Common auditors and internal control similarity: Evidence from China

This study investigates how important common auditors are to internal control similarity between two firms. Based on a less concentrated audit market in China, we find that firm-pairs with common auditors enforce a similar internal control system. This inference holds after accounting for other social connections, examining internal control components, using alternative measures of internal control, adopting finer industry classifications, constructing alternative internal control similarity, running auditor switch tests, and addressing endogeneity problems. Additional analyses indicate that auditor style and information sharing serve two underlying mechanisms to undergird the documented relationship. Finally, our evidence suggests that high-centrality firms in auditor networks are associated with better financial reporting.     

The effects of tone at the top and coordination with external auditors on internal auditors’ fraud risk assessments

Prior research suggests that internal auditors’ judgements are subject to management influence resulting in compromised risk assessments. This study investigates the effects of the tone at the top and coordination with external auditors on internal auditors’ fraud risk assessments. Results of an experiment involving 64 internal auditors indicate that when the tone at the top is poor, rather than favouring management, internal auditors report a higher risk of intentional misstatements and that coordination with external auditors can further reduce expectations of the incidence of intentional misstatements.     

Harmful events and misconducts in financial organizations: Human biases and root causes

We conduct a large scope field investigation of 19 major incidents in 19 large European insurance and banking institutions, based on 116 post-event interviews with managers and top executives over a two-year period. We demonstrate the power of the Root Cause Analysis (RCA) method for detecting human biases documented by the behavioral finance, the organizational behavior and occupational psychology literatures. These biases constitute key operational risk factors these organizations. We find that organizational biases (such as a breach of psychological contract) take center stage as root causes of incidents in these organizations. We also find that banks are more exposed to emotional biases (fear and greed) and insurance companies more subjected to cognitive conservatism as root cause biases. This research has direct implications regarding how banks and insurance companies may cope with regulations that put a greater emphasis on measuring and controlling operational risk and specifically misconduct risk.     

The acceptance and adoption of continuous auditing by internal auditors: A micro analysis

The umbrella of “advanced technology” covers a range of techniques widely used in the U.S. to provide strategic advantage in a very competitive business environment. There is an enormous amount of information contained within current-generation information systems, some of which is processed on a real-time basis. More importantly, the same holds true for actual business transactions. Having accurate and reliable information is vital and advantageous to businesses, especially in the wake of the recent recession. Therefore, the need for ongoing, timely assurance of information utilizing continuous auditing (CA) and continuous control monitoring (CM) methodologies is becoming more apparent. To that end, we have conducted interviews with 22 internal audit managers and 16 internal audit staff members at 9 leading internal audit organizations to examine the status of technology adoption, to evaluate the development of continuous auditing, and to assess the use of continuous control monitoring. We found that several companies in our study were already involved in some form of continuous auditing or control monitoring while others are attempting to adopt more advanced audit technologies. We also made a large number of surprising observations on managerial, technology training and absorption, and other issues. According to our audit maturity model, all of the companies were classified between the “traditional audit” stage and the “emerging stage,” not having yet reached the “continuous audit” stage. This paper,¹ to our knowledge, is the first to study CA technology adoption in a micro level by an interview approach.     

External auditors' willingness to rely on the work of internal auditors: The influence of work style and barriers to cooperation

The extent to which external auditors rely on the work of internal auditors is an important judgment. Recently, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has recommended that external auditors “rely (more) on the work of others” to reduce the greater-than-expected costs associated with compliance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act. Reliance decisions, however, are complex decision tasks that require professional judgment and may be influenced by a number of factors, both external (environmental) and internal (cognitive and affective), including the auditors' working style and pervious experiences related to barriers to external/internal auditor cooperation (e.g., previously experienced low versus high internal auditor objectivity and/or competence). We experimentally examine these influences in our research reported herein. Consistent with expectations, external auditors' work styles significantly influenced the extent of planned audit testing, internal auditor reliance judgments, and interpretation of analytical procedures results. Auditors' perceptions about internal auditors' competence and objectivity, developed over years of interaction, also influenced these judgments, and interacted with work styles. Inconsistent with expectations, auditor rank (senior versus manager) did not influence judgments.     

The use of analytical procedures by external auditors in Canada

The Enron debacle and other scandals highlight the issue of whether analytical procedures (APs) or more traditional audit approaches based on substantive testing are more appropriate. This paper surveys the use of APs by Canadian external auditors and augments understanding of the impact of auditing standards on professional practice. Our results demonstrate that APs are extensively applied in practice, particularly by larger firms, and that their use dominates the final review stage of the audit regardless of firm size. While standards do not appear to be an important influence upon practice for audit firms in general, this is not the case for smaller firms. Though auditors place more reliance on APs to reduce tests of detail, there are limits to this reliance. Our results indicate that while auditors may have increased their use of APs with the expectation of efficiency gains, these may be realized at present only partially.     

A study of the internal control structure for electronic data interchange systems using the analytic hierarchy process

Electronic data interchange (EDI) systems involve the direct exchange of structured business data between trading partner computer systems. A reliable internal control structure is the primary means of providing assurance of information integrity in EDI systems. This paper reports the results of a study that examined information system (IS) managers' and computerised information system (CIS) auditors' judgements of the relative importance of elements of the internal control structure for EDI systems, using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). It then assessed the degree of consensus in their judgements. Generally consensus was found to be high. However, the areas where there was lack of consensus may indicate potential areas of control weakness in EDI systems.     

Organizational legitimacy,conflict, and hypocrisy: An alternative view of the role of internal auditing

This article provides a commentary on Everett and Tremblay's (2014) analysis of ethics and internal audit by further exploring the role of the internal audit function within Nils Brunsson's model of organized hypocrisy (Brunsson, 1986, Brunsson, 1993, Brunsson, 2002). Specifically, we extend Everett and Tremblay's discussion of internal auditors as ‘moral’ actors and propose that the counter-coupling of an organization's primary outputs–talk, decision and action–provides internal auditors with the necessary tools to carry out conflicting ethical roles within the organization.     

An application of data envelopment analysis to the evaluation of audit risk: a reinterpretation

This paper, which reinterprets previous work by Bradbury and Rouse (2002 ), addresses the risk quantification issue at an intuitive level. The insights provided by such quantification are discussed. Risk factors are associated with the risk-return concept. This allows measuring whether risks taken on are appropriately rewarded. The paper gives a non-technical exposition of DEA and outlines possible applications to accounting and finance. Using data for a large multinational, it shows how DEA analysis can be combined with internal audit procedures. It explains how the results obtained can be used to improve risk management.     

Investor perceptions of an auditor’s adverse internal control opinion

In response to recent corporate scandals, Congress passed the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) which, among other things, requires that the auditor render an opinion as to the effectiveness of a company’s system of internal controls. The assumption implicit in this requirement is that the new internal control opinion provides investors with value-relevant information. Our evidence suggests that an adverse audit opinion on internal control over financial reporting provides incremental value-relevant information to investors beyond that contained in the financial statement audit opinion alone. Specifically we find that an adverse audit opinion on internal controls over financial reporting relative to an unqualified opinion is significantly associated with investors assessing a higher risk of financial statement misstatement, higher risk of a future financial statement restatement, higher information asymmetry, lower financial statement transparency, higher risk premium, higher cost of capital, lower sustainability of earnings, and lower earnings predictability. Overall, our empirical results support our hypotheses that the auditor’s opinion on the internal controls over financial reporting provides financial statement users with value-relevant information.     

Testing contingency hypotheses in budgetary research: an evaluation of the use of moderated regression analysis

In the contingency literature on the behavioral and organizational effects of budgeting, use of the Moderated Regression Analysis (MRA) technique is prevalent. This technique is used to test contingency hypotheses that predict interaction effects between budgetary and contextual variables. This paper critically evaluates the application of this technique in budgetary research over the last two decades. The results of the analysis indicate that the use and interpretation of MRA often do not conform to proper methodology and theory. The paper further demonstrates that these problems seriously affect the interpretability and conclusions of individual budgetary research papers, and may also affect the budgetary research paradigm as a whole.     

An analysis of a three-factor model proposed by the Danish Society of Actuaries for forecasting and risk analysis

This paper provides the explicit solution to the three-factor diffusion model recently proposed by the Danish Society of Actuaries to the Danish industry of life insurance and pensions. The solution is obtained by use of the known general solution to multidimensional linear stochastic differential equation systems. With offset in the explicit solution, we establish the conditional distribution of the future state variables which allows for exact simulation. Using exact simulation, we illustrate how simulation of the system can be improved compared to a standard Euler scheme. In order to analyze the effect of choosing the exact simulation scheme over the traditional Euler approximation scheme frequently applied by practitioners, we carry out a simulation study. We show that due to its recursive nature, the Euler scheme becomes computationally expensive as it requires a small step size in order to minimize discretization errors. Using our exact simulation scheme, one is able to cut these computational costs significantly and obtain even better forecasts. As probability density tail behavior is key to expected investment portfolio performance, we further conduct a risk analysis in which we compare well-known risk measures under both schemes. Finally, we conduct a sensitivity analysis and find that the relative performance of the two schemes depends on the chosen model parameter estimates.     

CFOs’ and public accountants’ perceptions of material weaknesses in internal control areas as required by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley act

One of the most controversial aspects of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOA) is related to Section 404, which requires management to assess the entity’s internal controls, and then its independent auditor to attest and report on management’s assessment. The auditing standard governing this requirement was promulgated by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). Its title is Auditing Standard (AS) No. 2, An Audit of Internal Control Over Financial Reporting Performed in Conjunction with an Audit of Financial Statements [Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) (2004). An audit of internal control over financial reporting performed in conjunction with an audit of financial statements. Auditing Standard No. 2, Washington, DC: PCAOB]. AS No. 2 requires, among other things, that management must disclose any “material weaknesses” in internal controls. However, absent any guidance other than definitions from the PCAOB, management and independent auditors are left to their own judgment to define and recognize “material weakness in internal control” or “significant deficiency” while implementing AS No. 2. The research question, then, becomes to what extent, if any, are weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting consistently assessed, recognized and agreed upon by both parties? Or does their professional judgment and point of view cause different perceptions? Most of the Section 404 research has focused on the characteristics of the material weaknesses disclosed (and the capital market or other impacts of reported material weaknesses). This study, in contrast, is behavioral in context, and examines the perceptions of CFOs and CPAs as to whether they believe an internal control material weakness exists under four independent scenarios. The results indicate that the CPAs were significantly more conservative in their assessments in two of the four cases.     

Does it pay to remediate? An analysis of the internal and external benefits of remediation

We examine the internal and external benefits associated with the remediation, or correction, of material weaknesses in internal controls over financial reporting. We document that firms that remediate material weaknesses exhibit higher performance and reporting quality than firms that never reported any weaknesses. These results suggest that the remediation of material weaknesses, an indication of an improved internal control system, is associated with internal benefits. Moreover, we find that remediating firms experience significantly lower audit fees and betas (i.e. external costs) than non-material weakness firms. However, these lower external costs are contingent on a firm's level of performance and information quality. These results suggest that remediation offers firms a chance to re-examine and correct their internal controls and this leads to better performance and information quality. Furthermore, external stakeholders are not necessarily swayed by remediation alone but need to observe tangible evidence of the corrected internal control system before reassessing a firm's risk downward.     

Technical analysis: An asset allocation perspective on the use of moving averages

In this paper, we analyze the usefulness of technical analysis, specifically the widely employed moving average trading rule from an asset allocation perspective. We show that, when stock returns are predictable, technical analysis adds value to commonly used allocation rules that invest fixed proportions of wealth in stocks. When uncertainty exists about predictability, which is likely in practice, the fixed allocation rules combined with technical analysis can outperform the prior-dependent optimal learning rule when the prior is not too informative. Moreover, the technical trading rules are robust to model specification, and they tend to substantially outperform the model-based optimal trading strategies when the model governing the stock price is uncertain.     

Market discipline and the evaluation of Euro financial bonds—An empirical analysis

Within the context of the increasing discussion on a shift in financial regulatory philosophy from the currently prevailing rules-based approach to a more incentive-based supervisory procedure in which market discipline should play a decisive role in overcoming several moral hazard and efficiency problems of the financial system, the question regarding the evaluation of financial bonds has gained an important dimension. Such a disciplining market influence could namely be exercised if financial institutions were obliged to issue subordinated bonds on a regular basis (mandatory subordinated debt policy). However, the influence of market discipline will only be effective if the evaluation of different subordinated (and other) bonds occurs in a differentiated manner and dependent on the inherent risks. This study provides findings, on the basis of which this requirement for the Euro financial bond market can be regarded as fulfilled.     

An experimental evaluation of the effects of internal and external e-Assurance on initial trust formation in B2C e-commerce

Both “internally-provided” (IPeA) and “externally-provided” (EPeA) e-Assurances are being used by e-commerce businesses to build trust amongst consumers by alleviating concerns about the privacy and security of e-commerce transactions. The primary focus of this study is to test the effectiveness of EPeA on increasing trust and purchase intentions among potential consumers, and to test if EPeA have an additional effect beyond e-Assurances provided internally (IPeA). Our findings show the presence of EPeA did not affect consumers' trust or purchase intentions, nor did the presence of EPeA increase trust or purchase intentions beyond IPeA, which raises concerns about the value of EPeA to the e-commerce community.     

Lifting the lid on the use of content analysis to investigate intellectual capital disclosures

This methods paper highlights specific issues that arise in using content analysis to investigate intellectual capital (IC) disclosures. The use of content analysis in the IC context is debated through an analysis of prior studies and the use of an illustrative example (Next plc's 2004 annual report). It is concluded that the depth and breadth of the IC concept and the lack of common definitive language make it difficult to establish the extent and nature of disclosure currently provided. The range of choices available to researchers in terms of analysing and measuring IC disclosures further hinders interpretation and comparability. Transparency in the choices made is required. Shared meanings could be developed and the IC concept better understood through increased transparency in the categorisation of IC information, which in turn could further assist in the interpretation and comparison of findings across studies.     

An analysis of earnings management by European private firms

This paper addresses the questions of whether private firms in eight European countries engage in earnings management, and if so, whether tax incentives affect such practices. To measure earnings management, we analyze the earnings distributions of private firms and compare these distributions with those of public firms in the same countries. The empirical evidence suggests that in absence of capital market pressures, firms still have incentives to manage earnings, as we find that private firms avoid reporting small losses. We further find that private firms in some countries where tax regulation strongly influences financial accounting do not avoid reporting small losses. We attribute this finding to tax incentives reducing firms’ benefits of (upward) earnings management. Finally, our results suggest that some types of earnings management are due to capital market pressures and are specific to public firms since we do not find evidence that private firms avoid earnings decreases.     

我国财险公司操作风险探析及其管理对策

风险管理能力是金融企业的核心竞争力之一,在当前金融危机席卷全球的背景下,金融企业自身的风险管理显得尤为重要。从国际经验数据来看,财险公司出现财务危机或者破产的主要原因是操作风险导致的,因此操作风险的管理是财险公司风险管理的重点。本文借鉴银行业的操作风险的管理经验,对操作风险的范畴进行了界定,阐述了操作风险的特点,分析了我国财险业目前面临的主要操作风险,并提出了管理对策。