‘An Examination of the Ethical Commitment of Professional Accountants to Auditor Independence’

This research explores the relationship between work context and professional ethics. Specifically, we analyze through an online survey of professional accountants the degree to which changing work conditions have altered individual accountants’ commitment to the core professional value of auditor independence. We argue that certain changes in the condition of work have made some categories of accountants more susceptible to the logic of commercialism rather than the logic of professionalism. We find general support for this argument. We observe that accountants working outside of public accounting have a higher commitment to independence than do accountants working in the context of public accounting firms. We further observe that accountants in large international accounting firms (i.e. the “Big Four”) report lower commitment to auditor independence than do others in public accounting. And we observe that older accountants report stronger commitment to auditor independence. One finding, however, contradicts our general thesis. We find that commitment to one’s client does not necessarily result in a loss of commitment to the core professional value of independence. We conclude that changes in the context of work have contributed to the demise of ethics among professional accountants and suggest that further research be done to elaborate the relationship between client commitment and independence commitment.     

近代中国国家审计职业化：历史发展与启示

民国时期是近代中国国家审计建立和发展的重要阶段。基于职业化的角度考证近代国家审计机关在审计人员准入、职务职称评定、独立性保障、职业道德建设以及后续职业教育等方面形成的各种规章制度,发现近代审计机关业存在的专业人员比例偏低、裙带关系明显、人员流动频繁等制约审计职业化发展的问题,这对当前审计职业化发展具有重要启示意义。     

竞争压力、竞争对手特征与会计师事务所审计定价

使用2001—2013年会计师事务所向上市公司提供审计服务的审计收费数据,考察会计师事务所面临的竞争压力以及竞争对手特征如何影响审计定价。结果表明,会计师事务所面临的竞争压力会对审计定价产生重要影响。当竞争对手声誉较低、不具有行业专长、处于相对弱势竞争地位时,会计师事务所会迫于竞争压力而降低审计收费与其对手竞争。稳健性测试与正文结果保持一致。     

资本市场开放与公司内部控制质量——基于“沪港通”的证据

以中国“沪港通”交易制度的实施为政策背景,采用多时点双重差分模型,考察资本市场开放对标的公司内部控制质量的影响,研究发现,“沪港通”交易制度的实施显著提升了公司的内部控制质量,在控制其他因素并经过安慰剂检验、去除A+H股影响、改变周期范围等稳健性检验后,结论依然成立。机制检验表明,“沪港通”主要通过内部和外部两种机制对公司内部控制质量产生影响,其中,内部机制是对股价波动性风险控制,外部机制是审计师声誉风险与政府部门监管。     

A Comparative Analysis of Auditor, Manager and Financial Analyst Interpretations of SFAS 5 Disclosure Guidelines

This study examines empirically whether financial analysts (users), as well as managers (preparers) and external auditors ascribe different interpretations to the SFAS 5 disclosure criteria. We find: (1) financial analysts are, on average, more conservative than managers and auditors in their numerical interpretations of both the 'remote' and 'probable' verbal phrases; (2) managers and auditors share very similar numerical interpretations of these verbal phrases; (3) audit partners' numerical interpretations of the 'remote' region are between those of managers and users, whereas audit managers align their numerical interpretations with those of managers. One danger is that preparers of financial statements may omit loss contingency information that users consider valuable.     

财务报告舞弊行政处罚与可感知审计质量

以2001年至2008年间非金融类、非外资类正常交易A股公司为研究样本,考察财务报告舞弊行政处罚是否传递了可感知审计质量信息,实证研究结果表明：投资者总体上并不认可财务报告舞弊行政处罚传递了可感知审计质量信息,仅当投资者观察到反映坏消息的审计意见（如审计师出具非标审计意见、审计意见未改善等）和反映审计师声誉信息（如审计师受到行政处罚）的情况下,投资者才认为财务报告舞弊行政处罚传递了可感知审计质量信息。     

公司治理对上市公司审计师变更影响的实证分析

对审计师变更原因以及公司治理对审计师变更影响的国内外研究文献进行了梳理。以我国沪深A股上市公司为研究样本,综合运用统计检验和Logistic分析方法,实证检验了公司治理评价体系的6个维度、15个指标对上市公司审计师变更的影响。结果表明:公司治理对审计师变更的影响显著;其中,第一大股东持股比例、独立董事比例、董事会会议次数与审计师变更显著负相关,是否发生诉讼仲裁事项、信息披露是否充分与审计师变更显著正相关。