Are fully independent audit committees really necessary?

Accounting scandals and concerns about the quality of financial statements have led to many calls for improved audit committee effectiveness. Prior research indicates that audit committee independence is positively related to effective oversight of the financial reporting process. Unfortunately, prior research has not provided an answer as to how much independence on the audit committee is enough. This is an important unanswered question because while Section 301 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) currently requires all listed companies to maintain an audit committee that is 100% independent there has been much debate regarding easing the SOX requirements for smaller and foreign companies. In this paper we examine whether the regulatory requirements of a completely independent audit committee are necessary to obtain the monitoring benefits related to audit committee independence that have been documented in prior literature. Our results suggest that the benefits of audit committee independence are consistently achieved only when the audit committee is completely independent. These results provide support for the SOX requirement of 100% independent audit committees.     

审计意见购买:理论分析与治理路径

审计意见购买的治理是审计监管的重要议题。本文以代理理论、契约理论、信号理论以及管制理论对审计意见购买的产生机理及动机进行了深刻分析,指出委托代理关系变异、契约的不完全性、信号传递失灵及管制失败是影响审计意见购买行为发生的重要因素。审计意见购买行为的治理需要从需求、供给及监管等三方分别采取合适的措施与策略。其中,引导自愿性审计需求,发挥审计市场的信号机制和声誉机制作用,是治理的根本出路。     

审计师行业专长对审计收费的影响分析——来自2006～2007年我国审计市场的证据

本文在借鉴传统审计收费模型的基础上,采用我国A股上市公司2006～2007年的数据,对审计师行业专长与审计收费之间的相关关系进行实证分析.研究表明,我国的审计师行业专长程度较低,审计师行业专长与审计收费之间存在正相关关系.研究审计师行业专长与审计收费之间的关系对于规范审计定价行为、形成有效市场结构有重要意义.     

Has SOX Enhanced Non–Big 4 Auditors' Ability to Deal with Client Pressure?

We investigate whether non–Big 4 auditors have enhanced their ability to resist client pressure over accrual reporting following the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act (SOX). Regressing abnormal accruals on proxies for economic bonding, we find that changes in the association, defined as (Post–Pre), are significantly negative, implying an improvement in auditor independence after SOX. Among non–Big 4 auditors, only Tier 3 auditors compromised reporting objectivity before SOX, but neither Tier 2 nor Tier 3 auditors yielded to client pressure after SOX. Evidence that these two groups of non–Big 4 auditors differ in the way they cope with client pressure in a loose regulatory regime highlights the importance of assessing the efficacy of SOX separately for subsets of auditors and contributes to an understanding of the underresearched, but inherently important, segment of the audit market served by non–Big 4 auditors. Further analysis indicates that the low pre‐SOX audit quality observed in the full sample is driven by non–PCAOB registrants.     

Responses by Australian auditors to the global financial crisis

We examine the impact of the global financial crisis (GFC) on auditor behaviour in Australia. Using a sample of listed companies, we examine whether the GFC impacted the propensity of auditors to issue going concern modifications and increased audit effort as reflected in audit fees and audit reporting lag. Controlling for client characteristics, we find an increase in the propensity to issue going concern opinions during the period 2008–2009 compared with the period 2005–2007 and that Big N auditors responded to the GFC earlier than non‐Big N auditors. In relation to audit effort, we find evidence of increased audit fees during the period 2008–2009 compared with the period 2005–2007. There is, however, no evidence of increased audit reporting lags during the GFC.     

影响我国农业发展制度变迁不足的原因及对策

传统农业发展受土地、劳动供给的约束,绿色革命产生了以节约劳动与土地为主要特点的现代机械和生物技术的运用,使农业生产边界大大扩展,同时发展经济学家也认识到制度在农业发展中的重要作用。本文从制度变迁存在需求引致型和供给主导型两种模式出发,探讨影响我国农业发展制度变迁不足的一系列因素,并提出相应的对策措施。     

The Determinants and Effects of Clients Following Audit Partners Who Switch Audit Firms

Abstract

We examine the determinants of clients’ decision to follow departing partners to new audit firms and the effect of this decision on the likelihood of financial restatements. Using Taiwanese audit partner turnover data from 1984 to 2010, we find that clients are more likely to follow departing partners when the partners have more clients, longer tenure, and when both lead and concurring partners leave simultaneously. By contrast, clients are more likely to stay with their incumbent audit firms when the firms are one of the Big Four or when only the concurring partners leave. The extended partner tenure due to clients following departing partners, however, does not enhance audit quality. In fact, clients that stay at the incumbent firm experience a significant decrease in the probability of financial restatements in the first year after the audit partners leave, but clients that follow do not.     

规模扩大对高中学校组织结构的影响

学校规模与组织结构变迁之间存在着密切关系,本研究希望通过探讨规模扩大对学校组织结构的影响,分析现存的问题,并提出建议。     

论传统期货交易所公司化改造的背景

许多传统的会员制非赢利期货交易所近年来纷纷进行公司化改造,成为赢利性的股份公司。尽管对这种组织变革及其相关问题存在着一些不同认识,但要深入研究这些问题,必须首先弄清出现公司化改造浪潮的背景。研究表明,促成这类战略决策的主要因素包括三个方面：信息技术的变革与创新使传统交易方式和组织形式面临技术竞争力方面的压力;国际期货市场结构发生了重大变化,传统交易所组织形式面临竞争方面的严峻挑战,有关国家的市场监管部门为提升本国期货业的竞争实力,对交易所的组织变革提供了有力支持。     

Is the quality of female auditors really better? Evidence based on the Chinese A-share market

Unlike previous studies in which a single index was used to measure audit quality, this study establishes a new comprehensive index to measure audit quality via Discretionary Accrual, as estimated by Jones’ basic model (1991) and Audit Opinions. The former is used to measure the quality of financial statements, and the latter is used to measure the auditors’ independence in the mainstream international literature. We examine whether and how an auditor’s gender affects the quality of his or her audits under the framework of empathy theory and gender role socialization theory. Using a large sample of 9861 auditor-firm-year observations from Chinese A-share–listed companies from 2011 to 2015, we find that the audit quality of signed auditors shows significant gender differences: these significant gender differences differ from the findings of previous studies that female auditors could provide a higher-quality audit than male auditors; that is, in our study the audit quality of the male auditors exceeds that of the female auditors. After distinguishing the positive and negative directions of the Discretionary Accrual, we find no significant gender differences in audit quality between male and female auditors when the earnings had been adjusted upward by the client; that is, female and male auditors had the same audit risk perception. However, when the client adjusted earnings downward, which indicates a lower audit risk for the auditor, the audit quality of female auditors was significantly lower than that of the male auditors. After controlling for the age and position of the auditors, we also find that the gender differences in the auditors’ audit quality decreased significantly or even disappeared when the auditor’s age exceeded 45?years and/or their position was manager or above. These results are consistent with the empathy theory and gender role socialization theory.