Costs Associated With Going-Concern-Modified Audit Opinions: An Analysis of the Australian Audit Market

This article examines the potential costs to Australian auditors and their clients from the issuance of first-time going-concern-modified audit opinions. We examine the population of Australian companies receiving a first-time going-concern-modified audit opinion during the period 1994–97 and a matched sample of financially distressed firms receiving a clean audit opinion. Results indicate that auditor switching is positively associated with receipt of a going-concern-modified opinion. However, we find no empirical evidence that there is a self-fulfilling prophecy of increased probability of company failure following the issuance of a going-concern-modified opinion for the Australian companies in our study. Our analyses of lost audit fees indicate that auditors issuing first-time going-concern-modified audit opinions lost proportionately more fees by losing clients (through switching or company failure) than firms not issuing a going-concern-modified opinion to financially stressed clients.     

The Impact of Regulation Fair Disclosure on Information Asymmetry and Trading: An Intraday Analysis

This study examines the impact of Regulation Fair Disclosure (FD) on liquidity, information asymmetry, and institutional and retail investors trading behavior. Our main findings suggest three conclusions. First, Regulation FD has been effective in improving liquidity and in decreasing the level of information asymmetry. Second, retail trading activity increases dramatically after earnings announcements but there is a significant decline in institutional trading surrounding earnings announcements, particularly in the pre‐announcement period. Last, the decline in information asymmetry around earnings announcements is closely associated with a lower participation rate in the pre‐announcement period and more active trading of retail investors after earnings releases.     

上市公司内部审计信息披露及影响因素分析——基于深交所的经验证据

内部审计信息作为衡量内部审计受托责任履行的载体,对降低资本市场信息不对称、保护投资者利益具有重要意义.目前我国上市公司内部审计信息披露日趋规范,越来越多的上市公司开始设立隶属于董事会的内部审计机构.披露设置内部审计机构信息的上市公司在资产规模、股权集中度、财务状况、董事长与总经理两职合一方面与披露未设置内部审计信息的上市公司存在显著差异;财务状况好的上市公司更趋向于将内部审计机构隶属于董事会;自愿披露内部审计人员配备情况的上市公司普遍以国有性质居多、股权集中度较高、财务状况良好.     

会计师事务所对职业责任保险的自愿需求:经验分析

本文考察了2010-2012年间我国证券资格会计师事务所对职业责任保险的自愿需求。在我国注册会计师民事诉讼风险较低的环境下,样本期内仍有58.8%的会计师事务所自愿购买了职业责任保险。我们发现,在控制了事务所法律风险水平及其他风险防御机制的情况下,会计师事务所规模越大,其自愿购买职业责任保险的倾向越强;在购买了职业责任保险的事务所中,会计师事务所规模越大,其投入的保险费用越多。上述发现提供了会计师事务所准租越多则越注重保护自身财富的直接证据。此外我们还发现,近年来会计师事务所在保险合约中附加追溯期的倾向显著增强,追溯期间也显著更长。     

The Impact of Securities Litigation Reform on the Disclosure of Forward-Looking Information By High Technology Firms

This study evaluates corporate voluntary disclosure of forward-looking information under the safe harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Using a sample of 523 computer hardware, computer software, and pharmaceutical firms, we find a significant increase in both the frequency of firms issuing earnings and sales forecasts and the mean number of forecasts issued following the Act's passage. To provide more direct evidence that our findings are attributable to the Act reducing firms' legal exposure, we develop a proxy for litigation risk and examine whether the increase in disclosure is more pronounced for firms at greatest risk of a lawsuit. As expected, we find that the change in disclosure is increasing in firms' ex ante risk of litigation. Finally, we report that the safe harbor had no adverse impact on the quality of forward-looking information. Forecast errors, whether directional or non-directional, were not significantly affected by the Act's passage.     

The Impact of Consulting Services on Audit Quality: An Experimental Approach

We use experimental markets to examine whether providing consulting services to a non‐audit client impacts audit quality. Our paper directly addresses concerns raised by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board that the largest public accounting firms’ growth in their consulting practices threatens audit quality. We conduct an experiment proposed using a registration‐based editorial process. We compare a baseline where the auditor does not provide consulting services to conditions where auditors provide consulting to audit clients or where auditors only provide consulting services to non‐audit clients. Our unique design provides evidence on whether providing consulting to non‐audit clients strengthens the salience of a client‐cooperative social norm that reduces audit quality. We do not find differences in audit quality by condition in our planned analysis, however we find greater variation in audit quality in the conditions where auditors provide consulting services compared to the baseline. In unplanned analyses, our results suggest providing consulting services increases auditor cooperation with managers, increasing audit quality when managers prefer high audit quality and decreasing audit quality when managers prefer low audit quality.     

审计失败与会计师事务所声誉损失:来自IPO审核的证据

本文分析了会计师事务所审计失败对其客户IPO审核拒绝率的影响。我们研究发现,会计师事务所审计失败会导致其声誉损失,其客户的IPO审核拒绝率将显著提高。发生审计失败后,不管事务所是否受到监管处罚,其客户的IPO审核拒绝率都会显著提高,但审计失败后受处罚的会计师事务所(受处罚所)的客户IPO审核拒绝率显著高于审计失败后未受处罚的会计师事务所(未受处罚所)的客户IPO审核拒绝率,即监管处罚对会计师事务所的声誉产生了更严重的后果。我们进一步发现,不同类型的会计师事务所,审计失败对其客户IPO审核拒绝率的影响不同。     

公司审计委员会动因的政治视角解析

本文简要回顾了公司审计委员会的发生、成长及现状,对公司审计委员会产生动力的观点进行归纳。从企业的成长、法人权力在市场和社会中的扩张、公司经济权力与政治权力的日益融合、企业社会责任的增强、专家体制下分散决策等方面,证明公司了审计委员会是公司与社会之间的一个权力制衡器。     

数字化转型对审计费用的影响研究——基于企业商誉的中介效应

依据2010—2022年中国A股创业板上市公司数据,运用多元线性回归模型探究数字化转型对审计费用的影响。结果显示,企业数字化转型进程与审计费用的增加呈正相关关系,这一关系在重污染行业尤为显著。进一步分析表明,商誉在企业数字化转型对审计费用的提升过程中具有中介效应。鉴于此,企业应加强精细化审计成本预见性与规划性,全面考虑数字化投资与审计成本之间的平衡,适时调整审计策略与资源配置,监管层需适时调整审计行业规则应对数字化转型。     

审计委员会特征与会计师事务所变更的经验研究

本文以会计师事务所变更为视角,探讨具备怎样特征的审计委员会才能有效履行其职责。研究表明:审计委员会的独立性和专业性与会计师事务所变更显著负相关;审计委员会的开会次数与会计师事务所变更没有显著关系,说明审计委员会的存在有助于减少会计师事务所变更。但在对会计师事务所变更的进一步研究中,我们并没有发现会计师事务所变是为了追求更高审计质量的进一步证据,也说明审计委员会对会计师事务所变更的影响仍然有限。这些研究结论为完善我国审计委员会制度提供了经验证据。     

An Analysis of Incentives for Australian Firms to Apply for Reporting Excellence Awards

An award for reporting excellence is presented annually to Australian reporting entities. This paper investigates whether firms that apply for the award are systematically different from firms that elect not to apply. The paper also investigates the benefits which may flow from winning an award for reporting excellence. The results of the paper are consistent with the proposition that such an award may be used by a firm as a means of reducing wealth transfers related to the political process.     

The Definition and Diffusion of Expert Systems: An Empirical Survey of Belgian External Audit Firms

This paper reports empirical results on the definition and diffusion of expert systems (ESs). The findings are based on a questionnaire that was sent to Belgian external audit firms in June 1993. Audit firms were chosen as the questionnaire's target group because another part of the survey was aimed at gathering information concerning the audit of ESs. The definition section deals with the importance of several ES characteristics as seen by the sample of practitioners. Results are compared with opinions from theoretical literature and reveal significant differences. The section on diffusion of ESs is intended to provide an indication of the extent of development and usage of ESs in todays business life. On the basis of the sample of audit firms that reported on their auditees' situations, diffusion rates are rather low. Each of these sections is introduced by a short literature review. As both sections are largely based on the results of a survey, relevant details are included in the first section.     

独立性威胁、审计委员会制约有效性:理论分析与实证研究

本文在理论上深入分析审计制度安排中独立性威胁现象及审计委员会制度对独立性威胁的制约作用之后,基于2002—2004年我国上市公司审计委员会设立的基本情况,以审计意见和事务所变更为反应变量,对审计委员会制约独立性威胁的有效性进行了实证研究。研究发现,设立审计委员会的公司更不易被出具非标准审计意见,说明审计委员会的设立并不能有效提高审计师的独立性,但这同时也是反映政策效应的结果,即规模较大的上市公司倾向于主动配合监管政策设立审计委员会。本文的研究还发现,审计委员会的设立并不能令审计师免于因出具令上市公司不满的审计意见而被改聘的结果,说明我国的审计委员会制度未能在制约独立性威胁方面发挥作用,该结论同时得到实践调查结果与补充检验的支持。据此,本文认为,我国审计委员会制度在制约独立性威胁方面的功能还有待于进一步落实。     

Impact of Partner Change on Audit Quality: An Analysis of Partner and Firm Specialisation Effects

This study investigates the impact of audit partner rotation on audit quality and whether industry specialisation moderates such a relationship. The results of this study show that audit partner rotation can enhance audit quality but only when both the incoming audit partner and the audit firm are industry specialists. The results of the study provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of audit partner rotation and auditor industry specialisation practices, and their impact on audit quality. The results have implications for the profession as well as regulators regarding audit partner and audit firm industry specialisation. This is the first study to examine the moderating effect of industry specialisation on the auditor rotation–audit quality relationship at the partner level. The introduction of industry specialisation as a moderating factor provides additional insights into the auditor rotation–audit quality relationship at the partner level.     

实质性披露还是选择性披露:企业环境表现对环境信息披露质量的影响

环境信息披露是企业向政府、社会公众传递企业履行环境保护责任情况的重要方式。企业公开的环境信息是对企业环境表现的实质性披露还是选择性披露,决定了企业环境信息披露的质量。本文以2012-2016年沪深两市A股重污染行业上市公司为样本,从披露载体和披露方式两个维度衡量环境信息披露质量,探究企业环境表现对环境信息披露质量的影响。实证结果表明:企业环境表现与环境信息定性披露呈负相关,与单独披露程度和定量披露呈正相关;外部环境管制压力相较于内在企业声誉动力对企业环境表现与环境信息披露质量之间的关系具有更显著的促进作用;环境管制的促进作用对国有企业更显著,而提高企业声誉的激励作用对非国有企业更显著。本文进一步研究还发现:高质量的实质性环境信息披露能够降低企业风险,促进企业可持续发展。     

代理成本、弹性信息披露对审计收费的影响

本文研究了大股东与中小股东间的代理成本及弹性信息披露对审计收费的影响。我们发现上市公司不存在两权分离的情况下,大股东持股比例较低时,大股东持股比例与审计收费负相关;大股东持股比例较高时,大股东持股比例与审计收费正相关;两权分离程度较低的情况下,大股东持股比例较低时,大股东持股比例与审计收费负相关;两权分离程度较高的情况下,大股东持股比例较高时,大股东持股比例与审计收费负相关。上市公司弹性信息披露程度越高,审计收费越低;两权分离的存在会削弱弹性信息披露程度与审计收费之间的负相关关系。     

Corporate Disclosure Quality: Lessons from Australian Companies on the Impact of Adopting International Financial Reporting Standards

For annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2005, Australian companies were required to comply with the Australian equivalents of International Financial Reporting Standards (AIFRS). To ensure a smooth transition, a broadly defined standard (AASB 1047) mandated pre-adoption company disclosures of the AIFRS' impact. The standard provided managers with the opportunity to exercise considerable discretion in complying with the underlying disclosure requirements. We examine how this discretion impacted on the quality of pre-adoption AIFRS disclosures provided by a sample of large Australian companies. Using a disclosure quality index, we find considerable evidence of a cross-sectional variation in disclosure quality that varies according to differences in the AIFRS financial impact, size, industry and profitability factors. Importantly, we also observe individual Big 4 audit firm influences on disclosure quality. These findings highlight consequences of mandating corporate disclosures based on broadly defined principles.     

关联交易对企业价值的影响——基于中国上市公司的实证研究

关联交易可以降低交易成本和交易风险,提高企业价值,但也可能成为控股股东对上市公司或中小股东进行利益侵占的手段,对企业价值造成负面影响。通过实证分析的方法检验我国A股上市公司关联交易对企业价值的影响,结果显示,在全部关联交易类型中,购买商品、销售商品、资产重组、提供或接受劳务、担保抵押、许可协议、其他计入收入方的交易这7类对企业价值具有负面影响,且关联交易总体的发生也降低了企业价值。为抑制非公允关联交易的发生,建议优化上市公司的股权结构、完善独立董事和监事会制度、完善关联交易的信息披露制度等。     

Public Oversight of Audit Firms: The Slippery Slope of Enforcing Regulation

This study uses the slippery‐slope framework to understand how an oversight regulator's enforcement style influences audit firm compliance. Using data from interviews with audit regulators and audit partners, we find that partners perceive the regulator's enforcement style has shifted from being more collaborative to being more coercive. A consequence of this shift is that partners believe the development of trust between the two parties has been inhibited and a forced compliance climate has emerged. In response, firms have mandated strategies to increase the visibility of compliance, such as increasing mandatory use of checklists. Audit partners express some concern that oversight of the profession has resulted in firms adapting their audit process in ways aimed at minimizing inspection risk and not necessarily improving audit quality.