Auditor Reputation, Audit Opinion, and Eamings Management： Evidence From French Banking Industry

The aim of this research is to study the impact of auditor reputation and audit opinion on earnings management in French banks. This article used a sample of 162 French banks over the period from 2005 to 2012. By using three different tests （loss-avoidance, just-meeting-or-beating prior year＇s earnings, and abnormal loan loss provision）, the findings of this paper show that both high auditor reputation and qualified audit opinion constrain earnings management to avoid loss or to just meet or beat prior year＇s earnings in banks. In separate tests related to earnings management through abnormal loan loss provisions, the paper also finds that high auditor reputation constrains earnings management. Qualified audit opinion has a negative but non-significant effect on abnormal loan loss provisions.

The Audit Opinion of Earnings Management in Listed Companies of China

The paper testes the relationship between audit opinions and financial sensitive zones and accounts on the basis of the data of A-share companies in China. The author finds that when ROE of listed companies is in the small-profit zone or in the large-loss zone, the probabilities that they get modified audit opinions increase. But the right-offering zone, accrual accounts and accounts below the line have no significant effects on the modified audit opinions. Besides, the author also finds that the ratio of accounts receivable to asset, debt ratio, previous year＇s audit opinion and change of CPA firms have significant positive effects on the modified audit opinions, while the ratio of major business revenue and size of companies have no notable effects. Some other factors such as cash ratio, age of the listing and CPA firm ranking have no consistent and continuous effects.

Literature Review on Audit Opinion

To review the literature could always help us to find the limitation of past studies. This paper offers a literature review concerned with audit opinion from foreign studies to Chinese studies. Audit opinion directly reflects whether the financial statement is true and fair or not, which is the reason why audit is necessary and important. These archives could be divided into two parts, whose elements could influence the quality of audit opinion and how audit opinion impacts on companies and market. The stakeholders value audit opinion and they have different demands of audit opinion to meet their demand. For example, tax department needs the information of revenue and profit to collect tax, creditors need to know the exact number of assets to guarantee their loans, and investors prefer to learn the profitability of companies from financial statements. The article provides a holistic view of audit opinion to give other researchers an implication on which part of audit opinion needs to be studied further.

Does ownership structure matter when CPA deciding types of audit opinions

Ownership structure is one of the most important and basic corporate governance characteristics. Thus, does the ownership structure of a firm have an effect on the type of audit opinion it receives from CPA？ This paper uses a sample including 1246 non-financial listed companies from China A-share market in 2003. Empirical results show： for listed firms, external auditor＇s propensity to qualify is lower with lower proportion of public shares, or with higher concentration of shares at a marginal significant level. However, the proportions of state-owned shares and institutional shares have no significant effects on audit opinions. A possible explanation is that the ownership structure influences risk awareness and negotiation power of audit firms, influences negotiation power of clients, and then ultimately influences auditors＇ reporting decision and audit opinions. The potential policy implication is： a more dispersed ownership structure and/or a higher proportion of public shares are preferable for higher audit reporting conservatism and audit quality in China.

Do modified audit opinions have economic consequences? Empirical evidence based on financial constraints

We present a framework and empirical evidence to explain why,on average,11%of listed firms in China received modified audit opinions(MAOs)between 1992 and 2009.We argue that there are two reasons for this phenomenon:strong earnings management incentives lower firms'financial reporting quality and soft budget constraints weaken the information and governance roles of audit opinions.We find that firms'financial constraints eased after receiving MAOs,which suggests that MAOs have limited economic consequences.Further analysis shows that this phenomenon predominantly exists in government-controlled firms and firms that receive MAOs for the first time.We also find that MAOs have not influenced financial constraints after 2006.Finally,we find that MAOs did not affect borrowing cash flows from banks until 2005,suggesting that MAOs did not start affecting bank financing until that year.We also find that firms receive more related-party financing after receiving MAOs.Our results indicate that a limited effect on bank financing and increased related-party financing reduce the effect of MAOs on financial constraints.

Do goodwill impairments affect audit opinions?Evidence from China

There has been a steady growth of goodwill impairments in the Chinese stock market since the adoption of the impairment approach in accounting.The influence of goodwill impairments on a firm’s financial position and profitability give reason to doubt its current and future performance.We examine whether auditors,as a crucial external monitor,identify the information risks of goodwill impairments and express their concerns about financial reporting quality in their audit opinions.Using a sample of firms listed on China’s Ashare market from 2007 to 2017,we test the association between goodwill impairments and the type of audit opinion received in the same financial period.Our findings are as follows.First,the probability of receiving a modified opinion increases with the amount of goodwill impairments.Second,the positive association between goodwill impairments and modified audit opinions is driven primarily by earnings management risks.Third,this positive association is more salient when auditors are industry experts and there is no auditor–client mismatch.Fourth,auditors are more sensitive to the amount of goodwill impairments than to their mere existence.Overall,we document that auditors perceive goodwill impairments as a signal of information risks and communicate their concerns to investors to avoid litigation.

Disclosure of Critical Audit Matters,Audit Risk and Audit Opinion

We explore the association between the number of critical audit matters and auditing opinion based on the Chinese capital market data.In addition,we investigate the effect of audit risk on the relationship between the number of critical audit matters and auditing opinion.Using 6,662 firm-year observations listed in the Chinese capital market from 2017–2019,we find that the number of critical audit matters has significantly positive association with clear audit opinion.Specially,the greater the number of critical audit matters,the more likely getting clear audit opinion.We also find that the audit risk restricts the effect of the critical audit matters on the audit opinion.Lastly,we find that Big4 accounting firms are less likely to be influenced by the number of critical audit matters;the audit complexity restricts the effect of the critical audit matters on the audit opinion;the more board members,the less effect of the number of critical audit matters on the audit opinion.We also use several robustness tests to strengthen the conclusion.Our research may contribute to the understanding of the new audit standard.

Abnormal Audit Fees and Audit Opinion–Further Evidence from China's Capital Market

The existing literature on audit opinion shopping provides inconsistent evidence on whether such shopping has any association with abnormal audit fees. In this paper, we hypothesize that firms engage in audit opinion shopping and pay an abnormal audit fee only when their degree of accounting quality is low. To examine the issue, we group firms on the basis of their change in return on assets(ROA), and show that abnormal audit fees improve audit opinions only among firms that engage local auditors and have a low degree of ROA, but report a large increase in ROA, especially when the ROA change is the result of abnormal accruals. We find no association between abnormal audit fees and audit opinion improvement for other firms.

Audit Quality in Kazakhstan： Does Big 4 Provide High-Quality Audits？

This paper provides empirical evidence on audit quality in Kazakhstan as measured by audit tenure and the frequency of issuing modified opinions. In addition, an overview of audit institutions of Kazakhstan and an analysis of the current audit market for public companies are offered. This paper also sheds light upon the potential independence problems resulting in low audit quality and current barriers to audit researches in Kazakhstan. Consistent with the findings of extant researches on audit quality and the general perceptions of investors, two hypotheses were developed, i.e., the audits performed by Big 4 audit firms in Kazakhstan also have higher quality than non-Big 4 audit firms in terms of audit tenure and the frequency of issuing modified opinions. The result confirms the hypothesis that Big 4 audit firms provide higher audit quality than smaller local firms in association with audit tenure instead of in relation to the frequency of issuing modified opinions. The result indicates that Big 4 audit firms may not be as independent as they will be in a highly litigious market. Therefore, an independent inspection should be regularly implemented according to the audit law, and the inspection report should be publicized by Chamber of Auditors （COA）1. If this is not practical due to the lack of qualified inspectors, a peer review may be an altemative to implement the quality control policy immediately. To the author＇s best knowledge, this is the first audit quality research in countries of the Commonwealth of Independence States （CIS）.

The Relationship between Non-audit Services and Auditor Independence: Evidence from Chinese Listed Companies

The rapid development of non-audit services(NAS)has jeopardized the independence of auditors,which has led many Western countries to enact regulations that restrict the provision of NAS.While in China,NAS have just emerged,and its development in China is far less mature than in Western countries.The purpose of this paper is to explore whether NAS in China have damaged auditor independence and whether Chinese regulators need to emulate Western countries and strongly limit the provision of NAS.In order to achieve this objective,213 Chinese listed companies are selected in this study.The audit opinions issued by the auditors are used as substitute variables for auditor independence(dependent variables),and the ratio of non-audit service fees to the total of audit service fees and non-audit service fees as a substitute variable for the provision of NAS(independent variable),and meanwhile some suitable control variables are also selected.Analyse these data by building a binary logistic regression model.The results show that there is no evidence in China that NAS can undermine auditor independence and there is no need for China to enact regulations to prohibit the provision of NAS.

Does Independent External Auditing Play a Role in Corporate Governance？ An Empirical Study on Chinese A-Share Listed Firms

In China, an emerging economy, where investor protection is relatively weak, it is worthwhile and interesting to investigate whether independent external auditing, a sort of external corporate governance mechanism, exerts its influence. Using a sample of all A-share listed firms in 2005, this paper investigates the effects of independent external auditing on corporate governance via three aspects： （1） choice of auditing institution; （2） auditing fee; and （3） auditing opinion for annual reports. Empirical results show that, with worse agency problems in firms, the possibility of employing the “Big 41” to audit its annual reports is bigger. When determining auditing fees, auditing institutions take both firms＇ agency problems and the firm size into account. When issuing qualified opinions for poor-performing firms, auditors do not consider agency problems embedded in concentrated ownership. Overall, external independent auditing plays a limited role in corporate governance.

机构投资者调研与公司审计意见购买行为:刺激效应还是抑制效应?

公司管理层实施审计意见购买行为及其监管治理是审计学界与监管部门长期关注的重要问题。机构投资者调研作为投资者发掘公司内部信息并缓解信息不对称的一种非正式制度安排,会抑制还是刺激公司实施审计意见购买行为?本文基于我国上市公司的机构投资者调研数据,通过实证研究发现:机构投资者调研会刺激公司实施审计意见购买行为,参与调研机构数量越多、调研频数越高,被调研公司的审计意见购买动机越强,审计意见激进度也越高。进一步分析发现,在机构投资者调研的刺激效应下,公司主要通过选聘“中小”事务所实施审计意见购买,其目的是掩盖公司盈余管理及经营风险的“不利信号”。在缓解内生问题、排除替代性解释、考虑审计轮换制度影响等一系列稳健测试之后,上述结论依然成立。因此,建议会计师事务所应重视由机构投资者调研衍生的客户公司审计风险,市场监管部门应加强公司审计师选聘行为监管,提高机构投资者调研的外部治理效应。

企业诚信建设与注册会计师审计意见

在全社会强调传承诚信文化的背景下,已有文献研究了诚信建设带给企业的诸多后果,却鲜有研究从审计市场角度分析企业诚信的影响。本文基于诚信的三个基础因素“言”“行”和“言行不一致”,利用年报文本和监管处罚数据构建了企业诚信指标,分析了企业诚信对审计意见的影响与机制。研究发现,企业诚信降低了注册会计师出具非标意见的可能性,该现象在非国有企业中更加突出。企业诚信通过减少财务报告错报、抑制盈余操纵和加强内部控制的方式,最终影响了其对审计意见的判断。进一步地,当客户的应收账款和存货占比越高、客户越重要时,企业诚信更能减少非标审计意见出具。本研究有助于促进企业从审计市场角度理解诚信建设的重要性。

CFO变更与企业财务报告质量

在现代风险导向审计模式下,审计师会关注CFO变更这一信号以识别和评估财务报表重大错报风险,但鲜有文献探究财务报告质量是否因此而下降。以2010—2020年沪深两市A股上市公司为对象,研究CFO变更对企业财务报告质量的影响。研究表明,CFO变更提高了企业应计盈余管理的程度,增加了企业报告小额盈余、进行财务重述以及被出具非标审计意见的可能性,进而导致财务报告质量显著下降;当CFO未兼任内部董事、发生外部继任或非正常变更、任职于非央企时,上述负向作用更加明显。进一步研究表明,CFO变更通过提高企业的代理成本与信息不对称程度从而降低财务报告质量,并最终使企业面临更大的融资约束。

企业战略差异、经营风险与审计师决策

近年来,国内外市场竞争加剧,企业为谋求长远发展,倾向于选择有别于行业常规的战略。但是企业战略差异可能导致经营风险增加、信息不对称程度加深,进而影响审计师的相关判断与决策。以2009—2019年A股上市公司为样本,对企业战略差异与审计师决策的关系展开研究。研究结果表明:企业战略差异与非标准审计意见、审计收费显著正相关;经营风险发挥部分中介作用,即战略差异通过影响企业的经营风险影响审计师决策。进一步研究发现,高管性别特征会影响企业战略差异与审计师决策的关系,女性高管能够抑制企业战略差异对审计师决策的不利影响。

非国有董事治理积极性与国有企业审计意见决策

如何发挥非国有董事治理积极性以提高国有企业审计意见质量,实现国有资产保值增值,是深化国有企业改革亟需研究的问题。以2013—2022年A股国有企业上市公司为样本,构建离散选择模型,以投非赞成票代理非国有董事治理积极性。研究发现,非国有董事治理积极性越高,越能够提示应计盈余管理风险,审计师越倾向出具非标准审计意见;第一大非国有股东持股比例越高,混改国有企业股权集中度越低,非国有董事治理积极性与审计意见谨慎性的关系越显著。经过稳健性检验,研究结论不变。进一步研究发现,非国有董事积极履行治理职能导致审计意见质量提高有利于混改国有企业资产保值增值,实现国有企业混改主要目标。研究结论对于国有企业审计师正确决策审计意见、非国有董事有效维权、政府监管部门和混改国有企业充分尊重非国有董事治理的积极性、实现国有企业改革目标,均具有启示意义。

MD&A文本相似性会影响审计风格吗?

“管理层讨论与分析”(MD&A)信息披露通常会受到管理层的影响,并带来相应的披露后果。以2014—2021年上市公司为研究样本,以审计师向客户发表非标准审计意见的准确度来衡量审计风格,实证检验MD&A文本相似性对审计风格的影响。研究发现:MD&A文本相似性越高,审计风格越激进;分析师跟踪、信息披露质量和媒体关注度削弱了MD&A文本相似性与审计风格之间的正相关关系。影响机制研究发现:MD&A文本相似性越高,审计师投入的审计资源会越少,要求的收费水平就会降低,使得审计风格更加激进。异质性分析发现:MD&A文本语调更为积极的一组,MD&A文本相似性与审计风格之间的关系不显著,语调消极的一组二者之间仍存在显著的正相关关系,而MD&A文本可读性程度的高低不影响MD&A文本相似性和审计风格之间的关系。上述研究结论对监管机构落实审计师责任、审计师作出审计判断和投资者进行投资决策等具有一定的参考意义。

国家审计抑制了社会审计意见购买吗——基于央企控股上市公司的经验证据

审计意见购买行为降低了社会审计质量,损害了社会审计的投资者保护功能。本文以2010—2018年央企控股上市公司为样本,探讨了国家审计对社会审计意见购买的影响及其作用机制,研究发现,央企控股上市公司存在签字注册会计师层面的社会审计意见购买行为,而国家审计能够抑制这一行为。机制检验发现,国家审计通过提高信息透明度和约束管理层权力抑制了央企控股上市公司的社会审计意见购买行为。进一步研究发现,在审计客户重要性程度高、事务所行业专长水平低的情况下,国家审计更能显著地抑制审计意见购买;多次审计以及审计机关查出问题数量越多,国家审计抑制社会审计意见购买的效应越明显;国家审计对社会审计意见购买行为的影响在同行业和具有共同签字注册会计师的未被审计央企控股上市公司中具有溢出效应。本文研究为完善国有企业现代化治理体系、净化注册会计师行业生态环境提供了有价值的参考。

关键审计事项信息披露与债务融资成本——基于风险词频的分析

新审计报告改革要求在关键审计事项中披露风险信息,该信息的外部感知是一种风险吸收还是风险溢出,是一个亟待检验的理论命题。为此,以2017—2021年A股上市公司为研究样本,通过统计关键审计事项段文本的风险词频考察风险信息披露对债务融资成本的影响。结果表明,关键审计事项风险信息的披露显著降低了债务融资成本,符合信息观的预期。进一步研究发现:关键审计事项的风险披露主要是通过缓解信息不对称和降低债务违约风险影响债务融资成本;在企业代理成本较高、银行业竞争度较低的子样本中,关键审计事项风险信息披露对债务融资成本的降低作用更为明显。这不仅为新审计报告改革的效果提供了增量的经验证据,而且对于推进准则贯彻实施、完善资本市场监管规则体系也有一定的借鉴参考价值。

审计意见质量与关键审计事项报告积极性

KAM作为审计报告新增要素,其报告内容与方式必须服从、服务于审计报告核心要素——审计意见的质量保证要求。选取2016年A+H股和2017—2021年沪深A股上市公司作为样本,研究审计意见质量保证要求对KAM报告的影响,发现审计意见质量低时,KAM披露的数量越多、篇幅越大、可读性越强、语调越消极,差异度越大,KAM报告积极性越高。事务所规模越大、客户风险越低,上述关系越显著。通过一系列稳健性检验,结论依然成立。进一步研究发现:审计意见质量对KAM报告积极性的影响,不仅有利于提高审计报告沟通价值,而且有利于降低被审计报表的财务重述,控制审计失败。研究结论对审计师有效编制、监管部门适当监管、投资者正确理解新审计报告,充分发挥其功能作用,具有重要的启示意义。