Download or read book The Impact of Regulation on Auditor Fees written by Aloke Ghosh and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 45 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We examine changes in fees paid to auditors around the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX, 2002). Audit fees are expected to increase after SOX due to both increased audit effort and potentially increased auditors' legal liability. Our results indicate an economically large increase in audit fees following the enactment of SOX. Controlling for size of the auditor, auditor's opinion, and client characteristics, we find that audit fee levels went up approximately 74 percent in the post-SOX period. In contrast, non-audit fees declined significantly over the same period. Total fees went up during this period because the increase in audit fees offset the decline in non-audit fees. Our conclusions remain unchanged when we use audit fee change regressions. Additionally, we find that the Big 4 audit firms increased audit fees by 42 percent more than their smaller counterparts. Further, we find that while small and large audit firms discount fees on initial engagements to attract new clients for the pre-SOX period, only small audit firms continue of offer fee discounts for the post-SOX years. Our results remain robust even after a battery of sensitivity analyses.

Download or read book United States and European Union Auditor Independence Regulation written by Christiane Strohm and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2007-12-11 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christiane Strohm investigates the effects of the Sarbanes-Oxley-Act and the revised 8th EU-Directive on auditing. She shows that there is a difference in the communication and safeguarding effects of a regulation, depending on the precision of its wording and that safeguarding effects also depend on auditors' monetary incentives and on perceived costs of litigation.

Download or read book Government Auditing Standards 2018 Revision written by United States Government Accountability Office and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2019-03-24 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Audits provide essential accountability and transparency over government programs. Given the current challenges facing governments and their programs, the oversight provided through auditing is more critical than ever. Government auditing provides the objective analysis and information needed to make the decisions necessary to help create a better future. The professional standards presented in this 2018 revision of Government Auditing Standards (known as the Yellow Book) provide a framework for performing high-quality audit work with competence, integrity, objectivity, and independence to provide accountability and to help improve government operations and services. These standards, commonly referred to as generally accepted government auditing standards (GAGAS), provide the foundation for government auditors to lead by example in the areas of independence, transparency, accountability, and quality through the audit process. This revision contains major changes from, and supersedes, the 2011 revision.

Download or read book Regulation and the Auditing Profession written by Alexei Lubimov and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 119 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The dissertation consists of three studies examining three different regulatory issues that affect the auditing profession. The first study has two main foci. First, the study investigates the impact of Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) on the Big 4 fee premium. Second, the study investigates the relationship between the size of an audit client and annual fee change. The results show that in the post-SOX environment, clients of non-Big 4 firms have experienced greater increases in audit fees than the clients of the Big 4 firms, resulting in a diminishing Big 4 premium. This is consistent with the notion that non-Big 4 clients had to make significant adjustments to meet post-SOX quality requirements by increasing their effort (and consequently audit fees). The results also show audit firms' large clients experience the largest percentage increase in audit fees. This is consistent with the theoretical view of consumer surplus, where the large clients, with more resources, have greater levels of consumer surplus, which is being captured by the audit firms. The study contributes to our understanding of the impact of SOX on audit fee premium and the economics of audit market competition in different client segments. The second study is focused on three main areas: 1) the relationship between audit fees and audit market concentration on a country level; 2) the effect of a country's litigation regime on the relationship between audit fees and market concentration and 3) the inter-relations between competition, fees, and quality in the market for audit services. The study is motivated by the current debate in the United States and the European Union about the possible problems associated with the current oligopolistic structure of the audit market.

Download or read book The Economics of Audit Quality written by Benito Arrunada and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-11-11 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on market mechanisms which protect quality in the provision of audit services. The role of public regulation is thus situated in the context defmed by the presence of these safeguard mechanisms. The book aims to contribute to a better understanding of these market mechanisms, which helps in defining the con tent of rules and the function of regulatory bodies in facilitating and strengthening the protective operation of the market. An analysis at a more general level is provided in the three chapters making up Part 1. In the four chapters of Part 2, on the other hand, this analysis is applied to a particular problem to determine how those non-audit services often provided by auditors to their audit clients should be regulated. Finally, Chapter 8 contains a summary of the analysis and conclusions of the work. The conclusion with regard to non-audit services is that their provision generates beneficial effects in terms of costs, technical competence, professional judgment and competition and, moreover, need not prejudice auditor independence or the quality of these services. This as sessment leads, in the normative sphere, to recommending a legislative policy aimed at facilitating the development and use of safeguards provided by the free action of market forces. Regulation should thus aim to enable the parties-audit firms, self-regulatory bodies and audit clients-to discover through competitive market interaction both the most efficient mix of services and the corresponding quality safeguards, adjusting for the costs and benefits of each possibility.

Download or read book Audit Regulation Auditor Industry Expertise and Effects on Audit Pricing written by Imene BenSlimene and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 33 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The diversity of regulations that govern statutory audit in European countries provides the opportunity to analyse how audit regulation affects audit fees. This study is the first to analyse empirically the joint effect of audit regulation and auditor expertise on audit fees for the institutional setting of 14 European countries by using a sample of 4,293 European firms for the period from 2003 to 2011. I analyse four attributes of audit regulation, namely terms for annual renewal of the mandate, nature of the auditors' liability, whether the state requires joint audits and whether it imposes restrictions on the provision of non-audit services. The main results show that using an industry specialist auditor results in higher audit fees. Moreover, three regulatory attributes--auditor liability, annual renewal of the mandate and joint audit--play a significant role in determining audit fees. Fees are higher when the auditor's mandate may be renewed or terminated each year, and when the auditor's liability is tort. Mandatory joint audit has also a positive impact on audit fees.

Download or read book The Impact of Mandatory Audit Firm Rotation on Audit Fees written by Masoud Azizkhani and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A mandatory audit firm's rotation policy has been adopted in many counties, including Iran, as a mechanism to improve auditor independence and in turn, audit quality. Proponents of this policy claim that its results are increased clients' audit costs. Using data from firms listed in Tehran Stock Exchange where the mandatory audit firm rotation was required from 2007, this study provides empirical evidence of the economic impact of this policy initiative on audit fees. We examine the impact of both voluntary and mandatory audit firm switch on audit fees for a sample of firms listed on TSE that covers 2006 to 2013. We find no relation between mandatory audit firm rotation and audit fee. Our results suggest that the mandatory audit firm rotation does no impact on audit costs. Other results also show that there is a positive association between voluntary audit firm rotation and audit fees.

Download or read book Audit Regulations Audit Market Structure and Financial Reporting Quality written by Christopher Bleibtreu and published by . This book was released on 2021-11-24 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Audit Regulations, Audit Market Structure, and Financial Reporting Quality provides a structured overview of the empirical and analytical literature on the effects of audit market regulations. After a short introduction, the monograph is organized as follows. Chapter II addresses the structure of the audit markets of industrialized countries. First presenting an overview of the concentration metrics used to describe the structure of an audit market or a market segment, then providing the empirical findings on audit market concentration at the national level and presenting an overview of the main reasons that led to the currently high degree of concentration. Chapter III summarizes the reasons why regulators worldwide consider a high degree of concentration to be a concern. In particular, it reviews the regulator's assumption that a high degree of concentration inevitably leads to a low degree of competition and to the corresponding effects of low audit quality and high audit fees. It also provides an overview of the empirical findings on the association between concentration and audit quality and fees, respectively. Chapter IV introduces the mandatory audit firm rotation, the prohibition on the joint supply of audit and non-audit services, and joint audits as examples for regulations that are likely to have both incentive and market structure effects. Chapter V summarizes the empirical findings on the effects of these regulations on audit quality and market structure. Chapter VI summarizes models that regard the market structure as given. The results from these models show that the effects of regulations are not straightforward, but depend on various factors related to the auditor, the client, and the legal environment. Chapter VII gives an overview of analytical research that simultaneously considers incentive effects and market structure effects. It also provides a brief overview of industrial organization models that seem suitable to expand the models applied to investigate the effects of audit regulations. Chapter VIII concludes and highlights avenues for future research.

Download or read book The Effect of Accounting Regulation on Second tier Audit Firms and Their Clients written by Magdy Farag and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The accounting profession has recently been affected by major financial reporting scandals and regulatory changes. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 made changes to several engagement-specific characteristics with the ultimate aim of improving auditor independence. Accounting research is currently investigating these recent regulatory changes and how they affect the accounting profession. Although the entire accounting profession has been affected by these regulations, most accounting research focuses only on Big-audit firms. This study examines the effect of recent regulatory changes on Second-Tier audit firms. Agency theory focuses on the relationship between the principal and the agent. The agent has certain obligations, which he fulfills for the principal by virtue of the economic contract. The important concept in the agency relationship is the selection of the appropriate governance mechanism between the principal and the agent that will ensure an efficient alignment of the principal's and the agent's interests. Therefore, agency theory is an appropriate framework to demonstrate and explain the effect of recent regulations on audit firms. Audit firms are expected to assist the principal (stockholders) in monitoring the agent (management) of the firm. I address four research questions that are motivated by agency theory. First, I examine whether clients of Second-Tier audit firms incur higher audit fees subsequent to the recent accounting regulation. My second research question is whether quality of audits provided by Second-Tier audit firms is expected to improve due to recent regulations and rulings, especially in the post-SOX period. Third, I investigate whether clients of Second-Tier audit firms experience a higher cost of capital compared to clients of Big-audit firms. Finally, I address the question of whether there is a relationship between clients of Second-Tier audit firms and the backdating of executive stock options (ESOs). I expect a positive relationship between concentration and audit prices of Second-Tier audit firms. Additionally, audit quality is expected to increase due to recent regulations, but it is possible that Second-Tier audit firms may not be able to provide high quality audits in their efforts to increase their market share. I further predict that firms that are audited by Second-Tier audit firms are subject to larger financing costs measured by cost of debt and equity. I also expect that Second-Tier audit firms' clients exercise backdating of ESOs more often than Big audit firms' clients. The findings of this dissertation will contribute to our understanding of previous audit and financial accounting research from the perspective of Second-Tier audit firms. The investigation of Second-Tier audit firms and their clients will provide us a better understanding of why some firms are more likely to hire a Big-audit firm versus a Second-Tier audit firm. We will also have a better insight on issues raised by backdating of ESOs, and whether the quality of the audit provided can mitigate such irregular behavior.

Download or read book Completion in the Auditing Marketplace Effect of Regulations Monopoly and Monopsony Power on Audit Fees written by Jennifer L. Kao and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For the past 20 years, researchers have viewed the pricing of audit services as a function of supply and demand, much like other commodities or services traded in the marketplace. The audit-pricing model, originally proposed by Dan Simunic (1980), has been used to explore various aspects of auditing, such as the determinants of auditor changes, low-balling of audit fees and implications of litigation against audit firms. Simunic and Stein provided a comprehensive summary of relevant research literature in these areas in an article titled "The Auditing Marketplace: Exploring the Economics of Auditing Services in the Real World" (CAmagazine, Jan/Feb 1995, p. 53).

Download or read book The Relation Between Auditors Fees for Non Audit Services and Earnings Quality Classic Reprint written by Richard M. Frankel and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2018-03-03 with total page 94 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Relation Between Auditors' Fees for Non-Audit Services and Earnings Quality This paper provides empirical evidence on the relation between non-audit services and earnings quality. We test hypotheses concerning: (1) the association between a firm's purchase of non-audit services from its auditor and earnings management, and (2) the stock price reaction to the disclosure of non-audit fees. In the past decade there has been a dramatic increase in the proportion of fee revenue auditors derive from non-audit services, yet we know little about how non-audit services are related to earnings quality.1 Concern about the effect of non-audit services on the financial reporting process was a primary motivation for the Securities and Exchange Commission (sec) to issue revised auditor independence rules on November 15, 2000. The rules require firms to disclose the amount of all audit and non-audit fees paid to its auditor. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Download or read book Perceived Auditor Independence and Audit Firm Fees written by Kevin Holland and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Regulations requiring the disclosure of fees paid to an auditor for audit and non-audit services (NAS) respond to concerns that such payments are potentially detrimental to auditors' actual or perceived independence. Although empirical studies have failed to produce unequivocal evidence of detrimental effects on auditor independence, the actions of regulators, audit firms and companies are consistent with the belief that economic bonding generated by fees can impair perceived levels of auditor independence.Using a sample of UK companies over a six year period to March 2006, we study perceived impairment of auditor independence by examining the relationship between levels of total relative fees (combined audit and NAS fees payable by a company to its auditor as a proportion of the audit firm's UK income) and market value. The paper's methodological innovation is its use of a valuation framework in this setting. A further contribution lies in dropping the assumption of linearity found in most prior empirical studies. We provide evidence that shareholders perceive a threat to auditor independence only at high total relative fee levels. At lower levels, total relative fees are positively related to company value. These results suggest that disclosure of NAS and audit fees are of relevance to investors, as is information about auditor income. Our results support the view that regulation by reference to the threshold at which total relative fees are perceived negatively is more consistent with investor preferences than prohibition of the supply of NAS by auditors to their audit clients.

Download or read book Auditing Trust and Governance written by Reiner Quick and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2007-10-17 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this important new book, the European Auditing Research Network gives a timely appraisal of the regulatory environment for financial accounting and auditing in the wake of a series of high profile scandals involving major corporations.

Download or read book How Do Regulation and Deregulation on Audit Fees Influence Audit Quality written by Naoki Kasai and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Effect of Auditing Standard No 5 on Audit Fees written by Jayanthi Krishnan and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In June 2007, the PCAOB issued Auditing Standard No. 5 (AS5), superseding Auditing Standard No. 2 (AS2). AS5 significantly changed the rules relating to audits of internal control over financial reporting (ICFR). Policymakers expected AS5 to lead to improvements in audit efficiency and thus a general reduction in audit costs, and specifically a reduction in fees for smaller and less complex companies that were disproportionately affected by AS2. We investigate the impact of the change from AS2 to AS5 on audit fees. We restrict our analysis to stable client-auditor combinations to ensure that auditors had prior AS2 experience with the client before the transition to AS5. We find that, after controlling for other factors, audit fees were lower in the first two years of implementation of AS5 relative to the last year of AS2. The decrease in fees was the highest for companies that had remediated material weaknesses in their internal control and thus moved from an adverse opinion under AS2 to a clean opinion under AS5. Further, firms that received first-time adverse opinions on their internal control in the AS5 period paid lower fee premiums (relative to firms with clean opinions) than did firms with adverse reports in the last AS2 year. Finally, in contrast to policymakers' expectation that AS5 would generate cost savings by allowing the ICFR audits to be “scaled” for small and less complex firms, there is no evidence that the smallest firms benefited. Specifically, audit fee savings were found only for relatively more complex firms (measured by multiple segments and international operations).

Download or read book Auditor Going Concern Reporting written by Marshall A. Geiger and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-06-09 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Auditor reporting on going-concern-related uncertainties remains one of the most challenging issues faced by external auditors. Business owners, market participants and audit regulators want an early warning of impending business failure. However, companies typically do not welcome audit opinions indicating uncertainty regarding their future viability. Thus, the auditor’s decision to issue a "going concern opinion" (GCO) is a complex and multi-layered one, facing a great deal of tension. Given such a rich context, academic researchers have examined many facets related to an auditor’s decision to issue a GCO. This monograph reviews and synthesizes 182 recent GCO studies that have appeared since the last significant review published in 2013 through the end of 2019. The authors categorize studies into the three broad areas of GCO: (1) determinants, (2) accuracy and (3) consequences. As an integral part of their synthesis, they summarize the details of each study in several user-friendly tables. After discussing and synthesizing the research, they present a discussion of opportunities for future research, including issues created or exacerbated as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic. This monograph will be of assistance to researchers interested in exploring this area of auditor responsibility. It will also be of interest to auditing firms and individual practitioners wanting to learn what academic research has examined and found regarding this challenging aspect of audit practice. Auditing standard-setters and regulators will find it of interest as the authors review numerous studies examining issues related to audit policy and regulation, and their effects on GCO decisions. The examination of GCO research is extremely timely given the financial and business disruption caused by the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. This unprecedented global event has caused companies, auditors and professional bodies to revisit and reassess their approach to going concern, and to think even more deeply about this fundamental business imperative.

Download or read book Regulatory Risk and the Cost of Capital written by Burkhard Pedell and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2006-04-20 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Austrian Controller Award 2005 This book develops a comprehensive concept of regulatory risk integrating existing theoretical and empirical research. The focus is on explaining how the design of the regulatory system influences the risk of a rate-regulated firm, as well as on elaborating appropriate methods for the determination of the regulatory rate base and the allowed rate of return. Regarding the regulatory rate base, the question of whether market value of capital or book value of assets should be employed and the choice of the depreciation scheme are at the center of the discussion. Specific methodical issues concerning cost of capital assessment for rate-regulated firms are analyzed, i.e. the circularity of rate regulation, the sharing of risks between capital owners and rate payers, the length of the regulatory review period, the regulation of the capital structure as well as the conversion of a post-tax to pre-tax weighted average cost of capital.