Business Commons^™

Enhancing Audit Quality Through Artificial Intelligence: An External Auditing Perspective, Jonah Mitan

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

The evolving landscape of the audit profession has been significantly influenced by the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation, marking a pivotal shift in audit methodologies, the auditors' roles, and the overarching quality of audits. This thesis delves into the breadth of AI's impact on the industry through a comprehensive review of academic literature, professional publications, and industry insights, highlighting the transformative effects of AI on audit processes. AI-driven tools, including machine learning, deep learning, and natural language processing can expedite laborious audit tasks, enhancing data analytics capabilities, and enabling more accurate risk assessment and fraud detection. AI technologies …

Retain Or Rotate: Outcomes Of Frequent Auditor Switching, Ryan Decker

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

Regulators continue to debate the effectiveness of mandatory auditor rotation versus mandatory auditor retention in improving audit quality. Recent regulation in the European Union mandates auditor rotation, but if companies choose a more-lenient auditor with each switch, frequent switching could impair audit quality. I examine whether more-frequent switching leads to an increase in aggressive reporting and evaluate its effect on audit quality and audit attention. I find that audit quality decreases as the number of switches increases, with the results being driven mainly by switches between non-Big 4 audit firms. I also find that frequently switching between non-Big 4 auditors …

Pcaob Inspection Reports And Perceived Audit Quality, Coleman Michael Russell

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Audit Engagement Partner Disclosure On Audit Outcomes In The United States, J. Alan Bell

PhD in Business Administration Dissertations

ABSTRACT

THE IMPACT OF AUDIT ENGAGEMENT PARTNER DISCLOSURE ON AUDIT OUTCOMES IN THE UNITED STATES

by

James Alan Bell

This study is motivated by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s (PCAOB) mandate requiring the public disclosure of the audit engagement partner’s identity. Prior to the ruling, the audit engagement partner (AEP) was known only to the company’s management, audit committee, audit firm, and regulators. The PCAOB maintains that disclosure of the AEP will increase the partner’s sense of accountability; and increase transparency in the audit process; leading to improved audit quality; and improved financial reporting quality; thereby improving the credibility …

Two Essays On The Impact Of Cybersecurity Risk Management Examinations On Investor Perceptions And Decisions, Rebecca R. Perols

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this dissertation is to investigate the impact of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ (AICPA) recently adopted cybersecurity risk management examination on investor perceptions and decisions. The dissertation implements a two-essay approach.

Essay 1 examines the effect of voluntary disclosures of joint or separate provisioning of cybersecurity risk management examinations on investor perceptions and decisions, and whether these effects differ when a subsequent cybersecurity incident occurs. Conducting a 2 x 2 between-participants experiment, I find that the negative signal of a subsequent cybersecurity incident reverses investors’ positive perceptions of auditor competence and increases investors’ sensitivity to …

The Effect Of Auditors’ Informal Communication In The Audit Environment On Financial Reporting Outcomes, Emily K. Hornok

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

I examine the effect of auditors’ recurring, informal communication with managers and other auditors on financial reporting outcomes in a laboratory experiment in which participants in the roles of auditors and managers interact in a stylized audit setting. My 2×2 between-subjects design manipulates whether the auditors are able to informally communicate with either, neither, or both the manager and other auditors. I find that when the auditor and manager informally communicate, they each develop a social bond, which increases the manager’s feeling of accountability towards the auditor, causes the manager to make more honest representations to the auditor, and leads …

The Influence Of Nonpublic Audit Concentration On Public Client Audit Outcomes, Emily Hunt

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Nonpublic clients make up a substantial portion of audit firm client portfolios and the demands they place on the audit firm differ from those of public clients. As such, I investigate the influence of nonpublic audit concentration (NPAC) on the quality, timeliness, and cost effectiveness of public client audits. I find that NPAC is unrelated to audit quality and negatively related to the likelihood of late filing financial statements and audit fees for public clients. My study contributes to audit literature that investigates the effect of audit firm portfolio characteristics on audit outcomes by 1) providing a new measure that …

Implications Of Audit Office Resource Allocation Shocks: Evidence From Late 10-K Filings, Stuart Dearden

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Prior literature examines consequences (e.g., negative market reactions, higher subsequent audit fees, and debt covenant violations) audit clients face arising from missed regulatory due dates. These clients likely pressure the auditor to provide additional resources to perform the audit. This paper examines whether an audit office resource allocation shock stemming from late-filing clients is associated with the audit quality of the other timely-filing clients in that audit office. I find that timely-filing clients are more likely to subsequently restate their financial statements when there are late-filing clients in the same audit office. Using audit fees as a proxy for auditor …

Does Industry-Level Information Affect Auditors’ Assessment Of Client-Level Risk?, David Rosser

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates auditors’ consideration of industry-level information in their assessment of client-level risk. Auditing standards suggest that industry-level information is likely to be important in the assessment of client-level risk, but the standards provide few specifics about how auditors should use industry-level information in the risk assessment process. I argue that industry norms serve as a benchmark for evaluating the risk of the client and that deviations from industry norms could indicate increased audit risk. I create measures that capture the extent to which clients deviate from industry norms using proxies for client-level risk factors. In my primary tests, …

The Effect Of Expanded Audit Report Disclosures On Users’ Confidence In The Audit And The Financial Statements, Peter Kipp

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

I investigate how nonprofessional investors’ confidence in the financial statements and the audit report is influenced by the firm specific details of a critical audit matter (CAM) disclosure in conjunction with the description of the audit procedures engaged to address the CAM in the audit report. Using participants recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk as a proxy for nonprofessional investors in a 2x2 +1 (control) between-participants experiment manipulating CAM disclosure detail (Detailed/Generic) and the description of the audit procedures engaged to address the CAM (Detail/Generic) I find that greater detail in the description of the CAM results in higher confidence in …

The Impact Of Disclosing Auditor Independence And Tenure On Non-Professional Investor Judgment And Decision-Making, L. Tyler Williams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study experimentally investigates how disclosing both the auditor’s obligation to remain independent of its client and auditor tenure in the audit report influence non-professional investors’ judgments and decision-making, especially the decision about whether to invest in a particular auditee. In the Auditor’s Reporting Model (ARM) proposal, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) asserts that inclusion of additional information in the audit report will improve the informativeness of the audit report for investors and as a result will modify its relevance to investment decisions. Using an experiment, I find that these disclosures positively influence non-professional investor judgments of auditor …

Does The Pcaob Inspection Have An Effect On Audit Fees And Audit Quality?, Elizabeth Schwartzhoff Johnson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

I investigate the effects of the issuance of the PCAOB Part II report on audit fees and audit quality. The PCAOB replaced the peer review auditor program with an independent inspection of audit firms. Upon completion of each inspection, the PCAOB issues inspection reports that include a public portion (Part I) of identified audit deficiencies, and most include a nonpublic portion (Part II) of identified quality control weaknesses which is not disclosed publicly unless the audit firm does not sufficiently complete remediation during the next 12 months. Upon issuance of the Part II report, I find that audit firms experience …

Client Responses To Non-Compliant Audits: An Analysis Of Clients Targeted By Pcaob Inspection, Quinn Thomas Swanquist

Doctoral Dissertations

PCAOB inspectors are afforded privileged insight into the quality of audits selected for inspection. Using inspection reports from 2005-2012, I create a unique sample of audits that were inspected by the PCAOB (i.e., all of an auditor’s clients were selected for inspection). By tracing inspection findings to specific engagements, I directly identify compliant and non-compliant audits. I examine the contributing factors of ‘audit quality’ and provide evidence that higher audit fees and greater human capital are positively related to compliant PCAOB inspections. When PCAOB findings can be linked to a specific engagement, I also find that, on average, the client …

Do Social Biases Impede Auditor Reliance On Specialists? Toward A Theory Of Social Similarity, Rina Maxine Limor

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Does social similarity between the auditor and a specialist induce social biases that impair the auditor's reliance on the specialist? It is important to examine potential impairments to reliance since auditors do not possess expertise in many of the areas examined during the audit. One type of specialist that is increasingly relied upon by the auditor is the IT specialist.

Since firms have two approaches to the organization of IT personnel (decentralized vs. centralized) and often use professional designations as a hiring criteria for specialists, I examine two dimensions of social similarity: domain knowledge distinctiveness and spatial distance. Using a …

Audit And Compilation Report Timeliness In Local Governments: An Empirical Investigation Of Mississippi Governmental Entities That Exceed State Reporting Deadlines, Corey S. Cagle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For governmental audit and compilation reports to be relevant, they must be prepared and made available to the public in a timely manner. The purpose of this study is to identify variables that have an influence on audit and compilation report delay in governments. This research utilizes ordinary-least-squares regression to estimate the effects of several variables of interest on the time it takes to file the audit or compilation report with the Office of the State Auditor. The research also utilizes logistic regression to estimate the effects of several variables of interest on the incidence of filing the audit or …

Accounting Comparability, Audit Effort And Audit Outcomes, Joseph Hongbo Zhang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The paper investigates the usefulness of accounting comparability for audit engagement. Comparability among peer firms in the same industry reflects the similarity and the relatedness of firms’ operating environment and accounting reporting. From two perspectives of “inherent business risk” and “external information efficiency”, comparability is helpful for auditors to assess client business risk and lowers the cost of information acquisition, processing, and testing. For a given firm, I hypothesize that the availability of information about comparable firms is helpful for auditors by improving audit accuracy and audit efficiency. The comparability proxy is based on a variety of measures including pair-wise …