Auditing the Auditors： The Audit Oversight Board and Regulating Audit Quality in Malaysia

The setting-up of the Malaysian Audit Oversight Board （AOB） in 2010 under the Securities Commission Amendment Act 2010 has extended the role of regulators into the statutory audit domain for public listed companies. Although the auditing profession in Malaysia has International Auditing Standards as prescribed minimum level of quality in the delivery of audit assurance services, self-regulation by the profession alone appears inadequate to ensure the delivery of quality audit services. With co-regulation, auditors now are monitored not just by the profession but also by a new statutory body with considerable regulatory powers to sanction auditors where quality of the audit process has been found wanting. This study solicits the opinions of auditors on their expectations of what the new regulator can achieve. Based on interviews with a sample of 30 auditors, the study finds that the majority believe that audit quality will be taken to a new level following AOB＇s remit of registration of auditors, compliance inspection with International Standard on Quality Control （ISQC）, monitoring of financial statement quality, and its power of sanctions. A review of AOB＇s early years＇ inspection confirms these expectations.

Audit Reports of Financially Distressed Companies： Emphasis of Matter （EOM） Versus Disclaimers

This paper examines audit reports issued to 39 Malaysian listed companies in financial distress categorized as Practice Note 17 （PNI7） companies by Bursa Malaysia. The study finds that for companies which experienced financial distress, the audit reports are not similar, despite all companies are similarly troubled financially. Companies receive either a disclaimer or an emphasis of matter （EOM） report. The study finds that which of the two reports is given is associated with three variables： current-year operating loss, shareholders＇ deficit, and default status, implying that audit reports do convey information that financial distress is not of the same level and severity among PN 17 companies.

Critical audit matters and stock price crash risk

Using manually collected data on the number and category of critical audit matters(CAMs)in the period 2016–2017,we investigate the hitherto unexplored questions of whether CAMs affect firm-specific crash risk,how CAMs influence crash risk in the Chinese capital market,and recognize CAMs that contain incremental information.Our findings are as follows:(1)Crash risk decreases after implementing the new audit standard requiring the disclosure of CAMs;(2)CAMs release negative information and change the capital market information environment;(3)only corporateidiosyncratic CAMs contain incremental information;(4)crash risk is mitigated only by CAMs disclosed by companies with a high shareholding of institutional investors.The main conclusion of our study is a positive assessment of the new audit standard and of CAMs in terms of protecting the interests of investors and strengthening the stability of the capital market to provide a new perspective for supervising the implementation of the new audit standard.