Do Industry-Specialist Auditors Influence Stock Price Crash Risk?

2014 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 47-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashok J. Robin ◽  
Hao Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Stock Price ◽  
Audit Quality ◽  
Tax Avoidance ◽  
Accounting Conservatism ◽  
Crash Risk ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Industry Specialization ◽  
Auditor Industry Specialization ◽  
Governance Roles ◽  
Industry Specialist

SUMMARY Francis (2011) calls for more research on “the effect of audit quality on economic outcomes.” We respond by examining whether high-quality auditors reduce stock price crash risk, an important consideration for stock investors. We argue that high-quality auditors reduce crash risk because of their information intermediary and corporate governance roles. Using a large sample of U.S. stocks spanning the period 1990–2009, we examine the issue empirically by using auditor industry specialization as our proxy for auditor quality. Our main finding is a statistically significant and negative association between auditor industry specialization and stock price crash risk, implying that high-quality auditors can directly benefit investors by reducing tail risk. In addition, we provide evidence that industry-specialist auditors moderate the effects of opacity, accounting conservatism, and tax avoidance on crash risk. Finally, our main finding of a negative relation between auditor industry specialization and crash risk is robust to using city-level industry specialization as an alternate measure. JEL Classifications: G19; G32; M42.

National Level, City Level Auditor Industry Specialization and Cost of Debt

2010 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 395-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chan Li ◽  
Yuan Xie ◽  
Jian Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Audit Quality ◽  
Credit Rating ◽  
National Level ◽  
Debt Financing ◽  
Cost Of Debt ◽  
Industry Specialization ◽  
Auditor Industry Specialization ◽  
Debt Capital ◽  
Bond Spreads ◽  
Industry Specialist

SYNOPSIS: We examine the relation between industry specialist auditors and cost-of-debt financing using a national and city level industry specialist framework. Consistent with the assumption that higher audit quality is associated with lower information risk, which benefits clients in raising debt capital, we find that firms audited by city level industry specialist auditors, either alone or jointly with national level industry specialist auditors, enjoy significantly lower cost-of-debt financing measured by both credit rating and bond spread. Our results suggest that, compared to clients of non-industry specialists, firms’ odds of worse credit ratings are 0.859 (0.664) times lower, and their bond spreads are 17 (16) basis points lower if they are clients of city-level-only (joint national and city level) industry specialists. In addition, our evidence shows that, for joint national and city level industry specialists, both information and insurance roles are significant to reduce cost-of-debt financing.

An Effect of Tax Avoidance and Industry Specialist Auditors on Stock Price Crash Risk

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 173-212
Author(s):  
Kyung－Hwa Kim ◽  
Soon－Chang Kwon ◽  
Hyung－Kook Kim
Keyword(s):  
Stock Price ◽  
Tax Avoidance ◽  
Crash Risk ◽  
Industry Specialist

Auditor Industry Specialization and Earnings Quality

2003 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 71-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Balsam ◽  
Jagan Krishnan ◽  
Joon S. Yang
Keyword(s):  
Audit Quality ◽  
Earnings Quality ◽  
Discretionary Accruals ◽  
Prior Work ◽  
Brand Name ◽  
Absolute Level ◽  
Industry Specialization ◽  
Earnings Response Coefficients ◽  
Auditor Industry Specialization ◽  
Earnings Response

This study examines the association between measures of earnings quality and auditor industry specialization. Prior work has examined the association between auditor brand name and earnings quality, using auditor brand name to proxy for audit quality. Recent work has hypothesized that auditor industry specialization also contributes to audit quality. Extending this literature, we compare the absolute level of discretionary accruals (DAC) and earnings response coefficients (ERC) of firms audited by industry specialists with those of firms not audited by industry specialists. We restrict our study to clients of Big 6 (and later Big 5) auditors to control for brand name. Because industry specialization is unobservable, we use multiple proxies for it. After controlling for variables established in prior work to be related to DAC and the ERC, we find clients of industry specialist auditors have lower DAC and higher ERC than clients of nonspecialist auditors. This finding is consistent with clients of industry specialists having higher earnings quality than clients of nonspecialists.

Audit Quality and the Market Value of Cash Holdings: The Case of Office-Level Auditor Industry Specialization

2014 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 27-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeong-Bon Kim ◽  
Jay Junghun Lee ◽  
Jong Chool Park
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Firm Value ◽  
Capital Investment ◽  
Audit Quality ◽  
Cash Holdings ◽  
Market Value ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Value Of Cash ◽  
Office Level ◽  
Industry Specialist

SUMMARY This study investigates the monitoring role of high-quality auditors defined as office-level industry specialists in the stock market valuation of cash assets. We find that the market value of cash holdings is significantly higher for the client of an industry specialist auditor. The marginal value of cash is 34 cents higher for the client of a joint-industry specialist at both the national and city levels than for the client of a nonspecialist. We also find that cash holdings are more closely associated with capital investment and the market value of capital investment is significantly higher when the auditor is a joint-industry specialist. Moreover, we find that the value of cash increases significantly when the client changes its auditor to a joint-industry specialist. Our findings hold even after controlling for the client's governance efficacy and financial reporting quality. Our results provide new insight into the mechanism through which high-quality audits affect firm value: External audits facilitate shareholders' monitoring over managerial cash expenditures, thereby leading market participants to attach a higher value to cash holdings.

Brand Capital and Stock Price Crash Risk

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mostafa Monzur Hasan ◽  
Grantley Taylor ◽  
Grant Richardson
Keyword(s):  
Stock Price ◽  
Strong Predictor ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Tax Avoidance ◽  
Crash Risk ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Machine Learning Approach ◽  
Alternative Measures ◽  
Brand Capital ◽  
Earnings Performance

We examine the relationship between brand capital and stock price crash risk. Crash risk, defined as the negative skewness in the distribution of returns for individual stocks, captures asymmetry in risk, and has important implications for investment choices and risk management. Using a sample of 39,685 publicly listed U.S. firm-year observations covering 1975 to 2018, we show that brand capital is significantly and negatively related to crash risk. We also use an advanced machine learning approach and confirm that brand capital is a strong predictor of future stock price crashes. Our cross-sectional analyses show that this negative relationship is more evident for subsamples with transitory poor earnings performance or persistent good earnings performance, greater corporate tax avoidance, and weak corporate governance structures. The results survive numerous robustness tests, including the use of alternative measures of brand capital, crash risk, and several endogeneity tests. In sum, our findings are consistent with agency theory, suggesting that high levels of brand capital expose firms to investor and customer scrutiny, which reduces managerial opportunistic behavior that may include the accumulation and concealment of negative information. This paper was accepted by Karl Diether, finance.

scholarly journals The effect of auditor characteristics on tax avoidance of Iranian companies

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahdi Salehi ◽  
Hossein Tarighi ◽  
Tahereh Alidoust Shahri
Keyword(s):  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Emerging Market ◽  
Tax Avoidance ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Industry Specialization ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Auditor Industry Specialization ◽  
Auditor Tenure ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Auditor Characteristics

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between auditor characteristics and the level of tax avoidance in an emerging market. Design/methodology/approach In this regard, the effect of various factors such as auditor tenure, auditor industry specialization, audit reports and audit fees on tax avoidance was examined. The study sample includes listed companies in the Tehran Stock Exchange. The time period of study is six years from 2011 to 2016. Also in this study, firm size, leverage, firm age and auditor size were controlled. Findings The results of this research were determined in four hypotheses. First and second hypotheses that explore the relationship between auditor tenure and auditor industry specialization with tax avoidance were not confirmed. But the results showed a significant relationship between the type of audit opinions and audit fees with tax avoidance. Originality/value The current study investigates the auditor characteristics on tax avoidance in a developing nation of Iran and the results may helpful the developing countries.

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