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Auditor conservatism and reported earnings

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  • Richard Chung
  • Michael Firth
  • Jeong-Bon Kim

Abstract

Conservatism is an underlying concept of financial accounting. We argue that the auditor forces conservatism on client companies and that the amount of conservatism depends on the economic performance of the company and on the type of audit firm. In particular, we contend that Big Six audit clients use more conservative accounting than non-Big Six audit clients when the clients are performing poorly (as reflected in stock prices). We attribute the more conservative accounting used by Big Six audit clients to the influence of the audit firm. By regressing excess earnings to price ratios on excess stock returns and other variables, we find evidence consistent with our hypothesis that Big Six auditors influence their clients to adopt more conservative accounting than non-Big Six auditors only when the clients' financial performance is worse than expected.

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  • Richard Chung & Michael Firth & Jeong-Bon Kim, 2003. "Auditor conservatism and reported earnings," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(1), pages 19-32.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:acctbr:v:33:y:2003:i:1:p:19-32
    DOI: 10.1080/00014788.2003.9729629
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    5. Wendy Beekes & Philip Brown, 2006. "Do Better‐Governed Australian Firms Make More Informative Disclosures?," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3‐4), pages 422-450, April.
    6. May Huaxi Zhang & Stanley Iat-Meng Ko & Andreas Karathanasopoulos & Chia Chun Lo, 2022. "A two-step quantile regression method for discretionary accounting," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 59(1), pages 1-22, July.
    7. Persakis, Anthony & Iatridis, George Emmanuel, 2016. "Audit quality, investor protection and earnings management during the financial crisis of 2008: An international perspective," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 73-101.
    8. Muhammad Bilal Saeed & Syed Kashif Saeed, 2018. "Corporate Governance and Accounting Conservatism: Moderating role of Audit Quality and Disclosure Quality," Business & Economic Review, Institute of Management Sciences, Peshawar, Pakistan, vol. 10(2), pages 123-150, June.
    9. Inès Kammoun & Samah Rebai Azouz & Walid Khoufi, 2016. "Les déterminants du conservatisme comptable conditionnel dans le contexte français," Post-Print hal-01901131, HAL.
    10. Chung, Richard & Firth, Michael & Kim, Jeong-Bon, 2005. "Earnings management, surplus free cash flow, and external monitoring," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 58(6), pages 766-776, June.
    11. Stuart, Iris & Shin, Yong-Chul & Cram, Donald P. & Karan, Vijay, 2013. "Review of choice-based, matched, and other stratified sample studies in auditing research," Journal of Accounting Literature, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 88-113.
    12. Cheng, Lee-Young & Su, Yi-Chen & Yan, Zhipeng & Zhao, Yan, 2019. "Corporate governance and target price accuracy," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 93-101.
    13. Chwee Ming Tee & Puspavathy Rassiah, 2020. "Ethnic board diversity, earnings quality and institutional investors: evidence from Malaysian corporate boards," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(4), pages 4257-4290, December.
    14. Rahimah Mohamed Yunos Author_Email: rahim221@johor.uitm.edu.my & Malcolm Smith & Zubaidah Ismail & Syahrul Ahmar Ahmad, 2011. "Inside Concentrated Owners, Board Of Directors And Accounting Conservatism," Annual Summit on Business and Entrepreneurial Studies (ASBES 2011) Proceeding 2011-053-178, Conference Master Resources.
    15. Tee, Chwee Ming & Lee, Mei Yee & Majid, Abdul, 2021. "Heterogeneous political connections and stock price crash risk: Evidence from Malaysia," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(C).
    16. Dafydd Mali & Hyoung‐joo Lim, 2018. "Conservative Reporting and the Incremental Effect of Mandatory Audit Firm Rotation Policy: A Comparative Analysis of Audit Partner Rotation vs Audit Firm Rotation in South Korea," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 28(3), pages 446-463, September.
    17. Iatridis, George Emmanuel, 2012. "Audit quality in common-law and code-law emerging markets: Evidence on earnings conservatism, agency costs and cost of equity," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 101-117.
    18. François Aubert & Gary Grudnitski, 2012. "Analysts' estimates," Review of Accounting and Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 11(1), pages 53-72, February.
    19. 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.

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