Audit Fees, Nonaudit Fees, and Auditor Reporting on Stressed Companies

2003 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 53-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marshall A. Geiger ◽  
Dasaratha V. Rama
Keyword(s):  
Audit Committee ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Manufacturing Companies ◽  
Significant Positive Association ◽  
Going Concern ◽  
Reporting Decisions ◽  
Nonaudit Services ◽  
Audit Opinions ◽  
Auditor Reporting

The SEC and legislators have expressed concerns that independence may be negatively impacted if auditors perform significant nonaudit services for their audit clients, and that providing lucrative nonaudit services to clients may make it more likely that auditors will “see things the client's way.” Such concerns are particularly salient in the context of issues that involve significant auditor judgment, as in the case of reporting decisions related to going-concern uncertainties for financially stressed clients. In this study we examine the association between the magnitude of audit and nonaudit fees and auditor report modification decisions for financially stressed manufacturing companies. In our analysis we control for financial stress, company size, reporting lag, default status, audit committee effectiveness, and management plans. The results indicate a significant positive association between the magnitude of audit fees and the likelihood of receiving a going-concern modified audit opinion, but we find no significant association between nonaudit fees and audit opinions. Additional analyses also find no significant relationship between the ratio of nonaudit service fees to audit fees and reporting decisions, and indicate that our results are robust across alternative model, variable, and sample specifications. We also control for the potential endogeneity of audit opinions, audit fees, and nonaudit fees, and find the same positive association of audit fees with opinions, but no association between nonaudit fees and audit opinions. Overall, we find no evidence of a significant adverse effect of nonaudit fees on auditor reporting judgments for our sample of distressed companies.

The effect of real activities manipulation on going concern audit opinions for financially distressed companies

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 514-539
Author(s):  
Hongkang Xu ◽  
Mai Dao ◽  
Jia Wu
Keyword(s):  
Audit Quality ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Going Concern ◽  
Accruals Management ◽  
Reporting Decisions ◽  
Going Concern Opinion ◽  
Distressed Firms ◽  
Real Activities Manipulation ◽  
Auditor Reporting

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.

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.

Reexamining the influence of large clients on office-level auditor reporting decisions

2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-16
Author(s):  
Lucy Lim
Keyword(s):  
Big Five ◽  
Logistic Model ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Going Concern ◽  
Discretionary Accrual ◽  
Reporting Decisions ◽  
Auditor Reporting ◽  
Office Level

Purpose – This paper revisits the Reynolds and Francis’ (2001) study via the use of a more current dataset, incorporation of improvements into the accrual model and the use of actual fee data vs estimates. Using the improved analyses, the purpose of this paper is to examine whether more conservative auditors’ reports on larger clients are still evident. Design/methodology/approach – The paper follows Reynolds and Francis (2001) in using a regression model with White-adjusted t-statistics for the discretionary accrual model and a logistic model for going concern analysis. The most current discretionary accrual model is used to improve the original model, use actual fee data (not available previously), and add analyses using the two components of total fees (i.e. audit and non-audit fees). Findings – As opposed to Reynolds and Francis (2001), the results show that the Big Five auditors are less conservative with higher-paying clients as they allow their clients to have more discretionary accruals. While Reynolds and Francis (2001) found that auditors are more likely to report going concern opinions for higher-paying clients, the results in this paper does not show any difference in the propensity of auditors to issue going concern opinions. Originality/value – This study replicates Reynolds and Francis (2001) using more recent US data, applying the most recent discretionary accrual model, using the actual fee data, and adding analyses using total fees decomposition.

Recent Changes in the Association between Bankruptcies and Prior Audit Opinions

2005 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marshall A. Geiger ◽  
K. Raghunandan ◽  
Dasaratha V. Rama
Keyword(s):  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Recovery Period ◽  
Client Characteristics ◽  
Going Concern ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Sarbanes Oxley ◽  
Reporting Decisions ◽  
Audit Opinions ◽  
Auditor Reporting ◽  
The U.S

The intense legislative and media scrutiny after a series of high-profile corporate failures, coupled with the paradigm shift in the regulation of the auditing profession brought forth by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, suggests that auditors' decisions would be more conservative in the period after December 2001. Based on analyses of 226 financially stressed companies that entered bankruptcy during the period from 2000 to 2003, we find that auditors are more likely to issue going-concern modified audit opinions in the period after December 2001. Since the post-December 2001 period coincides with recovery from a recession in the U.S., we also examine prior audit opinions for 93 companies entering bankruptcy in 1991 and 1992. We find that auditors were also more likely to issue prior going-concern modified audit opinions in 2002–03 than in the earlier recession recovery period. Following the technique used in Francis and Krishnan (2002), we document that the increase in going-concern modification rates for bankrupt companies after December 2001 is due to changes in auditor reporting decisions and not solely due to differences in client characteristics between the time periods studied.

scholarly journals Relationship Analysis of Corporate Governance Mechanisms, Audit Fees, and Financial Report Quality in Indonesia

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3.21) ◽  
pp. 73
Author(s):  
Dody Hapsoro ◽  
. .
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Board Of Directors ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Manufacturing Companies ◽  
Governance Mechanisms ◽  
Financial Report ◽  
Relationship Analysis ◽  
Report Quality ◽  
Corporate Governance Mechanisms

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of corporate governance mechanisms on the financial reporting quality and examine the effect of corporate governance mechanisms on audit fees. In addition, this study also aimed to examine the effect of audit fees on the financial report quality. The sample in this study is manufacturing companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (BEI) in the period 2014 and 2015. The total sample is 144 companies. Data analysis was performed using Partial Least Squares (PLS). The results of this study show that the proportion of independent commissioners and audit committee from the board of commissioners and audit committee negatively affect audit fees; the proportion of independent commissioners and audit committee from the board of commissioners, audit committee, and board of directors negatively affect audit fees; the proportion of independent commissioners and audit committee from the board of commissioners and audit committee do not positively affect the financial report quality; the proportion of independent commissioners and audit committee from the board of commissioners, audit committee, and board of directors do not positively affect the financial report quality; and audit fees negatively affects the financial report quality.  

scholarly journals Audit committee compensation, best practices and audit fees

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bum-Jin Park
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Regression Models ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Audit Quality ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
High Quality ◽  
The Relationship

Background: It is extremely important that an audit committee (AC) monitors a company’s financial reporting process, and that the committee engages a high-quality auditor to carry this out effectively. Prior research on ACs has paid much attention to the relationship between AC best practices and audit fees (AF). Although compensation is a means of aligning interests between ACs and stakeholders, previous studies have neglected the complementary interaction between AC compensation and compliance with best practices on audit quality.Objectives: The purpose of this study is to investigate how compensation for ACs affects AF, and how the association is moderated by compliance with best practices to capture effective monitoring.Method: The regression models are estimated to verify how the relationship between AC compensation and AF is moderated by AC compliance with best practice. Moreover, the logistic regression models are used to investigate how the relationship between AC compensation and the opportunistic achievement of earnings goals is moderated by AC compliance with best practice.Results: The findings show a positive association between the levels of compensation AC members receive and AF, which is reinforced in firms that have ACs that comply with all best practices.Conclusion: The results suggest that highly paid ACs engage high-quality auditors to complement their function of monitoring management and AC compensation and compliance with best practices are complementary to enhance audit quality. This study thus provides the interesting insights that can be applicable to countries with requirements relating to the compensation schemes for ACs or the formation of the AC.

scholarly journals Audit Committee’s Role in Moderating the Effect of Financial Distress Towards Going Concern Audit Opinion

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 432
Author(s):  
Anna Kania Widiatami ◽  
Nanny Dewi Tanzil ◽  
Cahya Irawadi ◽  
Ahmad Nurkhin
Keyword(s):  
Financial Distress ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Supervisory Board ◽  
Financial Statements ◽  
Audit Opinion ◽  
External Auditors ◽  
Going Concern ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Audit Opinions ◽  
Relationship Of

Auditors are required to provide services in auditing financial statements presented by management and provide audit opinions on the fairness of the presentation of financial statements. Sometimes, in reality, management and auditors have their interests so that each party can achieve the goals. The conflict of interest appears on the independence of the auditor in issuing audit opinions, especially the audit opinion with the going concern explanatory paragraph. The audit committee, as a supervisory board, will continue to maintain the independence of the auditor in issuing audit opinions with the going concern explanatory paragraph. This study aims to examine the effectiveness of the audit committee in maintaining the independence of external auditors issuing audit opinions, especially the audit opinion with the going concern explanatory paragraph. Based on the purposive sampling method obtained a sample of 168 companies. Testing the hypothesis in this study using logistic regression and moderated regression analysis. The results showed that financial distress had a significant negative effect for the audit opinion with going concern explanatory paragraph. Furthermore, the audit committee was not able to strenghten the relationship of financial distress on the audit opinion with a going-concern explanatory paragraph.

Going-Concern Audit Opinions and the Provision of Nonaudit Services: Implications for Auditor Independence of Bankrupt Firms

2009 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Callaghan ◽  
Mohinder Parkash ◽  
Rajeev Singhal
Keyword(s):  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Managerial Incentives ◽  
Auditor Independence ◽  
Empirical Question ◽  
Going Concern ◽  
Nonaudit Services ◽  
Auditor Fees ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The U.S

SUMMARY: Researchers in the area of auditor independence have examined the relationship between auditors' opinions and auditor-provided services. While DeFond et al. (2002) and Geiger and Rama (2003) fail to find auditor impairment for distressed U.S. companies, Sharma (2001) and Sharma and Sidhu (2001) find a negative relationship between the likelihood of a going-concern (GC) opinion and nonaudit fees paid to auditors for bankrupt Australian companies. These conflicting results may arise from jurisdictional differences between Australia and the U.S. or differential managerial incentives and firm costs between distressed and bankrupt firms. In light of these differences, an empirical question exists as to whether the results of the Australian studies will obtain in the U.S. We examine the relationship between the propensity of auditors to render GC opinions and nonaudit fees (and other auditor fees) for a sample of bankrupt U.S. firms. We do not observe any association between GC opinions and nonaudit fees, audit fees, total fees, or the ratio of nonaudit fees to total fees.

scholarly journals The Analysis of Factors Affecting the Amount of Audit Fee with Type of Public Accountant Office as a Moderating Variable in Manufacturing Companies Listed on the IDX for the 2013-2019 Period

2022 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-99
Author(s):  
Nova Kharlinda ◽  
Iskandar Muda ◽  
Keulana Erwin
Keyword(s):  
Firm Size ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Manufacturing Companies ◽  
Audit Report ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Analysis Technique ◽  
Audit Fee ◽  
Public Accountant

This study analyzes the factors influencing the number of audit fees in manufacturing companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange in 2013 – 2019. The number of audit fees depends on several factors that influence it. The Indonesian Institute of Certified Public Accountants has determined the minimum standard of audit fees charged to auditee companies but does not include a substantial total cost and tends to fluctuate and vary. This study uses the audit committee, audit report lag, and firm size as independent variables, the type of public accounting firm as the moderating variable, and audit fee as the dependent variable. This study uses causal associative as the research design. The data was collected by collecting data on the company's financial statements from 2013 to 2019. The study population was 176 manufacturing companies whose samples were taken using the purposive sampling method. The number of research samples was 20, with 140 observations. The data analysis technique uses Studio R's panel analysis regression model as the test tool. The results showed that the Audit Committee, audit report lag, and firm size each had a significant positive effect on the audit fee's value and jointly had a significant impact on the audit fee. The type of public accountant office is not a moderating variable. Keywords: audit fee, audit committee, audit report lag, firm size, public accountant office.

Going Concern Opinion and Cost of Equity

2014 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keval Amin ◽  
Jagan Krishnan ◽  
Joon Sun Yang
Keyword(s):  
Positive Association ◽  
Equity Capital ◽  
Cost Of Equity Capital ◽  
Cost Of Equity ◽  
Significant Positive Association ◽  
Audit Opinion ◽  
Going Concern ◽  
Going Concern Opinion ◽  
Distressed Firms ◽  
The Cost

SUMMARY: Prior studies document a negative market reaction to going concern opinions. We extend this literature by focusing on the link between the going concern opinion and the cost of equity capital. Using two different samples (one comprising distressed firms and the other matched on propensity score), we document a significant positive association between the issuance of the going concern opinion and the firm's subsequent cost of equity capital. This result is robust to sensitivity tests using various subsamples, time periods, and multiple methods for computing the cost of equity capital. We also examine the association between changes in the audit opinion (going concern to clean opinion and vice versa) and subsequent changes in cost of equity. We find that the cost of equity increases between 3.3 percent and 5.7 percent for firms that receive a first-time going concern opinion. This evidence illuminates the relevance of going concern opinions and the value of the information embedded in them.

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