Opinion Shopping to Avoid a Going Concern Audit Opinion and Subsequent Audit Quality

2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heesun Chung ◽  
Catherine Heyjung Sonu ◽  
Yoonseok Zang ◽  
Jong-Hag Choi

SUMMARY 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 two types of OS on audit quality measured by restatements. These results indicate that auditor switching for OS not only results in a higher likelihood of audit reporting failures but also impairs other dimensions of audit quality, while auditor retaining for OS has little adverse effect on audit quality.

2011 ◽  
Vol 101 (1) ◽  
pp. 207-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pilar Rodriguez ◽  
Zuriñe Maestre ◽  
Maite Martinez-Madrid ◽  
Trefor B. Reynoldson

2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan R. Berglund ◽  
John Daniel Eshleman ◽  
Peng Guo

SUMMARY Auditing theory predicts that larger auditors will be more likely to issue a going concern opinion to a distressed client. However, the existing empirical evidence on this issue is mixed. We attribute these mixed results to a failure to adequately control for clients' financial health. We demonstrate how properly controlling for clients' financial health reveals a positive relationship between auditor size and the propensity to issue a going concern opinion. We corroborate our findings by replicating a related study and showing how the results change when financial health variables are added to the model. In supplemental analysis, we find that Big 4 auditors are more likely than mid-tier auditors (Grant Thornton and BDO Seidman) to issue going concern opinions to distressed clients. We also find that, compared to other auditors, the Big 4 are less likely to issue false-positive (Type I error) going concern opinions. We find no evidence that the Big 4 are more or less likely to fail to issue a going concern opinion to a client that eventually files for bankruptcy (Type II error). Our results are robust to the use of a variety of matching techniques. JEL Classifications: M41; M42.


2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 185-208
Author(s):  
Qiao Xu ◽  
Rachana Kalelkar

SUMMARY This paper examines whether inaccurate going-concern opinions negatively affect the audit office's reputation. Assuming that clients perceive the incidence of going-concern opinion errors as a systematic audit quality concern within the entire audit office, we expect these inaccuracies to impact the audit office market share and dismissal rate. We find that going-concern opinion inaccuracy is negatively associated with the audit office market share and is positively associated with the audit office dismissal rate. Furthermore, we find that the decline in market share and the increase in dismissal rate are primarily associated with Type I errors. Additional analyses reveal that the negative consequence of going-concern opinion inaccuracy is lower for Big 4 audit offices. Finally, we find that the decrease in the audit office market share is explained by the distressed clients' reactions to Type I errors and audit offices' lack of ability to attract new clients.


2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 514-539
Author(s):  
Hongkang Xu ◽  
Mai Dao ◽  
Jia Wu

Purpose This study aims to examine the effect of real activities manipulation (RAM) on auditors’ decision of issuing going concern (GC) opinions for distressed companies. Design/methodology/approach This study estimates and examines three types of RAM: reduction of discretionary expenses, sales manipulation and overproduction. It investigates the effect of RAM on auditor reporting conservatism by including the three measures of RAM methods in logistic regressions that explain the issuance of going concern opinions. The authors perform the analysis specifically on distressed firms for 2004-2013 period. Findings This study finds a significant and positive association between RAM and the likelihood of receiving going concern opinion in the financial distressed firm sample, suggesting that client’s abnormal business activity affects the auditor reporting conservatism. Practical implications This study provides evidence that auditors make going concern reporting decisions in consideration of the client’s abnormal operating decisions and management’s opportunism. Originality/value Recent literature argues that auditors have little recourse other than to resign if a client uses RAM to impact earnings or the financial statements, and hence the enhanced audit quality in the post-SOX period is due to the shift from using accruals management to RAM (Cohen et al., 2008; Chi et al., 2011; Kim and Park, 2014). The evidence provided in this study indicates that auditors report more conservatively (rather than simply resign) in response to the aggressive RAM.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Panggah Wira Angkasa ◽  
Dewi Indriasih ◽  
Baihaqi Fanani

The Impact of Good Governance, Opinion Shopping, Quality Audit and Audit Client Tenure Application towards Going Concern Opinion Audit Acceptance (Empirical Studies on Infrastructure Services Company, Utility, and Transportation which Registered at Indonesian Stock Exchange (ISE) during 2013 – 2017 Period). Essay. Tegal: Economic & Business Faculty, Pancasakti University Tegal. 2018. The aim of this research is to finding out the impact of institutional ownership, independent commissioner, committee audit, opinion shopping, quality audit, audit client tenure towards going concern’s opinion audit on infrastructure services company, utility, and transportation which registered at ISE during 2013 – 2017 period. The population in this research are infrastructure services company, utility, and transportation which registered at ISE during 2013 – 2017 period and the sample determination by using purposive sampling method, so within the result obtained 15 company’s samples. The data analysis method used is logistic regression analysis. Based on logistic regression analytic, the research result concluded that institutional ownership (0,109), audit committee (0,429), opinion shopping (0,607), and quality audit (0,998) are not affecting the going concern opinion audit. Meanwhile, the independent commissioner (0,006), and audit client tenure (0,004) are affecting the going concern opinion audit. Keywords: going concern, opinion audit, institutional ownership, independent commissioner, committee audit, opinion shopping, quality audit, audit client tenure


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Averio

PurposeIt is argued that the going concern opinion is issued if auditors have a doubt about financial condition of a company. Provision of the going concern audit opinion may worsen the company in terms of gaining public trust and may even indicate bankruptcy. This study aims to determine the factors that affect the auditor's going concern opinion.Design/methodology/approachThis research used secondary data obtained from annual reports and independent audit reports published by the Indonesia Stock Exchange. The population of this research included manufacturing firms registered in the Indonesia Stock Exchange from 2015 to 2019. The sample after the purposive sampling technique being applied consisted of 33 companies. The data were analyzed using logistic regression performed in the statistical analysis software, SPSS 24.0.FindingsThe results indicated that leverage positively affected the going concern audit opinion, then the audit quality, profitability and liquidity negatively affected the going concern audit opinion, whereas firm size and audit lag did not affect the going concern audit opinion.Originality/valueThis study is in contrast to several existing studies on the determinants of the auditor's going concern opinion and provides knowledge on developing more factors affecting the auditor's going concern opinion.


2002 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimberly A. Dunn ◽  
Christine E. L. Tan ◽  
Elizabeth K. Venuti

2012 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junaidi ◽  
Setiyono Miharjo ◽  
Bambang Hartadi

Reduced auditor independence and the rise of corporate accounting manipulations have caused trust of the users in audited financial statements to begin to decline, so users of financial statements are questioning whether public accountants are independent parties. This research issue is related to the Decree of the Minister of Finance No. 17 in 2008 about public accountant services. Giving attestation services, in the form of financial statements about an entity, are conducted by the audit firm for no longer than 6 consecutive fiscal years and by a public accountant for 3 consecutive fiscal years at the longest. The purpose of this research is to examine empirically the influence of auditor tenure on audit quality. Auditor tenure is measured as the length of the auditor-client relationship. Audit quality is measured by the propensity of auditors to issue a going-concern opinion. This study uses a sample of firms listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange during the 2003-2008 period. Research analysis uses logit model to measure the effect of auditor tenure on the auditors’ propensity to publish a going-concern opinion. The hypothesis which states that the length of auditor tenure influences negatively the propensity of auditors to issue a going-concern opinion is statistically supported. This research is expected to provide empirical evidence about the importance of limiting of the auditor-client relationship.       


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