Auditor Tenure and Quality of Financial Reporting

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 528-554 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ling Chu ◽  
Jie Dai ◽  
Ping Zhang

Prior studies in general suggest a positive association between auditor tenure (the length of an auditor–firm relationship) and reporting quality (the informational content of reported earnings). In this study, we present evidence that the association is reversed when clients represent increased litigation risks to their auditors. Featuring downward biases in reported earnings as a measure of reporting quality that stem from auditors’ minimization of costs from potential audit errors, we argue that the magnitude of such downward bias decreases in auditors’ experiences with their clients (tenure improves reporting quality). Furthermore, we predict that longer auditor tenure is associated with larger downward bias for firms with increased audit risks (tenure impairs reporting quality). Using non-operating accruals as proxy for downward bias in reported earnings, we find robust empirical evidence in support of our prediction.

Author(s):  
Andrea Rey ◽  
Giovanni Landi

This paper aims to assess whether financial reporting quality affect the access of Italian Non-SME firms to financial debt. In order to measure the financial reporting quality, we assume as proxy the accrual quality. We carried out a regression analysis, using financial statement data of firms sampled. The results reveal a positive association between financial reporting quality and the access to bank and financial institution debt. In addition, our findings also show no association between financial debt maturity and the accounting quality of firms.


2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wan Adibah Wan Ismail ◽  
Khairul Anuar Kamarudin ◽  
Siti Rahayu Sarman

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the quality of reported earnings in the corporate reports of Shariah-compliant companies listed on Bursa Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach – This study hypothesises that companies with Shariah compliance status have higher quality of earnings because of greater demand for and supply of high-quality financial reports. The quality of reported earnings is measured using the cross-sectional Dechow and Dichev (2002) accrual quality model. The study uses a balanced panel data of 3,048 observations from 508 companies during a six-year period of 2003-2008. Findings – This paper finds robust evidence that Shariah-compliant companies have significantly higher earnings quality compared to other firms. The results provide support for the arguments that Shariah-compliant companies supply a higher quality of reported earnings to attract foreign investment, have greater demand for high-quality financial reporting because of their Shariah status and are subject to greater scrutiny by regulators and institutional investors. Research limitations/implications – This study contributes to the existing literature on Islamic capital market, business ethics, firms’ governance and financial reporting quality. The study would give a better understanding on issues relating to earnings quality of Shariah-compliant companies and would be especially useful for financial statement users, including investment analysts. Originality/value – This paper provides evidence on the quality of earnings in Shariah-compliant companies and offers new arguments that explain why such companies possess higher quality of earnings compared to their counterparts.


2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 871 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nabila Boussaid ◽  
Taher Hamza ◽  
Danielle Sougne

We investigate the relationship between corporate board of directors attributes and conditional accounting conservatism in the French context. Using a pooled regression model over the period 2009-2012, our empirical results can be summarized as follows. First, greater board activity encourages more conservative reporting in financial statements. Second, larger board size diminishes conditional accounting conservatism. Lastly, there is a positive association between gender diversity and accounting conservatism. As a robustness test, we use alternative measures of accounting conservatism, namely time series and accrual-based measures in addition to asymmetric timeliness of earnings. Our findings suggest that boards of directors attributes are an important factor in determining the financial reporting quality of French firms.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
T.G. Saji

PurposeThe mandatory adoption/convergence of IFRS has increased the information quality of reported earnings in equity markets across the globe. The purpose of the study is to explore whether the mandatory convergence of Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) affect the financial reporting quality of listed firms in India.Design/methodology/approachThe sample includes 355 non-financial publicly listed firms on National Stock Exchange (NSE) of India with 1,065 firm-year observations. The authors use models similar to Jones (1991), and DeFond and Jiambalvo (1994) to investigate value relevance in the period “1st January 2017 to 31st December 2019”. The study uses the quantile regression (QR) analysis to verify our hypothesis.FindingsThe findings suggest that IFRS convergence process adds value to accounting quality of reported earnings in Indian stock market. The authors' QR estimations produce collaborating evidence on the uneven impact of IFRS across quantiles and the financial reporting quality skewed in favour of investors of high-valued firms.Research limitations/implicationsThe effects of convergence with IFRS in value relevance of financial statements could be reinforced by considering alternate accrual models and incorporating more accounting measures on an expanded sample of stocks from several global markets.Practical implicationsPresently, convergence of local accounting standards to IFRS in India is only partial. The findings may produce useful insights for regulators and standard setters to further increase the value relevance of financial reports whilst they move towards full convergence.Originality/valueThe study explores the information quality of reported earnings of Indian listed firms in post-IFRS convergence period, which is not properly investigated in the literature. Moreover, the research is unique in terms of applying QR estimations to examine the value relevance of IFRS-converged financial reporting from the emerging market perspective.


2010 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 108-116
Author(s):  
Hafiza Aishah Hashim ◽  
Susela Devi Suppiah

This paper examines the relationship between the role of non-executive (independent) chairman and the quality of reported earnings. Recent corporate governance reforms recommend firms to appoint an independent leader to ensure the success of a split leadership structure (The Combined Code on corporate Governance, 2006; Higgs Report, 2003). Research on leadership structure to date has tended to focus solely on role duality and find weak or insignificance relationship between role duality and financial reporting quality. Although separating the roles of the chairman and the CEO seems appropriate, researcher argue that it would not necessarily lead to independence of the board if the chairman is not independent. Consistent with recent recommendations to strengthen board leadership by appointing an independent chair, this study evidences a positive and significant association between non-executive chairman and earnings quality in Malaysia. The study suggests that the non-executive status of the chairman is an important mechanism in enhancing the board‟s independence, thus improving earnings quality.


Author(s):  
Phung Anh Thu ◽  
Nguyen Vinh Khuong

The investigation was conducted to contribute empirical evidence of the association between going concern and financial reporting quality of listed firms on the Vietnam stock market. Based on data from 279 companies listed on the HNX and HOSE exchanges in Vietnam for the period 2009-2015, the quantitative research. Results found that the relationship between the going concern and financial reporting quality of listed firms. Research results are significant for investors, regulators to the transparency of financial reporting information. Keywords Going concern, financial reporting quality, listed firms References Agrawal, K., & Chatterjee, C. (2015). Earnings management and financial distress: Evidence from India. Global Business Review, 16(5_suppl), 140S-154S.Bergstresser, D., & Philippon, T. (2006). CEO incentives and earnings management. Journal of Financial Economics, 80(3), 511–529.Burgstahler, D., & Dichev, I. (1997). Earnings management to avoid earnings decreases and losses. Journal of Accounting and Economics, 24(1), 99–126.Charitou, A., Lambertides, N., & Trigeorgis, L. (2007a). Earnings behaviour of financially distressed firms: The role of institutional ownership. Abacus, 43(3), 271–296.Chen, Y., Chen, C., & Huang, S. (2010). An appraisal of financially distressed companies’ earnings management: Evidence from listed companies in China. Pacific Accounting Review, 22(1), 22–41Dechow, P., & Dichev, I. (2002). The Quality of Accruals and Earnings: The Role of Accrual Estimation Errors. The Accounting Review, 77, 35-59.DeFond, M., & Jiambalvo, J. (1994). Debt covenant violation and manipulation of accruals. Journal of Accounting and Economics, 17(1), 145–176.DeFond, M.L., & Park, C.W. (1997). Smoothing income in anticipation of future earnings. Journal of Accounting and Economics, 23(2), 115–139.Dichev, I., & Skinner, D. (2004). Large sample evidence on the debt covenant hypothesis. Journal of Accounting Research, 40(4), 1091–1123.Đinh Thị Thu T., Nguyễn Vĩnh K. (2016). Tác động của hành vi điều chỉnh thu nhập đến khả năng hoạt động liên tục trong kế toán: Nghiên cứu thực nghiệm cho các doanh nghiệp niêm yết tại Việt Nam, Tạp chí phát triển khoa học và công nghệ, Quí 3, tr.96-108.Đỗ Thị Vân Trang (2015). Các mô hình đánh giá chất lượng báo cáo tài chính, Tạp chí chứng khoán Việt Nam, 200, tr 18-21.Habib, A., Uddin Bhuiyan, B., & Islam, A. (2013). Financial distress, earnings management and market pricing of accruals during the global financial crisis. Managerial Finance, 39(2), 155-180.Jaggi, B., & Lee, P. (2002). Earnings management response to debt covenant violations and debt restructuring. Journal of Accounting, Auditing & Finance, 17(4), 295–324.Kasznik, R., (1999). On the association between voluntary disclosure and earnings management. Journal of accounting research, 37(1), pp.57-81.Lu, J. (1999). An empirical study of earnings management by loss-making listed Chinese companies. KuaijiYanjiu (Accounting Research), (9), 25–35.McNichols, M.F. and Stubben, S.R., (2008). Does earnings management affect firms’ investment decisions?. The accounting review, 83(6), pp.1571-1603.Selahudin, N.F., Zakaria, N.B., & Sanusi, Z.M. (2014). Remodelling the earnings management with the appear- ance of leverage, financial distress and free cash flow: Malaysia and Thailand evidences. Journal of Applied Sciences, 14(21), 2644–2661.Skinner, D.J., & Sloan, R. (2002). Earnings surprises, growth expectations, and stock returns or don’t let an earnings torpedo sink your portfolio. Review of Accounting Studies, 7(2/3), 289–312.Sweeney, A.P., (1994). Debt-covenant violations and managers' accounting responses. Journal of Accounting & Economics, 17(3): 281-308.Trần Thị Thùy Linh, Mai Hoàng Hạnh (2015). Chất lượng báo cáo tài chính và kỳ hạn nợ ảnh hưởng đến hiệu quả hoạt động của doanh nghiệp Việt Nam, Tạp chí phát triển kinh tế, 10, tr.27-50.Trương Thị Thùy Dương (2017). Nâng cao chất lượng báo cáo tài chính công ty đại chúng, Tạp chí tài chính, 1(3), tr.55-56.Uwuigbe, Ranti, Bernard, (2015). Assessment of the effects of firm’s characteristics on earnings management of listed firms in Nigeria, Asian Economic and Financial Review,5(2):218-228.


Author(s):  
Mondher Fakhfakh

Timeliness of audit reports is a qualitative feature that enhances the usefulness of audited financial statements. As an emerging country, Tunisia has modernized its accounting legislation to enhance the quality of financial reporting. This legislation encourages independent auditors to optimize the transmission delays of audit reports. The authorities assume that the satisfaction of stakeholders is secured by regulating disclosure of audit reports. Our research analyses the date of issue of Tunisian audit reports and timeliness of audit information for shareholders and all users of financial statements (stakeholders). This paper provides new empirical evidence about the timeliness of audit reports in Tunisia. It holds two dates that influence the needs of users of financial statements: the date of signature of the auditors and the date of publication of the audit reports in the financial bulletin. The same article discusses the variability of the timeliness of audit reports and the factors that explain the delay information.


2014 ◽  
Vol 89 (6) ◽  
pp. 2115-2149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keith Czerney ◽  
Jaime J. Schmidt ◽  
Anne M. Thompson

ABSTRACT According to auditing standards, explanatory language added at the auditor's discretion to unqualified audit reports should not indicate increased financial misstatement risk. However, an auditor is unlikely to add language that would strain the auditor-client relationship absent concerns about the client's financial statements. Using a sample of 30,825 financial statements issued with unqualified audit opinions during 2000–2009, we find that financial statements with audit reports containing explanatory language are significantly more likely to be subsequently restated than financial statements without such language. We find that this positive association is driven by language that references the division of responsibility for performance of the audit, adoption of new accounting principles, and previous restatements. In addition, we find that (1) “emphasis of matter” language that discusses mergers, related-party transactions, and management's use of estimates predicts restatements related to these matters, and that (2) the financial statement accounts noted in the explanatory language typically correspond to the accounts subsequently restated. In sum, our results suggest that present-day audit reports communicate some information about financial reporting quality.


Author(s):  
Ahsan Habib ◽  
Haiyan Jiang ◽  
Donghua Zhou

This paper investigates the association between related-party transactions (RPTs) and stock price crash risk in China. Our investigation is motivated by the controversy in the RPT literature over whether RPTs are value enhancing or opportunistic. Through the lens of stock price crash risk, we reveal that RPTs may violate the arm’s-length assumption of regular market-based transactions, impairing the representational faithfulness and verifiability of accounting data and, consequently, increasing the risk of future price crash. Importantly, we find that this detrimental economic consequence of RPTs is driven by abnormal RPTs that are opportunistic in nature. Our analyses also extend to operating RPTs, related-party loans, and two types of opportunistic RPTs: tunneling and propping. The positive association between RPTs and stock price crash risk is not mediated by financial reporting quality, suggesting that the risk factors associated with RPTs are operational. Our main results remain robust to a series of tests done to address the potential endogeneity between RPTs and stock price crash risk.


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