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）.

Perceptions on the Effects of Auditor-Client Relationship upon Audit Quality and Auditor Independence： Evidence from Bahrain

The study aims to focus upon the association between the auditors and companies by indicating how this association affects the quality of audit and auditor independence in a developing country （the case of Bahrain）. To achieve these objectives, a questionnaire was developed and distributed to respondents from audit firms in Bahrain. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the influence of auditor-client association upon quality of audit and auditor independence and how audit quality and auditor independence are improved was also explored in the study. The results show that all the questions （1-8） in the questionnaire impair both audit quality and auditor independence with the means ranging from 3.6000 to 4.0364 with an average mean of 3.7212. According to the measurement scale, any item with a mean of 3.50 or more is acceptable, and since all the influences are above 3.50, they are all acceptable. Regarding how auditor-client relationship （or long tenured auditor） would improve both quality of audit and auditor independence, the results show that all the questions （9-17） would improve both audit quality and auditor independence with the means ranging from 3.6364 to 4.0727 with an average of 3.8646, which are acceptable. These results confirm statistically that there is a significant relationship between the auditor long-term tenure and audit quality and auditor independence, so the null hypothesis （H0） is rejected and the alternative hypothesis is accepted. Simple regression analysis is employed to test the hypothesis of the study and its significance. The results show that （H0） hypothesis is not significant. Therefore, the alternative hypothesis （H1） is significant at p 〈 0.005, which means that there are differences in viewpoints among respondents and the p-value obtained is 0.044 which is less than the significant value of p 〈 0.05. These results confirm the hypothesis that a significant relationship exists between the auditor long-term tenure and quality of audit and auditor independence.

The Empirical Research on Auditor Independence and Mandatory Auditor Rotation

Using, the method of correlation coefficient, this paper discusses the empirical relationship between audit tenure and audit opinion in annual reports in China A-share market and period of mandatory rotation of auditor. The research finds that the negative correlation between auditor tenure and non-standard unqualified audit opinion is statistically significant, and auditor tenure might impair his/her independence. To enhance auditor independence and improve audit quality, it is necessary to rotate mandatory auditor. The results also fred that consecutive auditing years should not exceed 5 years when the existing auditor has been the auditor of listed company, and mandatory rotation of auditor adapts to the rotation of CPA firms in charge of a client.

How does auditors' work stress affect audit quality?Empirical evidence from the Chinese stock market

With reference to the Job Demands-Control Model,we empirically examine the effect of auditors' work stress on audit quality using a sample of Chinese A-share listed companies and their signature auditors from 2009 to 2013.The results show that(1) there is generally no pervasive deterioration in audit quality resulting from auditors' work stress;(2) there is a significant negative association between work stress and audit quality in the initial audits of new clients;and(3) the perception of work stress depends on auditors' individual characteristics.Auditors from international audit firms and those in the role of partner respond more strongly to work stress than industry experts.Auditors tend to react more intensively when dealing with state-owned companies.We suggest that audit firms attach more importance to auditors' work stress and rationalize their allocation of audit resources to ensure high audit quality.