现出显著的正向关系。进一步的研究发现,事务所规模与审计质量之间大体上呈倒U相似文献   

浅析公司治理对内部审计的需求

近年来,国际内部审计协会对内部审计从概念、本质、内容、作用等方面进行不断深入、科学地界定,内部审计活动不仅包括确认活动,还包括咨询活动;内部审计内容从传统财务审计发展到管理审计、战略审计;由单纯的防护性作用提高到建设性作用;从事后审计向事前审计发展;从账项基础审计向风险导向审计发展。内部审计已被看成是与董事会、高级管理层和外部审计构成有效公司治理的四大基石之一。在这样的背景下,分析我国公司内部审计可以提供的服务内容,了解内外部利益相关者对内部审计的需求和期望具有十分重要的意义。     

内部审计成果利用问题研究——基于政府审计视角

随着全国内部审计工作座谈会的召开,内部审计的地位不断上升,这为内部审计机制完善和审计成果质量提升创造了有利条件。内部审计作为我国审计监督体系中的重要组成部分,与政府审计密切相关,积极完善内部审计制度,有利于内部审计成果更好地服务于政府审计。本文基于政府审计视角,在明确内部审计成果对政府审计有积极作用的基础上,分析发现内部审计成果的可靠性、完整性和成果质量对政府审计在内部审计成果的利用上有一定影响。据此,本文分别从制度规范、信息技术、培训交流三个方面为提高内部审计成果利用效率提出相关对策和建议。     

Motivators of Mobilization

Using data on shareholder-initiated class action lawsuits in the US, I investigate the corporate scandals of US-listed foreign firms. The shareholders of scandal firms suffer considerable loss in both the short term and the long term. I document that firms domiciled in countries with weak institutions are more likely to be embroiled in corporate scandals, but such a relation can be moderated by the presence of Big 4 auditors. Investors automatically adjust for undiscovered misconduct when valuing the stocks of non-scandal firms (i.e., the spillover effect). Investors rely on the audit quality to form their expectations about the severity of undiscovered misconduct, and thus impose less negative spillovers on firms with Big 4 auditors, especially when the firms are from countries with weak institutions. Taken together, my results suggest that listing on US exchanges does not fully compensate for weak local institutions; voluntarily bonding to a more stringent audit process has an incremental effect on protecting shareholder interests and enhances the confidence of investors in firms’ financial integrity.     

高管机会主义品行与公司信息披露决策

文章构建相应策略识别了高管机会主义品行，并探究其对公司信息披露决策的影响。研究结果表明，高管的机会主义品行会显著增加公司信息披露违规、真实盈余管理行为；提升公司选择非国际“四大”会计师事务所的概率，并支付更高的审计费用。随着高管机会主义水平上升，公司更有可能作出上述决策。进一步地，国有产权能在一定程度上抑制高管机会主义品行对信息披露质量的负面影响，却显著增加了公司应计盈余管理；当高管机会主义水平较高时，国有产权也无法发挥有效治理作用。从经济后果看，高管的机会主义品行能被资本市场识别，并显著减损公司未来价值。     

会计师事务所合并行为及对我国审计市场结构的影响

2006年以来,我国会计师事务所出现了新一轮的合并高潮,合并成为当前会计师事务所实现规模扩张、做大做强的重要途径。本文在深入分析我国本土事务所合并的内部及外部动因的基础上,结合相关数据对合并给我国审计市场结构带来的影响进行了研究,发现我国本土事务所的市场份额逐年稳步增加、发展势头迅猛,虽然审计市场整体结构仍然保持着寡占型特点,但是市场内部竞争非常激烈。因此,本土事务所在合并做大的过程中更要注意做强,积极探索积累行业专长,形成自己的核心竞争能力。     

我国审计收费现状及改进

会计师事务所作为营利性机构,与被审计单位有着客户与商家的关系,这导致审计收费不可避免的成为事务所生存的主要来源、相互竞争、争揽买卖的重要手段。审计收费的合理与否不仅影响事务所的生存发展,还影响该行业在社会上的地位和形象以及社会经济的稳定程度,所以研究审计收费有着重大的理论意义和现实意义。     

To Sue or Not to Sue: An Experimental Study of Factors Affecting Hong Kong Liquidators Audit Litigation Decisions

We report an experiment examining the effect of three factors on professional Hong Kong liquidators' decisions to bring legal action in negligence against auditors. Factors were (a) the strength (merit) of the supporting evidence (arguable vs. overwhelming), (b) the type of alleged audit failure (failure to report financial statement errors vs. management fraud) and (c) audit firm type (Big 6 vs. non-Big 6). We find evidence that liquidators' litigation decisions are influenced by case merit. We also find that liquidators were marginally more likely to institute legal action against a Big 6 than against a non-Big 6 auditor. However, we find no evidence that the type of alleged audit failure influences litigation decisions.     

事务所转制、法律风险与审计质量

文章以我国财政部、工商总局联合推动的会计师事务所向“特殊普通合伙组织形式”转制这一特色事件为契机,基于审计师法律责任的视角,选取2008-2013年我国A股上市公司及其主审会计师事务所为样本,动态实证分析事务所转制对审计质量的影响。研究结果表明：具备证券资格的事务所全部完成特殊普通合伙转制之后,审计质量的整体水平显著提升;而且有限责任制转换为特殊普通合伙制增加了审计师的法律责任,同时也提高了其法律风险意识。具体表现为：转制之后,审计师对高法律风险客户的盈余管理容忍度下降,也更倾向于对高风险客户出具非标审计意见。由此可见,我国会计师事务所特殊普通合伙转制方案取得了显著成效,这将有利于我国注册会计师行业的持续发展和做强做大。     

Actualization of growth potential in international joint ventures: The moderating effects of localization strategies

We employ the growth options perspective to examine how multinational corporations’ localization strategies facilitate the actualization of growth potential preserved in international joint ventures (IJVs). This study uses a data of Korean IJVs; it accounts for the endogeneity associated with a firm’s decision to exercise growth options through a two-stage model. We find that the enlarged IJVs, via conversion to majority ownership under reduced host market demand uncertainty, performed better. We also find that the realized growth potential are larger for IJVs that have more local business ties with other firms, or that hire more local employees. This study contributes to the growth options literature by examining the strategies that enable firms to exploit evolved exogenous uncertainty, and thus actualize upside growth potential.     

The Level of Sustainability Assurance: The Effects of Brand Reputation and Industry Specialisation of Assurance Providers

This research focuses on examining the relationship between some attributes of assurance providers and the level of sustainability assurance. By using the propensity to issue negative conclusions in the assurance statement as an indicator of the level of assurance, we examine whether the brand name and industry specialisation of the practitioners have an impact on the assurance opinion issued. Using an international sample of 1233 firm-year observations over the period 2007–2014, the findings document the impact of the brand reputation and industry specialisation of assurance providers on the level of assurance. The probability of detecting material errors and omissions in a sustainability report is higher if it is verified by a Big 4 auditing firm and by an industry expert as an assurance practitioner. The greater experience in providing audit services and the relevant skills and training provided by Big 4 firms, as well as the greater knowledge and experience of industry experts, increase the propensity to report more accurate opinions about a sustainability report. The findings are robust for alternative measures for the level of assurance and the industry specialisation.     

基于审计全覆盖的政府审计购买社会服务研究

审计机关的资源不足严重制约着审计全覆盖的实现,政府审计利用社会审计的资源成为实现审计全覆盖的重要路径。文章对政府审计购买社会服务的必要性、可行性、存在的问题及原因进行分析,并为促进审计机关向社会购买审计服务提出相应对策。     

Firms’ performance following the initial resignation of independent directors: evidence from Taiwan

This study investigates the operating performance of firms listed on the Taiwan stock exchange following the initial resignation of independent directors. The results show that the firms’ operating performance following the resignation of these directors has not only deteriorated, but is also significantly below the industry average. In addition, firms with a relatively severe agency problem, including firms that have lower insider or institutional shareholdings, receive audit opinions other than unqualified opinions or change their auditors prior to the resignation of the independent directors, tend to perform more poorly following the resignation.     

International Opportunity Recognition among Small and Medium‐Sized Family Firms*

Current research in the field of entrepreneurship emphasizes the importance of opportunity recognition as a key element in the entrepreneurial process. It has been recognized that network ties, activeness and alertness, and prior knowledge are related to how entrepreneurs recognize new opportunities. However, it is unclear how important these factors are when a firm explores opportunities for entry into a foreign market. In this exploratory case study, covering the international opportunity recognition of eight family‐owned small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs), we found that the firms in question mainly recognized international opportunities by establishing new formal ties rather than using existing informal or family ties. The findings also indicated that due to the small size and the flexibility of the management team in family SMEs, these firms were able to react quickly to new international opportunities. However, there was no direct relationship between the prior knowledge of the firms and their international opportunity recognition. In addition, we found that trade exhibitions formed the primary context for the international opportunity recognition of the SMEs in this study. These findings motivate a set of five propositions that may lead to further studies on this topic.     

Auditing program evaluation audits: Executive training exercise for assessing management thinking, planning, and actions

The present article is an application of Schank's (Schank, Roger C. (2005), Lessons in Learning, New York: Wiley.) “principle #1: just-in-time information delivery makes information useful….OR, don't tell people things that they cannot immediately make use of.” The article describes five activities that always occurring implicitly and sometimes explicitly in managing a product, brand, or service: scanning, planning, implementing, assessing, and administering. Management and financial audits of actions and outcomes of programs are sometimes required by firms and government legislative bodies. Similar to the use of written checklist by pilots of the multiple steps involved before plane take-offs, management audit templates are useful for insuring complete and in-depth assessments of management actions and outcomes. This article provides such a management audit template and illustrates its use. The article includes an invitation to the reader to use the template immediately in evaluating both an audit report and a marketing program that the audit report details.