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Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Audit quality

Business Law, Public Responsibility, and Ethics

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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 May 2016

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 …


Non-Audit Fees, Institutional Monitoring, And Audit Quality, Chee Yeow Lim, David K. Ding, Charlie Charoenwong Aug 2013

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 May 2012

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 Nov 2010

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 Sep 2010

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 …


The Association Between Institutional Ownership And Audit Properties, Soongsoo Han, Tony Kang, Lynn Reesc Mar 2009

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 Aug 2006

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 Sep 2005

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 May 2005

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.