On the Relationship between Audit Tenure and Fees Paid to the Audit Firm and Audit Quality

Abstract

We investigate the impact of audit firm tenure, partner tenure, audit fees, fees for non-audit services and total fees on audit quality, as measured by discretionary accruals. Our sample consists of Spanish non-financial public companies for the years between 2006 and 2013. Results indicate that audit quality increases with audit firm tenure but decreases with partner tenure. Moreover, the level of fees paid to the audit firm seems to have a negative impact on audit quality, which is mainly driven by fees for audit services. In this regard, we do not observe any significant relationship between fees for non-audit services and audit quality. Our results also show that the negative relationship between either long partner tenures or high fees and audit quality does not occur when the tenure with the audit firm is long. Therefore, long audit firm tenures do not only seem to involve higher audit quality ‘per se’, but also moderate the negative effects of partner tenure and audit fees on audit quality. The results of this study, which are robust to several sensitivity checks, may be relevant for the current debate on auditor rotation and the joint provision of audit and non-audit services.     

Analysts' Cash Flow Forecasts,Audit Effort,and Audit Opinions on Internal Control

We examine the economic impact of analysts’ cash flow forecasts by looking at how external auditors respond to financial analysts’ issuance of cash flow forecasts. Using a differences‐in‐differences approach, we find that financial analysts’ initiation of cash flow forecasts leads to reduced auditor fees and audit report lags. Moreover, after cash flow forecast initiation, firms report fewer Section 404(b) internal control weakness disclosures. These findings suggest that cash flow forecasts constrain earnings manipulation and improve management accounting behavior, thereby reducing inherent and control risk and strengthening firms’ internal control over financial reporting.     

Auditing Goodwill in the Post‐Amortization Era: Challenges for Auditors

The elimination of goodwill amortization in 2001 brought about significant change in how companies are required to account for goodwill. This change in accounting also brought with it new challenges for auditors, namely evaluating the reasonableness of management's assumptions related to goodwill valuation. In addition to introducing technical challenges, this task is particularly difficult given the misalignment in incentives it creates between managers who likely prefer to avoid recording an impairment and auditors who seek to minimize the bias in management's impairment testing. This study focuses on the consequences of the misaligned incentives that auditors face under the current goodwill assessment process. We find that the decision to record a goodwill impairment is associated with an increase in the probability of auditor dismissal. Consistent with the presence of significant friction with clients, our results also indicate that the likelihood of auditor dismissals is negatively related to the favorability of the impairment decision. Furthermore, we find that companies impairing goodwill prior to dismissing auditors subsequently employ auditors that are, on average, more favorable to clients in their impairment decisions.     

论内部审计的地位与功能

内部审计是组织内部高层次的管理与监督,具有反馈咨询、监督控制等功能。单位领导的重视和支持、审计人员素质的提高以及同外部审计的结合是强化内审功能的重要因素。     

关于应用型金融人才培养模式的几点思考

改革开放以来,我国的高等金融教育获得了长足进步,尤其是世纪之交的最近10年完成了跨越式的发展.从我国经济金融改革与发展对人才和人力资源的需求结构来看,更需要大量能够尽快适应第一线工作的、具有一定理论基础的应用型人才.应用型金融财经类人才应具有什么样的知识结构、专业能力和基本素质,才能适应社会、经济发展的需要,这是新形势下金融财经类院校教育教学研究的重要命题.     

关系型交易对审计费用的影响——基于经营风险理论视角

关系型交易模式可能会在议价能力、关系专用性投资成本转换等方面加剧上市公司的经营风险,进而影响审计费用。已有研究主要集中于关系型交易对审计行为的影响,鲜有文献关注其中的作用机制。本文基于经营风险理论视角,选取2008~2017年沪深A股制造业上市公司的相关数据,实证分析了关系型交易对审计费用的影响,结果表明:关系型交易显著加剧了企业经营风险的集聚,进而提升审计费用,即经营风险在关系型交易对审计费用的影响中起到了中介作用。进一步研究,在区分了产权性质以及耐用品特征后,实证结果显示关系型交易与审计费用的正相关关系在非国有企业以及耐用品行业的企业中较为显著,为审计师进行合理审计定价提供了经验证据支持。     

CEO控制权、成长性与审计定价

文章运用中国上市公司2007-2009年的数据,研究了CEO控制权、成长性因素对审计定价的影响。研究发现,由于中国上市公司的代理成本较高,所以CEO控制权与成长性因素分别对审计定价有显著的正向影响,但是由于处于成长初期的中国上市公司较多,CEO控制权对审计定价的影响并不依赖于成长性因素。     

深化上市公司内部审计 保障投资者资本安全 促进证券市场健康发展

上市公司为投资者创造利润,使投资者获得回报,是资本市场铁的定律。因此,完善上市公司的结构治理,深化发展上市公司内部审计,保障中小投资者资本安全,已成为上市公司内部审计的重要内容。针对上市公司目前存在的状况,阐述了如何应用现代审计技术以保证中小投资者的合法权益。     

深化企业内部改革必须加强思想政治工作

深化企业内部改革,夯实企业管理基础,形成有效的激励和约束机制,建立良好的经济运行秩序,才能做大做强优势企业和优势品牌。深化企业内部改革必须加强思想政治工作,把思想政治工作贯穿于深化企业内部改革的全过程,切实提高企业整体实力和竞争能力,以适应市场经济的竞争,保持农场持续、稳定、健康地发展。