A New Approach to Estimating the Relation between Audit Fees and Financial Misconduct

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 41-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bidisha Chakrabarty ◽  
Scott Duellman ◽  
Michael A. Hyman
Keyword(s):  
Selection Bias ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Governance Structure ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Audit Firm ◽  
Public Firms ◽  
Financial Misconduct ◽  
Systematic Selection ◽  
The Impact

SYNOPSIS Research on the association between abnormal audit fees (measuring audit effort) and financial misconduct has produced mixed results. The use of actual misstatements in this research creates small-sample inferences, introduces systematic selection bias, and reduces the scope of sample coverage. In this study we use a metric based on Benford's Law to analyze the impact of abnormal audit fees on the likelihood of misconduct. This measure is parsimonious, avoids selection bias, and can be computed for a large sample of public firms. Consistent with theory, we find that greater audit effort reduces the likelihood of misconduct and auditor resignations are more likely for clients with higher misconduct likelihood. Our findings are not driven by audit firm size, client size, the governance structure of the client, or economic bonding explanations. The effect is not subsumed when controlling for alternative misconduct measurement metrics and is robust across multiple tests to address endogeneity. JEL Classifications: G32; M41.

The Effect of Office Changes within Audit Firms on Clients' Audit Quality and Audit Fees

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-99
Author(s):  
Carl W. Hollingsworth ◽  
Terry L. Neal ◽  
Colin D. Reid
Keyword(s):  
Audit Quality ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Additional Analysis ◽  
Audit Firm ◽  
Audit Firms ◽  
Audit Fee ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Audit Partner Rotation

SUMMARY While prior research has examined audit firm and audit partner rotation, we have little evidence on the impact of within-firm engagement team disruptions on the audit. To examine these disruptions, we identify a unique sample of companies where the audit firm issuing office changed but the audit firm did not change and investigate the effect of these changes on the audit. Our results indicate that companies that have a change in their audit firm's issuing office exhibit a decrease in audit quality and an increase in audit fees. In additional analysis, we partition office changes into two groups—client driven changes and audit firm driven changes. This analysis reveals that client driven changes are more likely to result in a higher audit fee while audit quality is unchanged. Conversely, audit firm driven changes do not result in a higher audit fee but do experience a decrease in audit quality.

scholarly journals Audit Fees and Financial Performance of Deposit Taking Saccos in North RIFT, Kenya

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 15-27
Author(s):  
Dorris Serem ◽  
Dr. Rashid Fwamba ◽  
Dr. Alala Benedict
Keyword(s):  
Financial Performance ◽  
Audit Quality ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Financial Statements ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Positive Influence ◽  
Auditor Independence ◽  
Audit Firm ◽  
Firm Experience ◽  
The Impact

The collapse of Deposit-Taking SACCOS and financial institutions in Kenya has caught the attention of the public and supervisory agencies to query the quality of audit. SACCO Societies Regulatory Authority on its inspection report indicated that SACCOs have been implicated in maladministration, scams and fraudulent dealings that led to their eventual collapse. SASRA also revoked licenses and rejected audited financial statements of some Deposit Taking SACCOs between 2013 to 2017.These financial scandals have been traced to poor audit quality. The study aimed to test the impact of audit quality on financial performance of Deposit-Taking SACCOs in North Rift Region, Kenya. The study sought to establish the influence of audit fees on financial performance; determine the influence of audit firm tenure on financial performance; establish the influence of auditor independence on financial performance and to determine the influence of audit firm experience on financial performance of Deposit-Taking SACCOs in North Rift Region, Kenya. This study was based on Agency theory, Role theory and the Concept of audit expectation gap, and Stakeholders’ theory. This research adopted descriptive cross-sectional research design. The target population for the study was 266 staff of all the 16 registered Deposit-Taking SACCOs in North Rift Region, Kenya. The sample size was 48 respondents comprising of chief executive officers, finance officers and internal auditors of the Deposit-Taking SACCOs selected using purposive sampling method. Primary and secondary data was used. Questionnaires collected primary data while audited annual financial statements of SACCOs provided secondary data. Inferential and descriptive statistics was used in analyzing data through SPSS version 25. It emerged that audit fees, audit firm tenure and audit firm experience have a significant positive influence on financial performance of Deposit-Taking SACCOs in North Rift Region, Kenya. Auditor independence had an insignificant positive influence on financial performance of Deposit-Taking SACCOs in North Rift Region, Kenya. The study concluded that audit quality has a positive noteworthy impact on financial performance of Deposit-Taking SACCOs in Kenya. The study recommends that regulatory authorities should formulate strict rules on audit fee charges and oversee the implementation of the same. Also, SASRA should ensure DT-SACCOs implement auditor rotation in compliance with auditing regulations and standards. DT-SACCOs to consider auditor’s professional competence and experience before initiating any audit engagement. Finally, DT-SACCOs and auditors should reinforce the professional code of ethics in regard to auditor independence in terms of familiarity between auditor and the client that may lead audit work into jeopardy.

The Large Audit Firm Fee Premium: A Case of Selectivity Bias?

2002 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jen C. Ireland ◽  
Clive S. Lennox
Keyword(s):  
Adverse Selection ◽  
Selection Bias ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Selectivity Bias ◽  
Big 5 ◽  
Audit Firm ◽  
Auditor Choice ◽  
Audit Firms ◽  
Audit Fee ◽  
Analytical Research

Audit fee studies often find large (Big 5) audit firms earn significantly higher fees than small (non-Big 5) firms, but they treat auditor choice as exogenous. In contrast, this paper takes into account that companies are not randomly assigned to audit firms. We find the effects of auditor selection bias on audit fees are statistically and economically significant. Consistent with the predictions of analytical research, our results suggest large (small) audit firms experience advantageous (adverse) selection in attracting high (low) quality companies. Our results indicate the premium earned by large audit firms is more than twice as large when selectivity effects are taken into account (53.4% compared to 19.2%).

Do government-experienced auditors reduce audit quality?

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 722-748
Author(s):  
Murat Ocak ◽  
Gökberk Can
Keyword(s):  
Audit Quality ◽  
Data Access ◽  
Discretionary Accruals ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Audit Firm ◽  
Audit Firms ◽  
Government Experience ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Independent Audit

Purpose Recent studies regarding auditor experience generally focus on auditor overall experience in accounting, auditing, finance and related fields (Hardies et al., 2014), auditor sector and domain experience (Bedard and Biggs, 1991; Hammersley, 2006), auditor experience as CPA (Ye et al., 2014; Sonu et al., 2016) or big N experience (Chi and Huang, 2005; Gul et al., 2013; Zimmerman, 2016) or auditors’ international working experience (Chen et al., 2017). But there is little attention paid to where auditors obtained their experience from? And how do auditors with government experience affect audit quality (AQ)? This paper aims to present the effect of auditors with government experience on AQ. Design/methodology/approach The authors used Turkish publicly traded firms in Borsa Istanbul between the year 2008 and 2015 to test the hypothesis. The sample comprises 1,067 observations and eight years. Two main proxies of government experience are used in this paper. The first proxy is auditor’s government experience in the past. The second proxy is the continuous variable which is “the logarithmic value of the number of years of government experience”. Further, auditor overall experience in auditing, accounting, finance and other related fields are also used as a control variable. Audit reporting aggressiveness, audit reporting lag and discretionary accruals are used as proxies of AQ. Besides this, the authors adopted the model to estimate the probability of selecting a government-experienced auditor, and they presented the regression results with the addition of inverse Mills ratio. Findings The main findings are consistent with conjecture. Government-experienced auditors do not enhance AQ. They are aggressive, and they complete audit work slowly and they cannot detect discretionary accruals effectively. Spending more time in a government agency makes them more aggressive and slow, and they do not detect earnings management practices. The Heckman estimation results regarding the variable of interest are also consistent with the main estimation results. In addition, the authors found in predicting government-experienced auditor choice that family firms, domestic firms and firms that reported losses (larger firms, older firms) are more (less) likely to choose government-experienced auditors. Research limitations/implications This study has some limitations. The authors used a small sample to test the impact of government-experienced auditors on AQ because of data access problems. Much data used in this study were collected manually. Earnings quality was calculated using only discretionary accruals. Real activities manipulation was not used as the proxy of AQ in this paper. The findings from emerging markets might not generalize to the developed countries because the Turkish audit market is developing compared to Continental Europe or USA. Practical implications The findings are considered for independent audit firms. Audit firms may employ new graduates and train them to offer more qualified audit work for their clients. The results do not mean that government-experienced auditors should not work in an audit firm, or that they should not establish an audit firm. It is clear that government-experienced auditors provide low AQ in terms of audit reporting aggressiveness, audit report lag and discretionary accruals. But as they operate more in the independent audit sector, they will become successful and provide qualified audit work. One other thing we can say is that it is perhaps better for government-experienced auditors to work in the tax department of independent audit firms. Originality/value This paper tries to fill the gap in the literature regarding the effect of auditor experience on AQ and concentrates on a different type of experience: Auditors with government experience.

The impact of non-timely 10-Q filings and audit firm size on audit fees

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 503-516 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiffany Chiu ◽  
Feiqi Huang ◽  
Yue Liu ◽  
Miklos A. Vasarhelyi
Keyword(s):  
Regression Model ◽  
Firm Size ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Audit Risk ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Audit Firm ◽  
Big 4 ◽  
Audit Firms ◽  
Audit Fee ◽  
The Impact

Purpose Prior studies suggest that non-timely 10-Q filings indicate higher potential risks than non-timely 10-K filings. Furthermore, larger audit firms tend to be more risk-averse and conservative about reporting. Inspired by these research streams, this paper aims to investigate the influence of non-timely 10-Q filings on audit fees and the impact of audit firm size on this association. Design/methodology/approach The cross-sectional audit fee regression model used in this study is similar to that used in prior audit fee research (Simunic, 1980; Francis et al., 2005; Hay et al., 2006; Wang et al., 2013). The model includes the following five major characteristics that would influence auditors’ fee decisions: auditee size (LNAT), complexity (REIVAT, FOREIGN, SEG), financial condition (LOSS, ROA, GROWTH, ZSCORE), special events (ICW, RESTATE, INITIAL, GC) and auditor type (BIG4). To examine the effect of non-timely 10-Q filings on audit fees, the variable NT10Q is included in the audit fee model. Findings The results indicate that when both non-timely 10-K and non-timely 10-Q filings are included in the regression model, only non-timely 10-Q filings are significantly associated with higher audit fees, suggesting that the presence of non-timely 10-Q filings signals more serious underlying problem than non-timely 10-K filings in the audit fees decision processes. In addition, we find that audit fees for firms audited by Big 4 auditors are 26.4 per cent higher when those firms file non-timely 10-Q reports, whereas there is no significant association between non-timely 10-Q filings and audit fees for firms audited by non-Big 4 auditors. Practical implications As no attention has been paid to the investigation of the impact of non-timely 10-Q filings on audit fees, with the aim of filling the gap of this specific research area, this study examines the association between non-timely 10-Q filings and audit fees and the influence of audit firm size on this association. Originality/value The contribution of this paper is threefold: first, it is the first study to examine the association between non-timely 10-Q filings and audit fees. The results show that non-timely 10-Q filings are a better and earlier indicator of audit risk than non-timely 10-K filings. Second, the results reveal that the relationship between non-timely 10-Q filings and audit fees is affected by audit firm size. Specifically, Big 4 auditors tend to charge higher audit fees in the presence of non-timely 10-Q filings, reflecting that they are more sensitive to audit risk than smaller audit firms are. Third, an examination of the quarterly effect of non-timely 10-Q filings on audit fees indicates a stronger effect from the first quarter’s non-timely 10-Q filings, compared to the second or third quarter.

Partner Familiarity and Audit Fees: Evidence from Former Andersen Clients

2008 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas E. Vermeer ◽  
Dasaratha V. Rama ◽  
K. Raghunandan
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Public Accounting ◽  
Audit Firm ◽  
Accounting Report ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Impact

SUMMARY: In this study we examine the audit fees for two types of former Andersen clients: those that followed their former Andersen partner to a new audit firm and those that did not. Using data from Public Accounting Report on the acquisition of Andersen offices, we find that about half of the Andersen clients in our sample followed the former partner to a new audit firm and that the “follower” clients paid, on average, about 16 percent lower audit fees than other clients. The results thus provide empirical evidence about the impact of partner-client familiarity on audit fees. The findings also suggest that studies examining former Andersen clients may need to distinguish between the “follower” clients and other clients.

scholarly journals Audit Firm Industry Specialization as a Differentiation Strategy: Evidence from Fees Charged to Firms Going Public

2003 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 33-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian W. Mayhew ◽  
Michael S. Wilkins
Keyword(s):  
Market Share ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Industry Specialization ◽  
Audit Firm ◽  
Differentiation Strategy ◽  
Market Shares ◽  
Audit Firms ◽  
Bargaining Position ◽  
The Impact

This paper examines IPO audit fees to assess the use of industry specialization as a differentiation strategy by audit firms. We extend existing theory on the impact of industry specialization on audit fees by incorporating Porter's (1985) theory of competition and differentiation. We suggest that market share enables audit firms to gain competitive advantages in terms of cost and service. However, the impact of such advantages on fees depends on whether the audit firm has successfully differentiated itself from competitors within client industries. Our results indicate that as audit firm industry market share increases without a differentiation in market share, the audit fee charged for a given IPO decreases. In the context of Porter (1985), this result suggests that the client is able to bargain for a portion of the auditor's cost savings because the audit firm has not successfully differentiated itself from competitors. In contrast, we show that audit firms that possess significantly higher market shares than their industry competitors earn fee premiums, suggesting that audit firms that have successfully differentiated themselves retain a stronger bargaining position with their clients.

Corporate governance, directors' and officers' insurance premiums and audit fees

2014 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyeesoo H. Chung ◽  
Jinyoung P. Wynn
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Structural Features ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Insurance Premiums ◽  
Governance Quality ◽  
Directors And Officers ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – This study aims to examine the association between corporate governance and audit fees using directors' and officers' (D&O) insurance premiums as a proxy for overall governance quality. The use of an overall governance measure that captures both structural and non-structural governance features may shed light on the association between governance and audit fees, which is known to be inconclusive in the literature. Design/methodology/approach – The authors employ D&O insurance premiums as a proxy for governance quality that reflects both the structural features and non-structural features of governance. D&O insurance premiums are hand-collected from a proxy circular of Canadian firms. Multivariate regression analyses are used for testing. Findings – The authors find a positive association between D&O premiums and audit fees, suggesting that auditors charge higher fees to firms with heightened corporate governance risk. Even after controlling for structural governance variables in the regression model, the authors find a significantly positive association between D&O premiums and audit fees. Research limitations/implications – The findings suggest that mandatory disclosures of D&O insurance policies can be useful for market participants. This study uses a relatively small sample of Canadian firms. A larger sample could strengthen the implications of the findings. Originality/value – The findings suggest that structural features of governance may be insufficient to provide a full understanding of the impact of corporate governance on audit pricing and add to the understanding of the determinants of audit fees.

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