Auditor reporting and earnings management: some additional evidence

This paper investigates the reasons that lead to modification of auditors’ opinions. We revisit the conclusions of prior US‐based research on whether a modification highlights likely earnings management activities. Extending this research, we consider an alternate explanation that managers adjust accruals to report earnings that better predict future firm performance, which has the side‐effect of placing them in conflict with their auditors. Our study sample comprises all firms listed on the Australian Stock Exchange over the period 1999–2003. Consistent with prior research, there is no evidence of earnings management leading to an audit opinion modification. However, we do show that firms receiving inherent uncertainty modifications (other than going concern) have greater persistence of earnings (accruals) relative to other firms. This is consistent with the proposition that managers have made policy choices in reporting current earnings, with which their auditors disagree, that will likely result in a greater ability to forecast the firm's future earnings.     

Auditors gone wild: The “other” problem in public accounting

Following the scandals involving Enron, WorldCom, and Qwest Communications, the accounting profession has spent the past several years trying to get back on track. While Sarbanes-Oxley may improve the decision-making of audit professionals, and help prevent future large-scale catastrophes that hurt stockholders and bring down firms, there is another problem in public accounting that few consider and nobody has proposed to solve: deviant workplace behavior. Previous research describes deviant workplace behavior as the voluntary behavior of organizational members that violates significant organizational norms and, in so doing, threatens the well being of the organization and/or its members. Building from recent work in various business literatures, this is the first research since the passage of Sarbanes-Oxley to examine workplace deviance at Big 4 accounting firms. Taking a cross-disciplinary, collaborative approach, the authors endeavor to explain why workplace deviance has infiltrated accounting firms and how it is undermining their effectiveness and derailing their long-term prospects for success. After describing its genesis and effects, the authors prescribe several managerial strategies for preventing deviance and minimizing its effects on a firm.     

Earnings quality: Some evidence on the role of auditor tenure and auditors’ industry expertise

Prior studies suggest that auditors with short tenure are associated with lower earnings quality because of the lack of client-specific knowledge and/or low balling. In this study, we examine whether industry specialization of auditors and low balling affect the association between auditor tenure and earnings quality. We find that the association between shorter auditor tenure and lower earnings quality is weaker for firms audited by industry specialists compared to non-specialists. In addition, we do not find results consistent with the low balling explanation.     

审计师行业专长、产品市场竞争与财务重述——来自中国证券市场的经验证据

以2007~2012年我国 A 股上市公司为样本,对审计师行业专长与财务重述的关系,以及产品市场竞争程度对两者关系的影响进行实证研究。结果表明：审计师行业专长有助于降低财务重述发生的概率;产品市场竞争则削弱了审计师行业专长对财务重述行为的抑制作用。     

CFO审计师经历、旋转门现象与会计稳健性

到客户管理层就职是会计师事务所审计师的一个重要职业选择,但监管机构对审计质量和企业财务报告质量的担忧引发了对此类现象的严格监管.本文基于2002年~2011年我国A股上市公司CFO的变更事件,从审计师的职业谨慎性出发,探讨了CFO审计师经历、"旋转门"现象对上市公司会计稳健性的影响.研究发现:CFO审计师经历能提高会计稳健性;"旋转门"现象并没有削弱公司会计稳健性;相比仅有审计师经历的新聘任CFO,"旋转门"现象下的CFO能更快地融入新公司并发挥作用.     

论中国遭遇反倾销制裁的原因和应对举措

随着中国加入世贸组织,我国的对外贸易也进入了一个新的发展阶段,反思中国遭受的外国反倾销制裁,令人痛心。结合反倾销的发展历史,分析我国所遭受的反倾销指控的原因,以及它的应对机制,目的在于建立一个集监测与预防,应对与反击于一体的反倾销机制,以便更好地维护我国对外贸易秩序,推动经济的发展。     

Audit report information content and the provision of non-audit services: Evidence from Spanish lending decisions

This study examines whether auditor economic independence affects the information content of going concern audit reports in the European setting. We conduct an experiment where 80 experienced Spanish loan officers from the second largest European commercial bank review a loan request under two lending scenarios: (1) a potential borrower receiving an unqualified but modified going concern opinion, and (2) a potential borrower receiving a qualified going concern opinion. Auditor economic independence, measured by the provision of non-audit services (NAS), is manipulated (absence vs. presence of significant NAS). We find that a qualified going concern audit report is interpreted as a primary warning signal (death penalty). However, the provision of NAS acts as a second order mechanism that only activates loan officers’ professional skepticism in the case of an unqualified but modified going concern report scenario. Therefore, we find evidence suggesting that the potential negative impact of a perceived lack of auditor independence depends on the nature of the audit report. Our findings have important implications for the European regulator, which is currently considering establishing an auditor independence regulation framework similar to that in the United States of America.     

论我国证据收集程序规定的完善

证据收集程序作为证据制度的核心,其重要地位不言而喻。但证据收集程序发挥作用,需以完善而充分的制度规定为前提。我国法律虽对证据收集程序作了一些规定,但其在内容上还存在很大缺陷。我国立法者应当从运作机制、收集方法和制裁措施等方面对证据收集程序的规定予以完善。     

Minority Shareholders and Auditors: A Brief History of a Litigious French Merger

The case of a French merger can be used to better understand the nature of conflicts of interest and cognitive conflicts between accountants, shareholders, lawyers and judges. This is especially the case when exchange ratios are unfairly established. When caught in a situation of asymmetric information, minority shareholders try to obtain more information about the auditors' report through judicial proceedings. The financial knowledge possessed by the judge then becomes a necessary condition for shareholders to be protected.