Determinants of audit report modifications in Finnish municipalities |
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| Authors: | Mikko Paananen Jaakko Rönkkö Mikko Zerni David Hay |
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| Institution: | 1. Tampere University, Faculty of Management and Business, 33014 Tampere, Finland;2. University of Vaasa, P.O. Box 700, 65101 Vaasa, Finland;3. The University of Auckland Business School, 12 Grafton Road, Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand;1. Data & Text Mining Laboratory, Jerusalem School of Business Administration, Israel;2. Rutgers Business School – Newark and New Brunswick, Rutgers University, Department of Accounting and Information Systems, United States;3. Stern School of Business Administration, New York University and, QMA LLC, United States;4. Freeman College of Management, Bucknell University, United States;1. D’Amore-McKim School of Business Northeastern University, United States;2. College of Business Administration University of Nebraska – Lincoln, United States;3. Farmer School of Business Miami University, United States;1. School of Business, University of Connecticut, 2100 Hillside Rd., Unit 1041A, Storrs, CT 06269, United States;2. College of Business, Colorado State University, 501 W. Laurel St., Fort Collins, CO 80523, United States;1. Texas Christian University, United States;2. University of California at Riverside, United States;3. City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong;4. West Virginia University, United States;1. Western Michigan University, United States;2. George Mason University, United States;3. Florida Atlantic University, United States |
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| Abstract: | Although municipalities are major economic and social actors in most countries, remarkably little is known about their audits, particularly the determinants of their audit report modifications. The existing evidence is ambiguous at best and scarce, which provides opportunities for further accounting studies in this area. Therefore, based on an agency theory framework, we fill this important research gap by exploring three determinants of audit report modifications in municipalities: (1) economic performance, (2) decentralization of decision-making across different decision-making bodies, and (3) political competition between political parties in local councils. These determinants are examined based on a large panel of data on Finnish municipalities for the period from 2009 to 2013, covering virtually all of the country’s municipalities. We find that a striking 33 percent of audit reports had modifications during this period, which raises serious concerns about the state of municipal management, accounting, and auditing in Finland. Regarding the above determinants, the following conclusions can be made based on our analyses. First, we find partial evidence that weak economic performance increases the likelihood of audit report modifications. Second, the lower the competition among political parties in a local council, the lower the likelihood of audit report modifications. Finally, the more decentralized decision making is across the different decision-making bodies under the local council, the higher the probability of audit report modifications. These results are consistent with agency theory’s explanations regarding the value of auditing. |
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| Keywords: | Municipality Auditing Audit report modifications Economic performance Decentralization of decision-making Political competition |
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