...Finance and Accountancy The Effect of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act on Auditors’ Audit Performance Tae G. Ryu Metropolitan State College of Denver Barbara Uliss Metropolitan State College of Denver Chul-Young Roh East Tennessee State University ABSTRACT The issue of audit reporting for financially distressed firms continues to be of interest to the public and to legislators. Previous studies have consistently shown that auditors fail to issue going-concern opinions to more than half of bankrupt firms one year prior to bankruptcy. The Enron and Arthur Andersen failures in late 2001 and early 2002, respectively, led to the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) in July 2002. Audit firms now claim that they have become much more conservative with respect to client retention and acceptance decisions because the risks associated with auditing increased significantly after the enactment of the SOX. The primary purpose of this study is to provide a basis for a proper evaluation of auditors’ performance. We conducted performance comparisons between the pre- and post-SOX periods. Although auditors are now expected to use a more vigorous audit process in deciding whether to issue going-concern or other qualified opinions to financially distressed firms, our preliminary results show that there is no significant difference between the two periods. Key words: Audit Decision, Going-Concern, Opinion, Z-score, Industry Failure Rate The Effect of Sarbanes Oxley, Page 1 ...
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...operational perspectives. We organize our discussion around a ‘‘Predictive Validity Model’’ (displayed later in Figure 1) that shows conceptual relations between independent and dependent variables, as well as their operational measures and treatment of other causal factors. We use this model to describe and evaluate the authors’ approach, which blends complex behavioral and contractual relations with aggregate observable fee, accounting, and market price data. We hope that the discussion will encourage others to conduct additional research to address the important questions raised by both FJN and the SEC. F II. FJN’s APPROACH The underlying proposition examined by FJN is that the strength of the audit firm’s economic dependence on the client, or economic bond, consciously or unconsciously reduces the auditor’s independence, or willingness to resist client-induced biases in the reporting process. The lack of auditor independence results in lower earnings quality. The underlying cause (the economic bond) and the effect (lowered earnings quality) are the two theoretical constructs examined. Both are...
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...assurance in establishing corporate credibility Why buy assurance? Increased stakeholder or user confidence in the quality of the sustainability information provided Increased stakeholder trust in the level of organizational commitment to sustainability agendas III. Literature review on voluntary assurance Why report? Informing stakeholders ! reducing information asymmetry Reporting also attests to organizational commitment, risk management, and a desire to build a corporate reputation Demand for assurance stems from the need to mitigate information asymmetry with institutional creditors. The auditing profession has well developed global standards, a body of ethics and independence requirements, as well as quality control mechanisms at both the firm and engagement levels that help ensure that the assurance provided is of a consistently high quality. IV. Development of Hypothesis Assurance confers several benefits. It helps reduce agency costs and confers greater user confidence in the accuracy and validity of the information...
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...International Journal of Accounting & Information Management The role of corporate governance in convergence with IFRS: evidence from China Yu Chen Zabihollah Rezaee Downloaded by UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SABAH At 05:16 06 October 2015 (PT) Article information: To cite this document: Yu Chen Zabihollah Rezaee, (2012),"The role of corporate governance in convergence with IFRS: evidence from China", International Journal of Accounting & Information Management, Vol. 20 Iss 2 pp. 171 - 188 Permanent link to this document: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/18347641211218470 Downloaded on: 06 October 2015, At: 05:16 (PT) References: this document contains references to 50 other documents. To copy this document: permissions@emeraldinsight.com The fulltext of this document has been downloaded 1824 times since 2012* Users who downloaded this article also downloaded: Songlan Peng, Kathryn Bewley, (2010),"Adaptability to fair value accounting in an emerging economy: A case study of China's IFRS convergence", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 23 Iss 8 pp. 982-1011 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09513571011092529 Randy Moser, (2014),"IFRS and convergence in China and the USA", Journal of Technology Management in China, Vol. 9 Iss 1 pp. 56-66 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JTMC-12-2013-0042 Ronita D. Singh, Susan Newberry, (2008),"Corporate governance and International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS): The case of developing countries", Research in Accounting in...
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...AUDIT DELAY AND THE TIMELINESS OF CORPORATE REPORTING: MALAYSIAN EVIDENCE Raja Adzrin Raja Ahmad Khairul Anuar Bin Kamarudin Second Draft: August 2003 Please do not quotes - comments welcome ABSTRACT This paper investigates the determinants of audit delay in Malaysia. The sample comprises 100 companies listed in Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange during the period 1996-2000. Descriptive statistics indicates the audit delay is more 100 days for the five years under study with a minimum standard deviation of 36 days. Eight hypotheses, relating audit delay to company size, industry classification, sign of income, extraordinary item, audit opinion, auditor, year-end and risk are tested in this study. Result from t-test of differences, chi-square test of independent and ordinary leas square regression (OLS) largely support the alternate hypotheses put forward except for extraordinary items and company size. The primary findings are that audit delay is significantly longer for company that (1) non-financial industry, (2) receive other that unqualified audit opinions, (3) have other than 31 December as financial year end, (4) audited by non bigfive, (5) incurred negative earnings and (6) have higher risk. It is hoped that this study, which is conducted in an economically and culturally different context from all existing studies, can contribute toward the current literature on audit delay. Correspondence Address: Raja Adzrin Raja Ahmad Faculty of Accountancy MARA...
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...Solutions for Chapter 8 Tools to Gather Audit Evidence Review Questions: 8-1. The three main tools the auditor might use in gathering and evaluating audit evidence are: • Audit sampling • Generalized Audit Software • Analytical procedures 8-2. Non-sampling risk is the risk that the auditor makes an improper assessment of inherent and/or control risk or did not apply audit procedures carefully. It can be minimized through: (1) Good hiring, training and supervision practices; and (2) Careful and knowledgeable review of audit documentation and audit procedures. Sampling risk is the risk that the misstatement projections based on the sample results lead to the wrong conclusion about the population because of a non-representative sample. Sampling risk can be reduced by increasing the sample size – to the extreme of auditing the entire population therefore eliminating sampling risk altogether. 8-3. Factors to consider when choosing between statistical and nonstatistical sampling include: • Need to quantify and control sampling risks. • Additional cost of designing, selecting, and evaluating a statistical sample. • Availability of computer software to assist in designing, selecting, and/or evaluating the sample. • Ability of the audit staff to properly implement statistical sampling. 8-4. a. Tolerable deviation rate depends on the significance of the control procedure being tested...
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...Hogan, C.E., Z. Rezaee, R.A. Riley Jr., and U.K. Velury (2008). Financial Statement Fraud: Insights from the Academic Literature. Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory, 27 (2): 231-252. 1. There is a significant amount of literature on the characteristics of fraud firms, providing support for the fraud triangle classifications and the list of “red flags” used in both SAS No. 82 and SAS No. 99. a. Pressures to meet analysts’ forecasts, rapid growth, compensation incentives, stock options, the need for financing, and poor performance increase the likelihood of fraudulent financial reporting. b. Effective corporate governance, including the board of directors, audit committee, and internal controls, and also the external auditor, play key roles in reducing the opportunity to commit fraud. c. Research is limited in the attitudes and rationalizations area. Based on the research, the focus areas of SAS No. 99 incentives, opportunity, and rationalization are grounded in empirical evidence. In that regard, the efforts of the profession to emphasize management override are warranted. 2. Evidence on the usefulness of checklists as a fraud detection tool is mixed. While there is some research that supports the use of checklists as a decision tool, there is more evidence that suggests the use of checklists is dysfunctional in that auditors fail to expand their thinking beyond the checklist. 3. Research supports a need by auditors to align management incentives to the types of risks that...
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...in the audit market of proposals to permit auditors to limit their liability by way of negotiated caps. The current liability position 1.2 At present auditors may not limit their liability for fault due to negligence or incompetence in audit work. Alongside regulation and reputation, liability acts as a discipline on audit quality in a context where shareholders and other third parties rely on information from an audit which is paid for by the company being audited. We are not aware of evidence suggesting that the courts in the UK have made, or are liable to make, excessive damages awards against auditors. Professional indemnity insurance is available, and LLP status – the chosen corporate form of many audit businesses – exists to protect partners' personal assets. The competition arguments 1.3 It has been argued that a cap on auditors' liability would however be procompetitive because it would lead to: • • • 1.4 a reduction in the barriers to entry and growth facing smaller audit firms the maintenance of competition between larger audit firms, including for non-audit work, and less risk of collapse of one of the Big Four. On the basis of the evidence available to us, however, none of these arguments appears compelling. First, the current liability position is a minor barrier to entry in comparison to reputation, third party perceptions, economies of scale, global networks, regulation, and various other impediments to the entry and growth of smaller audit firms. The liability...
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...The Impact of Non-audit Services on Capital Markets Seunghan Nam Ph.D. Candidate Stern School of Business New York University New York, NY 10012 snam@stern.nyu.edu Preliminary Draft 7 January 2005 Abstract The framers of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act (SOA) presume that non-audit services lower the quality of financial statements, so they have prohibited auditors from offering most non-audit services. In addition, regulators believe that non-audit services (NAS) may cause the auditor to be perceived as “dependent” in appearance, thus increasing information risk, even if they have no impact on the quality of financial statements. I investigate two hypotheses using pre-SOA data. First, I ask whether the proportion of non-audit services fees to total fees has a positive or negative association with the ability of financial statements to predict a firm’s future cash flows, which can be considered a measure of the quality of the statements. Second, I ask whether the proportion has a negative or positive association with the cost of capital and the bid/ask spread, controlling for the predictive ability. The cost of capital and the bid/ask spread serve as proxies of information risk. Contrary to the proponents of prohibiting NAS, I find that the proportion of non-audit services fees to total fees has a positive association with the predictive ability. If we control for the quality of financial statements, non-audit services still have a negative association...
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...service in which the public accounting firm issues a written communication that expresses a conclusion about the reliability of a written assertion of another party. Audit of historical financial statements: A form of attestation services, the auditor issues a written report expressing an opinion about whether the F/S is in material conformity (一致) with accounting standards. e.g.: listed company must provide shareholders with annual financial statements that are audited by an independent accounting firm. Review of historical cost financial statements: A form of attestation services, a public accounting firm issues a written report that provides less assurance than an audit as to whether the financial statements are in material conformity with accounting standards. Auditing standards: Establish mandatory (强制) requirements and provide explanatory (解释) guidance to auditors in fulfilling their professional responsibilities in the audit of financial reports. Auditing: Is the accumulation and evaluation of evidence about information to determine and report on the degree of correspondence between the information and established criteria. Auditing should be performed by a competent, independent person. Compliance audit: 合规性审计 One of three primary types of audits, a review of an organization’s financial records performed to determine whether the organization is following specific procedure, rules or regulations set by some higher authority. An audit performed to determine whether an entity...
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...focus of this study is to test whether the market-perceived audit quality captures actual audit quality. It also investigates the relationships among actual audit quality measured by a post hoc identification of auditor failures and earnings management as well as financial analysts’ forecast errors. Prior literature in audit quality, earnings management and financial analysts’ forecast errors are reviewed in this section. AUDIT QUALITY AND ACTUAL AUDIT QUALITY Audit quality has been a topic of significant interest in accounting research. In order to improve the understanding of audit quality, numerous studies have tried to detect the association between audit...
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...likely considered by Deloitte and other audit firms when assessing engagement risk? How, if at all, are auditors’ professional responsibilities affected when a client poses a higher than normal degree of engagement risk? Engagement risk is composed of three broad categories: the entity’s business risk, the auditor’s audit risk, and the auditor’s business risk. Each subtopic has its corresponding factors in regards to an audit. * Entity’s Business Risk “Financial trends are the most important part of [an] entity’s business risk (Ethridge).” The main business risk of an entity is that their continuity is threatened. Furthermore, they may not be profitable to continue doing business in the future. As an example in this case, Ligand Pharmaceuticals’ stock price increased by 600% within one year ($4/share in early 2003 to $24/share in early 2004), despite not ever reporting an operating profit. Stock prices are a thin barrier to use, and the volatility of the market could cause Ligand to collapse due to insufficient funding. There is another example of entity business risk in the case where Ligand Pharmaceuticals had questionable accounting of its sales returns, because although wholesalers had the right to return any products, they did not “sell through” to their customers. An increase in return allowance could throw off the balance sheet as well as the stated income. “Special” treatment of accounts can mask or pad losses, so audit partners and staff must be aware of surrounding...
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...Auditor Independence and Non-Audit Services: A Literature Review Vivien Beattie University of Stirling and Stella Fearnley University of Portsmouth TABLE OF CONTENTS Page List of tables and list of figures About the authors v vi List of abbreviations vii Executive summary ix Part 1 Auditor independence 1 Introduction 1 1.1 1 1.2 The ‘problem’ of non-audit services (NAS) 1 1.3 The current UK regulatory and professional environment 2 1.4 Motivation for this study 3 1.5 2 The role of audit in regulating capital markets Structure of report 3 Auditor independence 4 2.1 Introduction 4 2.2 Definitions of auditor independence 4 2.3 Economic models of auditor independence not including NAS 5 2.4 Models of auditor pricing and independence in the presence of NAS 5 2.5 2.6 Economic power models of auditor independence Moral psychology, ethical reasoning and independence 8 8 2.7 Broader based studies into auditor decision making 9 2.8 Summary and comments 11 Part 2 Current regulatory frameworks 3 Auditor independence and NAS: analysis of current regulatory frameworks 3.1 Introduction 13 13 3.2 Regulation of auditor independence 13 3.3 Independence in professional and legal regulatory frameworks 13 3.4 3.5 Independence and NAS Overall economic dependence 19 22 3.6 Small companies 22 ...
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...includes the set of rules and regulations that affect the manager’s decision and contribute to the way company is perceived by the current and potential stakeholders. The corporate governance structure specifies the distribution of rights and responsibilities among different participants in the corporation such as; boards, managers, shareholders and other stakeholders and spells out the rules and procedures and also decision making assistance on corporate affairs. By doing this, italso provides the structure through which the company’s objectives are set and the means of obtaining those objectives and monitoring performance. Corporate governance may be the ways of bringing the interests of investors and managers into line and ensuring that firms are run for the benefit of investors. Given the state of the economy of Pakistan in 2010, troubled as it is; ideally it would be more desirable to look at the governance issues at macro level for Pakistan. As a famous economist, Dr Shahid Javaid Burki- a long observer of Pakistan’s economy has recently stated “Pakistan can generate a greater bounce in its economy than India by creating better governance. It has occurred before in the country’s difficult economic history and could happen again.” (Improved Governance: Dawn, 12th, October 2010). However, as a starting point , in this paper we look at closely the governanceissues for the banking, a sector which has played a significant role till recent years in economic activity of Pakistan...
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...business strategies that explain eBay’s decision to offer good for sale at fixed prices: 1. Expand into New Markets: With the shrinking market of auction bidders on eBay and a growing market of fixed price buyers, customers may not prefer to go in the direction of purchasing goods in an online auction. Since, in an online auction the customer has to wait till the end of the auction to see which buyer with the highest bid wins that item. Whereas, in a fixed price type of format, there are no bids placed and the price remains constant. Customers may prefer the idea of price stability over waiting to see if they get the item as they may be time-sensitive and want the item right way. Therefore, eBay may want to focus and expand its market to customers who do not prefer online auctions. 2. Fixed price “Buy-It-Now” format is beginning to dominate eBay and is a key to future growth. Fixed price items make up of 42% of the gross merchandise sold on eBay. Over the past six years, this fixed price format has been growing at a faster rate than auctions. (Trouble at eBay) 3. Meet consumer expectations in the marketplace by matching its competitors who also offer products at fixed prices online through their websites. Customers who are not interested in purchasing goods in online auctions will then purchase goods from eBay at fixed prices. Since eBay acts as the ‘middle man’ the concept of fixed prices allows customers to purchase goods offered by other retailers through eBay instead...
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