IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/bracre/v40y2008i1p28-47.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Public and private sector auditors and accruals quality in English NHS hospital Trusts

Author

Listed:
  • Ballantine, Joan
  • Forker, John
  • Greenwood, Margaret

Abstract

To promote auditor independence and audit quality in English NHS Trusts the Audit Commission regulates auditor rotation, fees and the appointment of its own and private sector auditors. NHS sanctioned departures from GAAP, some of which allow the financial breakeven target to be achieved, have been criticised by the Audit Commission as detrimental to financial discipline. In this paper, we investigate the association between abnormal accruals and the achievement of financial breakeven in NHS hospital Trusts over the period 1998–2005. We also investigate the association between abnormal accruals, audit fees and the Trusts audited by public and private sector auditors. We find evidence that abnormal accruals are used to achieve financial breakeven and they differ across different types of auditor. We also identify a negative relationship between abnormal accruals and NHS Trust star ratings. These findings raise questions about the ‘quality’ of NHS audit where compliance with NHS-specific regulations overrides the wider GAAP-based requirement for financial statements to show a true and fair view and they warrant reconsideration of the nature of audit in NHS Trusts.

Suggested Citation

  • Ballantine, Joan & Forker, John & Greenwood, Margaret, 2008. "Public and private sector auditors and accruals quality in English NHS hospital Trusts," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 28-47.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:bracre:v:40:y:2008:i:1:p:28-47
    DOI: 10.1016/j.bar.2007.09.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890838907000674
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.bar.2007.09.002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mark A. Clatworthy & Howard J. Mellett & Michael J. Peel, 2002. "The Market for External Audit Services in the Public Sector: An Empirical Analysis of NHS Trusts," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(9‐10), pages 1399-1439.
    2. Francis, Jere R., 2004. "What do we know about audit quality?," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 345-368.
    3. Jones, Jj, 1991. "Earnings Management During Import Relief Investigations," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 193-228.
    4. Johnson, Marilyn F. & Nelson, Karen K. & Frankel, Richard M., 2002. "The Relation Between Auditor's Fees for Non-audit Services and Earnings Quality," Research Papers 1696r, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    5. Mark A. Clatworthy & Howard J. Mellett & Michael J. Peel, 2002. "The Market for External Audit Services in the Public Sector: An Empirical Analysis of NHS Trusts," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(9‐10), pages 1399-1439.
    6. Rubin, Marc A., 1992. "Municipal selection of a state or external auditor for financial statement audits," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 155-178.
    7. Copley, Paul A., 1991. "The association between municipal disclosure practices and audit quality," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 245-266.
    8. Roger Koenker & Kevin F. Hallock, 2001. "Quantile Regression," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(4), pages 143-156, Fall.
    9. Johnson, Laurence E. & Davies, Stephen P. & Freeman, Robert J., 2002. "The effect of seasonal variations in auditor workload on local government audit fees and audit delay," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 21(4-5), pages 395-422.
    10. Sati P. Bandyopadhyay & Jennifer L. Kao, 2001. "Competition and Big 6 Brand Name Reputation: Evidence from the Ontario Municipal Audit Market," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(1), pages 27-64, March.
    11. Basioudis, Ilias G. & Ellwood, Sheila, 2005. "External audit in the National Health Service in England and Wales: A study of an oversight body's control of auditor remuneration," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 207-241.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Maria Jose Arcas & Caridad Martí, 2016. "Financial Performance Adjustment in English Local Governments," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 26(2), pages 141-152, June.
    2. Zubir Azhar & Ervina Alfan & Krishnen Kishan & Nurul Husna Assanah, 2022. "Accrual Accounting at Different Levels of the Public Sector: A Systematic Literature Review," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 32(1), pages 36-62, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xue, Bai & O'Sullivan, Noel, 2023. "The determinants of audit fees in the alternative investment market (Aim) in the UK: Evidence on the impact of risk, corporate governance and auditor size," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    2. Giroux, Gary & Jones, Rowan, 2011. "Measuring audit quality of local governments in England and Wales," Research in Accounting Regulation, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 60-66.
    3. Michael E. Bradbury & Gary Monroe, 2017. "Large audit firm premium and audit specialisation in the public sector," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 57(3), pages 657-679, September.
    4. Mark A. Clatworthy & Howard J. Mellett & Michael J. Peel, 2008. "Changes in NHS Trust Audit and Non-Audit Fees," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(4), pages 199-205, August.
    5. Kevan Jensen & Jin-Mo Kim & Han Yi, 2015. "The geography of US auditors: information quality and monitoring costs by local versus non-local auditors," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 513-549, April.
    6. DeFond, Mark & Zhang, Jieying, 2014. "A review of archival auditing research," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 275-326.
    7. Alzoubi, Ebraheem Saleem Salem, 2018. "Audit quality, debt financing, and earnings management: Evidence from Jordan," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 69-84.
    8. Lang, Mark & Maffett, Mark, 2011. "Transparency and liquidity uncertainty in crisis periods," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 101-125.
    9. Kharuddin, Khairul Ayuni Mohd & Basioudis, Ilias G & Farooque, Omar Al, 2021. "Effects of the Big 4 national and city-level industry expertise on audit quality in the United Kingdom," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    10. Chi, Hsin-Yi & Weng, Tzu-Ching, 2014. "Managerial legal liability and Big 4 auditor choice," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(9), pages 1857-1869.
    11. repec:dau:papers:123456789/1073 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Cristi A. Gleason & Sascha Kieback & Martin Thomsen & Christoph Watrin, 2021. "Monitoring or payroll maximization? What happens when workers enter the boardroom?," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 1046-1087, September.
    13. Tsipouridou, Maria & Spathis, Charalambos, 2012. "Earnings management and the role of auditors in an unusual IFRS context: The case of Greece," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 62-78.
    14. Joseph B. Omonuk & Jean Baptiste Koffi Dodor, 2016. "Do US electric utilities use industry-specific generally accepted accounting principles to manage earnings?," International Journal of Economics and Accounting, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 7(2), pages 101-115.
    15. AYOUB, Maysam, 2023. "European evidence on the effects of audit office changes on clients' financial reporting quality," Working Papers 2023007, University of Antwerp, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    16. Michael Peel & Roydon Roberts, 2003. "Audit fee determinants and auditor premiums: evidence from the micro-firm sub-market," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(3), pages 207-233.
    17. Fung, Simon Y.K. & Goodwin, John, 2013. "Short-term debt maturity, monitoring and accruals-based earnings management," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 67-82.
    18. David C. Hay & W. Robert Knechel & Norman Wong, 2006. "Audit Fees: A Meta†analysis of the Effect of Supply and Demand Attributes," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(1), pages 141-191, March.
    19. K. A. Houghton & C. Dolley & C. A. Jubb & K. M. Chong, 2002. "Jurisdictional Differences in Contracting Out GBE Audits: The Impact on Audit Pricing," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 12(28), pages 50-57, November.
    20. Ball, Fiona & Tyler, Jonathan & Wells, Peter, 2015. "Is audit quality impacted by auditor relationships?," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 166-181.
    21. Alex Chu & Xingqiang Du & Guohua Jiang, 2011. "Buy, Lie, or Die: An Investigation of Chinese ST Firms’ Voluntary Interim Audit Motive and Auditor Independence," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 102(1), pages 135-153, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:bracre:v:40:y:2008:i:1:p:28-47. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/the-british-accounting-review .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.