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Full-Text Articles in Business
Auditor Materiality Threshold And Audit Quality: Evidence From The Revised Isa 700 In The United Kingdom, Beng Wee Goh, Kiat Bee Jimmy Lee, Dan Li, Na Li, Muzhi Wang
Auditor Materiality Threshold And Audit Quality: Evidence From The Revised Isa 700 In The United Kingdom, Beng Wee Goh, Kiat Bee Jimmy Lee, Dan Li, Na Li, Muzhi Wang
Research Collection School Of Accountancy
Using a broad sample of U.K. firms that are required to disclose auditor materiality thresholds under the International Standards on Auditing (U.K. and Ireland) 700, we examine whether the auditor materiality threshold is associated with audit quality. We document that a lower materiality threshold is associated with higher audit quality, as measured by lower absolute discretionary accruals, higher accruals quality, and a lower propensity to just meet or beat analysts’ earnings expectations. We also find some evidence that the negative association between the materiality threshold and audit quality is attenuated when the audit committee is more effective and when the …
Audit Adjustments And The Discontinuity In Earnings Distribution Around Zero, Chu Yeong Lim, Themin Suwardy, Tracey Chunqi Zhang
Audit Adjustments And The Discontinuity In Earnings Distribution Around Zero, Chu Yeong Lim, Themin Suwardy, Tracey Chunqi Zhang
Research Collection School Of Accountancy
Accounting researchers have documented that a discontinuity exists in earnings distribution around zero. However, there is considerable debate among researchers whether the earnings discontinuity around zero is caused by earnings management. We aim to shed light on the earnings discontinuity debate by examining the impact of audit adjustments on the distribution of earnings using a unique dataset from Singapore containing both recorded and waived adjustments. We find that audit adjustments do not reduce the discontinuity of earnings distribution around zero. This affirms that the results of Lennox et. al (2016) based on pre-tax earnings also apply to post-tax earnings and …
Information Sharing Between Mutual Funds And Auditors, Ole‐Kristian Hope, Pingui Rao, Yanping Xu, Heng Yue
Information Sharing Between Mutual Funds And Auditors, Ole‐Kristian Hope, Pingui Rao, Yanping Xu, Heng Yue
Research Collection School Of Accountancy
This paper examines whether there is information sharing between mutual funds and their auditors about the auditors’ other listed firm clients. Using data from the Chinese market, we find that mutual funds earn higher profits from trading in firms that share the same auditors. The effects are more pronounced when firms have a more opaque information environment and when the audit partners for the fund and the partners for the listed firm share school ties. The evidence is consistent with information flowing from auditors to mutual funds, providing mutual funds with an information advantage in firms that share the same …
Financial Capacity And The Demand For Audit Quality, Chee Yeow Lim, Gerald J. Lobo, Pingui Rao, Heng Yue
Financial Capacity And The Demand For Audit Quality, Chee Yeow Lim, Gerald J. Lobo, Pingui Rao, Heng Yue
Research Collection School Of Accountancy
Prior research documents that financial capacity could be positively or negatively associated with the demand for audit quality. We re-examine this relation using changes in local real estate prices as exogenous shocks to corporate financial capacity. Using auditor size, auditor industry specialisation, and auditor fees as measures of audit quality, we find robust evidence that an increase (decrease) in financial capacity significantly reduces (increases) the demand for audit quality, and that this relation is more pronounced when firms are more financially constrained, when external monitoring by institutional investors and financial analysts is weaker, and when there is more negative news …
The Impact Of Ceo/Cfo Outside Directorships On Auditor Selection And Audit Quality, Jaeyoon Yu, Byungjin Kwak, Myung Seok Park, Yoonseok Zang
The Impact Of Ceo/Cfo Outside Directorships On Auditor Selection And Audit Quality, Jaeyoon Yu, Byungjin Kwak, Myung Seok Park, Yoonseok Zang
Research Collection School Of Accountancy
We examine whether outside directorships of chief executive officer/chief financial officer (CEO/CFO) and resulting network ties to auditors affect auditor selection decisions and subsequent audit quality. The network ties arise when the CEO/CFO of a firm (home firm) serves as an outside director of another firm that hires an auditor (connected auditor). Using a sample of firms that switch auditors in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley Act period, we find that home firms are more likely to appoint connected auditors. We also find that home firms hiring connected auditors experience a significant decline in subsequent audit quality, compared to those hiring …
Opinion Shopping To Avoid Going Concern Audit Opinion And Subsequent Audit Quality, Heesun Chung, Catherine Heyjung Sonu, Yoonseok Zang, Jong-Hag Choi
Opinion Shopping To Avoid Going Concern Audit Opinion And Subsequent Audit Quality, Heesun Chung, Catherine Heyjung Sonu, Yoonseok Zang, Jong-Hag Choi
Research Collection School Of Accountancy
Despite regulatory concerns over opinion shopping (OS) behavior, there exists little systematic evidence on the prevalence and consequences of OS to avoid a going concern opinion (GCO). Using Lennox's (2000) framework to identify OS, we find that distressed firms successfully engage in OS to avoid a GCO. Moreover, clients engaging in OS exhibit a higher ex post Type II error rate in audit opinions than clients that do not, and the higher Type II error rate is salient for clients switching auditors for OS but not for clients retaining auditors for OS. We continue to find this asymmetric effect of …
The Price Contagion Effects Of Financial Reporting Fraud And Reputational Losses: Evidence From The Individual Audit Partner Level, Ferdinand A. Gul, Chee Yeow Lim, Kun Wang, Yanping Xu
The Price Contagion Effects Of Financial Reporting Fraud And Reputational Losses: Evidence From The Individual Audit Partner Level, Ferdinand A. Gul, Chee Yeow Lim, Kun Wang, Yanping Xu
Research Collection School Of Accountancy
This study investigates the existence of price contagion effects for the low-quality audits of individual audit partners and the associated reputational losses in China. Low-quality partners are identified as those whose clients have been sanctioned by regulators for financial reporting fraud. Our evidence shows that sanctions induce a significant stock price decline among the contagion firms that share common low-quality partners and common low-quality audit firms; however, the decline is greater for the former. We also find that the price contagion effects of low-quality partners are more pronounced for firms located in regions with weak institutional development and less pronounced …
The Downside Of The Network Ties Between Ceo/Cfos And Auditors Through External Directorships: Evidence From Auditor Selection And Subsequent Audit Quality, Jaeyoon Yu, Byungjin Kwak, Myung Seok Park, Yoonseok Zang
The Downside Of The Network Ties Between Ceo/Cfos And Auditors Through External Directorships: Evidence From Auditor Selection And Subsequent Audit Quality, Jaeyoon Yu, Byungjin Kwak, Myung Seok Park, Yoonseok Zang
Research Collection School Of Accountancy
This study examines whether the professional ties of Chief Executive Officers/Chief Financial Officers (CEO/CFOs) to auditors through external directorships affect auditor selection and subsequent audit quality. Professional ties to auditors arise when the CEO/CFO of a firm (referred to as the home firm) serves as an outside director of another firm that hires an auditor (a connected auditor). Using a sample of firms with auditor switches over the period 2003-2012, we find that home firms are more likely to appoint connected auditors. Furthermore, utilizing a difference-in-differences approach, we find that home firms appointing connected auditors experience a significant decline in …
Auditor Switching For Opinion Shopping, And Subsequnt Audit Quality And Audit Fee: Evidence From Post-Sox Period, Jong-Hag Choi, Heesun Chung, Catherine Heyjung Sonu, Yoonseok Zang
Auditor Switching For Opinion Shopping, And Subsequnt Audit Quality And Audit Fee: Evidence From Post-Sox Period, Jong-Hag Choi, Heesun Chung, Catherine Heyjung Sonu, Yoonseok Zang
Research Collection School Of Accountancy
Theory suggests that firms engage in opinion shopping to obtain better audit opinions. However, there is scarce evidence on the economic consequences of the opinion shopping behaviors. In this paper, we examine the effect of auditor switches for opinion shopping on audit quality and audit fees. Using 30,333 firm-year observations over the 2004-2012 period in the U.S., we first document evidence that firms switch their auditors in search for better audit opinions. Next, we find that the audit quality of clients that switch auditors for opinion shopping is significantly lower than that of clients that did not switch auditors or …
Non-Audit Fees, Institutional Monitoring, And Audit Quality, Chee Yeow Lim, David K. Ding, Charlie Charoenwong
Non-Audit Fees, Institutional Monitoring, And Audit Quality, Chee Yeow Lim, David K. Ding, Charlie Charoenwong
Research Collection School Of Accountancy
We posit that the effect of non-audit fees on audit quality is conditional on the extent of institutional monitoring. We suggest that institutional investors have incentives and the ability to monitor financial reporting quality. Because of the reputation concerns and potential litigation exposure, auditors are likely to provide high audit quality, when they also provide non-audit services to clients, particularly when clients are subject to high institutional monitoring. We find evidence that, as non-audit fees increase, audit quality (measured by performance-adjusted discretionary current accruals and earnings-response coefficients) reduces only for clients with low institutional ownership but not for clients with …
Geographic Proximity Between Auditor And Client: How Does It Impact Audit Quality?, Jong-Hag Choi, Jeong-Bon Kim, Aini Qiu, Yoonseok Zang
Geographic Proximity Between Auditor And Client: How Does It Impact Audit Quality?, Jong-Hag Choi, Jeong-Bon Kim, Aini Qiu, Yoonseok Zang
Research Collection School Of Accountancy
Using a large sample of audit client firms, this paper investigates whether and how the geographic proximity between auditor and client affects audit quality proxied by accrual-based earnings quality. We define an auditor as a local auditor (1) if the auditor’s practicing office is located in the same metropolitan statistical area (MSA) as the client's headquarters and (2) if the geographic distance between the two cities where the auditor’s practicing office and the client’s headquarters are located is within 100 kilometers or they are in the same MSA. As predicted, our empirical results are consistent with local auditors providing higher-quality …
Do Abnormally High Audit Fees Impair Audit Quality?, Jong-Hag Choi, Jeong-Bon Kim, Yoonseok Zang
Do Abnormally High Audit Fees Impair Audit Quality?, Jong-Hag Choi, Jeong-Bon Kim, Yoonseok Zang
Research Collection School Of Accountancy
This study examines whether and how audit quality proxied by the magnitude of absolute discretionary accruals is associated with abnormal audit fees, that is, the difference between actual audit fee and the expected, normal level of audit fee. The results of various regressions reveal that the association between the two is asymmetric, depending on the sign of the abnormal audit fee. For observations with negative abnormal audit fees, there is no significant association between audit quality and abnormal audit fee. In contrast, abnormal audit fees are negatively associated with audit quality for observations with positive abnormal audit fees. Our findings …
Does Auditor Tenure Improve Audit Quality? Moderating Effects Of Industry Specialization And Fee Dependence, Chee Yeow Lim, Hun-Tong Tan
Does Auditor Tenure Improve Audit Quality? Moderating Effects Of Industry Specialization And Fee Dependence, Chee Yeow Lim, Hun-Tong Tan
Research Collection School Of Accountancy
We investigate whether the relation between auditor tenure and audit quality is conditional on auditor specialization and fee dependence. Although prior studies have investigated the relation between extended auditor-client tenure and audit quality, none has examined how this relation is jointly influenced by both auditor specialization and fee dependence. Our main analyses, using accrual quality as a measure of audit quality, show that firms audited by specialists (vs. non-specialists) have relatively higher audit quality with extended auditor tenure, and that this relation is negatively moderated by auditors’ fee dependence on clients. These results are robust to sensitivity tests, and alternative …
Audit Office Size, Audit Quality And Audit Pricing, Jong-Hag Choi, Francis Kim, Jeong-Bon Kim, Yoonseok Zang
Audit Office Size, Audit Quality And Audit Pricing, Jong-Hag Choi, Francis Kim, Jeong-Bon Kim, Yoonseok Zang
Research Collection School Of Accountancy
Using a large sample of U.S. audit client firms over the period 2000-2005, this paper investigates whether and how the size of a local practice office within an audit firm (henceforth, office size) is a significant, engagement-specific factor determining audit quality and audit fees over and beyond audit firm size at the national level and auditor industry leadership at the city or office level. For our empirical tests, audit quality is measured by unsigned abnormal accruals, and the office size is measured in two different ways: one based on the number of audit clients in each office and the other …
The Association Between Institutional Ownership And Audit Properties, Soongsoo Han, Tony Kang, Lynn Reesc
The Association Between Institutional Ownership And Audit Properties, Soongsoo Han, Tony Kang, Lynn Reesc
Research Collection School Of Accountancy
In this study, we examine how institutional ownership affects the quality and riskiness of the financial statement audit. We hypothesize that institutional investors can influence corporate policy to employ governance mechanisms that reduce their monitoring costs. Our evidence shows that firms are more likely to hire a Big 4 auditor (our proxy for audit quality) when long-term institutional ownership is high, suggesting that long-term institutional investors view high quality audits as a viable means of improving corporate governance while reducing their direct monitoring costs. We find no association between auditor choice and short-term institutional ownership. Next, we find that auditors …
The Association Between Audit Quality And Abnormal Audit Fees, Jong-Hag Choi, Jeong-Bon Kim, Yoonseok Zang
The Association Between Audit Quality And Abnormal Audit Fees, Jong-Hag Choi, Jeong-Bon Kim, Yoonseok Zang
Research Collection School Of Accountancy
Using a sample of 9,820 firm-year observations over the 2000-2003 period, this paper examines whether, and how, audit quality proxied by unsigned discretionary accruals is associated with abnormal audit fees, i.e., actual audit fees in excess of expected, normal audit fees. The results of various regressions reveal that the association between the two is insignificant for the full sample, significantly positive for the subsample of clients with positive abnormal fees, and insignificantly negative for the subsample of clients with negative abnormal fees. The above results suggest that auditors’ incentives to compromise audit quality differ systematically for more profitable clients (with …
Client, Industry And Country Factors Affecting Choice Of Big N Industry Expert Auditors, Michael Ettredge, Soo Young Kwon, Chee Yeow Lim
Client, Industry And Country Factors Affecting Choice Of Big N Industry Expert Auditors, Michael Ettredge, Soo Young Kwon, Chee Yeow Lim
Research Collection School Of Accountancy
This study investigates client choice of industry specialist auditors from among the Big N (Big 4 or 5) in an international (non-U.S.) setting. We investigate client-specific, industry-level and country-level factors hypothesized to enhance or decrease Big N clients' demand for industry expertise. Using data for 29 countries and 14 broad industries from 1993-2005, we find that international client choice of industry specialist Big N auditors is positively associated with client size, client growth opportunities, and client capital intensity. The choice of industry specialists from among the Big N is more prevalent in countries where levels of investor protection, quality of …
Audit Quality, Legal And Disclosure Environments, And Analysts' Forecast Accuracy: Some International Evidence, Jong-Hag Choi, Tony Kang, Young Koan Kwon, Yoonseok Zang
Audit Quality, Legal And Disclosure Environments, And Analysts' Forecast Accuracy: Some International Evidence, Jong-Hag Choi, Tony Kang, Young Koan Kwon, Yoonseok Zang
Research Collection School Of Accountancy
In this study, we investigate the relation between the quality of external audit and earnings predictability of firms situated in different legal and disclosure environments around the world. In a sample of multinational firms cross-listed in the United States, we find that the association between audit quality and forecast accuracy is stronger in weak legal and disclosure environments than in strong legal and disclosure environments. We interpret these results as suggesting that audit service can serve as an alternative device to improve market participants' information environment in weak legal and disclosure environments.