scholarly journals Disproportionate Insider Control and the Demand for Audit Quality

2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 171-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arno Forst ◽  
Barry R. Hettler
Keyword(s):  
Firm Value ◽  
Audit Quality ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Auditor Independence ◽  
Negative Association ◽  
External Monitoring ◽  
Big 4 ◽  
Cash Flow Rights ◽  
Dual Class ◽  
The Relationship

SUMMARY We examine the relationship between disproportionate insider control, enabled through dual-class share structures, and the demand for audit quality. Using a comprehensive hand-collected sample of U.S. dual-class firms, we find that, consistent with outside shareholders' increased demand for external monitoring, as well as self-bonding by entrenched insiders, disproportionate insider control is positively associated with the propensity to hire a Big 4 or industry specialist auditor, auditor independence, and audit fees. Corroborating a self-bonding explanation, additional analyses show that audit quality mitigates the negative association of disproportionate insider control and firm value. In expanded analyses, we also investigate the separate effects of insider voting and cash flow rights on the demand for audit quality in dual-class firms. Consistent with general agency theory, we find a decreased (increased) demand for audit quality from incentive-alignment (entrenchment) effects of ownership.

Auditor Fees and Auditor Independence—Evidence from Going Concern Reporting Decisions in Germany

2013 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 129-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole V. S. Ratzinger-Sakel
Keyword(s):  
Audit Quality ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Auditor Independence ◽  
Litigation Risk ◽  
Manufacturing Companies ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Going Concern ◽  
Big 4 ◽  
Reporting Decisions ◽  
Auditor Fees

SUMMARY This study examines the potential for non-audit services to impair auditor independence using going concern modifications as a proxy for audit quality. While prior research has focused primarily on Anglo-Saxon environments, this study focuses on Germany because of the country's unique reporting attributes and lower litigation risk when compared to Anglo-Saxon settings. Based on a sample of financially stressed manufacturing companies during the period 2005–2009, the results do not suggest that German auditors are less independent when the level of non-audit fees is high. However, there is some evidence that Big 4 audit firms are less likely than their non-Big 4 counterparts to issue a going concern emphasis-of-matter paragraph for engagements characterized by both relatively high levels of non-audit fees and financial stress.

The effect of audit engagement partner professional experience on audit quality and audit fees: early evidence from Form AP disclosure

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chenyong Liu ◽  
Chunhao Xu
Keyword(s):  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Audit Quality ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Least Square ◽  
Professional Experience ◽  
Accounting Firms ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Big 4 ◽  
The Relationship

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the effect of audit engagement partner's professional experience on audit quality. The authors also investigate the relationship between the audit partner's experience and audit fees in both Big 4 and non-Big 4 accounting firms.Design/methodology/approachSince the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) officially enacted Rule 3211 in 2017, US accounting firms are required to disclose detailed information of engagement partners in Form AP (PCAOB, 2015b). The authors obtained a sample of 2,283 audit partners from Form AP and hand collected their individual professional experience data through Certified Public Accountant (CPA) database, corporate disclosure and social media sites (e.g. Linkedin). Econometric models with fixed effects are used in this study to test our hypotheses. Two-stage least square (2SLS) model is used in the robustness test.FindingsThe authors find that the relationship between audit engagement partner's professional experience and audit quality is concave. It indicates that audit quality is increasing during the early stage of engagement partners' career and then decreases as the partners approaching the late-career phase. Further, the authors find that partner's professional experience is positively associated with audit fees in non-Big 4 accounting firms but not significantly associated with audit fees in Big 4 accounting firms.Practical implicationsThe finding of how auditor experience impacts audit quality can be useful for accounting firms to better plan their staffing in auditing engagements. This study’s results are also helpful for small accounting firms to optimize their pricing strategy.Originality/valueThis study provides new empirical evidence about the relation between auditor professional experience and audit quality. Furthermore, the authors extend the literature of audit fee determinants by testing the joint effects of audit firm-level factors and auditor individual-level professional experience on audit fees.

scholarly journals Effect Of Corporate Governance On The Association Between Book-Tax Differences And Audit Quality: Evidence From Korea

2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 1097-1114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyunmin Oh ◽  
Sambock Park ◽  
Soonwook Hong
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Interaction Effect ◽  
Audit Quality ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Negative Association ◽  
Significant Positive Association ◽  
Social Proof ◽  
The Relationship

We investigate whether auditors input additional audit hours according to the sizes of book-tax differences (hereinafter BTD) and request additional audit fees for additional audit hours. In addition, the interaction effects of corporate governance on the relationships between BTD and audit hours/audit fees are examined using the total corporate governance (TCG) scores, data from the Korea Corporate Governance Service (KCGS). We predict that since auditors have the incentive and ability to consider BTD, audit hours and audit fees will increase when BTD are larger. Empirical results of our study are as follows. First, BTD and audit hours (LnAH) show a negative (-) association that is not statistically significant. Second, audit fees (LnAF) were shown to increase along with BTD. This can be interpreted as a result of requests for additional audit fees for increased audit risks due to individual firms' BTD. Third, the interaction effect of corporate governance on the relationship between BTD and audit hours (LnAH) showed a positive (+) association, but the association was not statistically significant. Fourth, the interaction effect of corporate governance on the relationship between BTD and audit fees (LnAF) showed a statistically significant positive (+) association. This be understood as meaning that firms with better governance make more efforts for financial reporting in order to maintain their reliability in the market. This study contributes to the literature in several important aspects. First, it empirically demonstrates whether auditors properly reflect BTD on audit risks. Next, our study is analyzes the effects of corporate governance on the relationship between BTD and audit hours/audit fees using the total corporate governance (TCG) scores presented by the Korea Corporate Governance Service (KCGS). Finally, our findings empirically showed social proof function of accounting audits as a strategy to reduce information risks. 

Spatial Competition in Local Audit Markets and the Fallout on Deloitte from the 2007 PCAOB Censure

2016 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeff P. Boone ◽  
Inder K. Khurana ◽  
K. K. Raman
Keyword(s):  
Market Power ◽  
Audit Quality ◽  
Spatial Competition ◽  
Spatial Location ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Audit Market ◽  
Big 4 ◽  
Audit Fee ◽  
The Face ◽  
Market Leader

SUMMARY We examine whether Deloitte's spatial location in local audit markets affected the firm's adverse fallout—in terms of decreased ability to retain new clients and maintain audit fees—from the 2007 PCAOB censure. We motivate our inquiry by the notion that auditor-client alignment and auditor-closest-competitor distance can help differentiate the incumbent Big 4 auditor from other Big 4 auditors and thus provide market power, i.e., inhibit clients from shopping for another supplier because of the lack of a similar Big 4 provider in the local audit market. Consequently, it seems reasonable that the increase in switching risk and loss of fee growth suffered by Deloitte following the 2007 PCAOB censure will be lower in local markets where Deloitte was the market leader and its market share distance from its closest competitor was greater. Our findings suggest that the decline in Deloitte's audit fee growth rate following the 2007 PCAOB censure was concentrated in the pharmaceutical industry, although the client loss rate appears to have occurred more broadly (across all cities and industries). Collectively, our findings suggest that audit quality issues override auditor market power, i.e., differentiation does not provide Big 4 firms market power in the face of adverse regulatory action. JEL Classifications: G18; L51; M42; M49.

Did the 2005 Deferred Prosecution Agreement Adversely Impact KPMG's Audit Practice?

2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Baugh ◽  
Jeff P. Boone ◽  
Inder K. Khurana ◽  
K. K. Raman
Keyword(s):  
Service Provider ◽  
Audit Quality ◽  
Spillover Effect ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Department Of Justice ◽  
Big 4 ◽  
Tax Shelters

SUMMARY We examine the consequences of misconduct in a Big 4 firm's nonaudit practice for its audit practice. Specifically, we examine whether KPMG's audit practice suffered a loss of audit fees and clients and/or a decline in factual audit quality following the 2005 deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with the Department of Justice for marketing questionable tax shelters. We find little evidence that the DPA adversely impacted KPMG's audit practice by way of either audit fees or the likelihood of client gains/losses, suggesting little or no harm to KPMG's audit reputation. We also find that the DPA had no effect on the firm's factual audit quality, even for those audit clients that dropped KPMG as their tax service provider. Collectively, our findings suggest that there was no spillover effect from the DPA to KPMG's audit practice. Data Availability: All data are publicly available.

Corporate political connections, agency costs and audit quality

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 357-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arifur Khan ◽  
Dessalegn Getie Mihret ◽  
Mohammad Badrul Muttakin
Keyword(s):  
Agency Costs ◽  
Audit Quality ◽  
Agency Cost ◽  
Political Connections ◽  
Political Connection ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Research Attention ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Big 4 ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose The effect of political connections of agency costs has attracted considerable research attention due to the increasing recognition of the fact that political connection influences corporate decisions and outcomes. This paper aims to explore the association between corporate political connections and agency cost and examine whether audit quality moderates this association. Design/methodology/approach A data set of Bangladeshi listed non-financial companies is used. A usable sample of 968 firm-year observations was drawn for the period from 2005 to 2013. Asset utilisation ratio, the interaction of Tobin’s Q and free cash flow and expense ratio are used as alternative proxies for agency costs; membership to Big 4 audit firms or local associates of Big 4 firms is used as a proxy for audit quality. Findings Results show that politically connected firms exhibit higher agency costs than their unconnected counterparts, and audit quality moderates the relationship between political connection and agency costs. The results of this paper suggest the importance of audit quality to mitigate agency problem in an emerging economic setting. Research limitations/implications The findings of this paper could be of interest to regulators wishing to focus regulatory effort on significant issues influencing stock market efficiency. The findings could also inform auditors in directing audit effort through a more complete assessment of risk and determining reasonable levels of audit fees. Finally, results could inform financial statement users to direct investments to firms with lower agency costs. Originality/value To the knowledge of the authors, this study is one of the first to explore the relationship between political connection and agency costs, and the moderating effect of audit quality of this relationship.

scholarly journals Kualitas Audit: Ditinjau dari Fee Audit, Risiko Audit dan Skeptisme Profesional Auditor sebagai Variabel Moderating

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Muslim Muslim ◽  
Syamsuri Rahim ◽  
Muhammad Faisal AR Pelu ◽  
Alma Pratiwi
Keyword(s):  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Audit Quality ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Public Accounting ◽  
Audit Risk ◽  
Accounting Firms ◽  
Professional Skepticism ◽  
Audit Fee ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Positive Effect

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of audit fees and audit risk on audit quality with auditor professional skepticism as a moderating variable. This research was conducted at 8 public accounting firms in Makassar city with 40 respondents. The analytical method used is multiple regression analysis (Moderated Regression Analysis) which is used to measure the strength of the relationship between two or more variables. The results of this study found that the audit fee variable had a negative and not significant effect on audit quality. These results illustrate that the higher the audit fee received by the auditor, the audit quality will decrease. While audit risk is not a significant positive effect on audit quality. The results of this study illustrate that the higher the audit risk, the audit quality will decrease. The auditor's professional skepticism as a moderating variable is not able to strengthen the effect of audit fees on audit quality. Furthermore, auditor professional skepticism as a moderating variable is also unable to strengthen the effect of audit risk on audit quality

Ownership structure and audit quality: the mediating effect of board independence

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Moncef Guizani ◽  
Gaafar Abdalkrim
Keyword(s):  
Ownership Structure ◽  
Audit Quality ◽  
Institutional Ownership ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Mediating Effect ◽  
Board Independence ◽  
Government Ownership ◽  
Content Type ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose This study aims to examine the mediating effect of board independence on the relationship between ownership structure and audit quality. Design/methodology/approach The research uses generalized methods of moments regression to test the relationship between ownership structure and audit quality. The sample consists of 162 non-financial firms listed on the Gulf Cooperation Council stock markets between the years of 2009 and 2016. To test the significance of the mediating effect, this paper uses the Sobel test. Findings Empirical findings show that companies with higher family ownership are less likely to demand extensive audit services and, as a result, pay lower audit fees. Conversely, this study finds that companies with higher active and passive institutional ownership are more likely to engage high-quality auditors and pay larger audit fees. As for government ownership, it has no significant impact on audit fees. The results also reveal that the negative (positive) effect of family (institutional) ownership on audit quality follows the path through reducing (enhancing) board independence. Further tests are conducted and support the main findings. Practical implications This study has important implications for policymakers and regulators to address the conflict between controlling shareholders and minorities by promoting higher standards of audit quality. The study findings may be useful to investors, assisting them in making better-informed decisions and aids other interested parties in gaining a better understanding of the role played by ownership structure in audit quality. The study also contributes to the strategic board behavior by bringing a new perspective on how boards engage in monitoring by requesting external audit services. This behavior is likely to be influenced by the type of controlling shareholder. Originality/value The main contribution of the present paper is to examine the board composition as a potential mediating variable between ownership structure and audit quality. Moreover, it highlights the issue of improving governance mechanisms.

The effect of engagement partner workload on audit quality

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (8) ◽  
pp. 1068-1091
Author(s):  
Yun Cheng ◽  
Christine M. Haynes ◽  
Michael D. Yu
Keyword(s):  
Audit Quality ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Big 4 ◽  
The Us ◽  
Performance Benchmarks ◽  
Partner Characteristics ◽  
Partner Firm ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose Auditing studies have shifted the research focus from the audit firm level to the individual audit partner level in recent years. Motivated by the call from Lennox and Wu (2018) to explore the effect of audit partners’ characteristics on audit quality in the US, this study aims to develop a new measure of engagement partner workload (EPW), which includes both the size and number of clients audited to test the effect of EPW on audit quality. This study also examines the moderating effect of the partner firm size on audit quality. Design/methodology/approach To test the effect of the EPW on audit quality, this study runs multivariate regressions of EPW on each specific client’s discretionary accruals and audit report delays. This study also runs a logistic regression of EPW on clients’ probability of having small profit increases to meet performance benchmarks. Findings Results of the hypotheses show that partner workload is positively related to audit quality. The results indicate that partners with larger, but fewer, clients conduct higher quality audits. Further analysis indicates that the relationship between partner workload and audit quality only holds for partners from the non-Big 4 firms. Originality/value This study contributes to the literatures of both audit quality and audit partner characteristics, and the results complement initial research aimed at identifying US partner-related characteristics that influence audit quality.

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