IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/tei/journl/v13y2020i1p21-28.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

New Insights on Audit Quality

Author

Listed:
  • Ya-Fang Wang

    (Providence University, 200, Sec. 7, Taiwan Boulevard, Shalu Dist., Taichung City 43301, Taiwan)

Abstract

Purpose: The mechanism of dual attestation system is to enhance audit quality through bonding legal liability of two signing partners. However, an intense debate regarding the retention or abolition of dual attestation system was discussed in recent years, because the amended Accountant Act have disputes over auditor’s legal liabilities attributed to the Bardon and Rebar frauds. This study thus examines the audit quality of dual attestation system by exploring whether auditor locality and auditor tenure can affect audit quality simultaneously. Design/methodology/approach: This study investigates whether auditor locality and auditor tenure can affect audit quality simultaneously, using a regression model to examine my research issues. The sample is restricted to Taiwan’s public listed companies of Big Four audit from 2002-2013 because data collection involves significant manual effort in reading individual auditor information of Big Four and searching lead/concurring auditor-client distance of Big Four. Financial data is obtained from Taiwan Economic Journal database (TEJ). Finding: I present evidence that audit quality is affected by auditor locality and auditor tenure, and differential portfolio of auditor locality and auditor tenure have different effects on audit quality under the dual attestation system. Research limitations/implications: This study has three limitations. First, the sample is limited to the clients of PwC, Deloitte, EY and KPMG because the required information for practice offices of lead and concurring auditors is only available for Big 4. Second, although discretionary accruals is a noisy proxy for audit quality and it does not necessarily reflect actual audit quality, it is widely used in the literature to provide rich insights into audit quality. Three, sample size is limited because of insufficient data to compute discretionary accruals. Originality/value: This investigation extends previous research on audit quality by examining the geographic proximity and auditor-client relationship. Furthermore, this study contributes to the debate regarding the retention or abolition of dual attestation system.

Suggested Citation

  • Ya-Fang Wang, 2020. "New Insights on Audit Quality," International Journal of Business and Economic Sciences Applied Research (IJBESAR), International Hellenic University (IHU), Kavala Campus, Greece (formerly Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Institute of Technology - EMaTTech), vol. 13(1), pages 21-28, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:tei:journl:v:13:y:2020:i:1:p:21-28
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://ijbesar.ihu.gr/docs/volume13_issue1/13_01_03.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://ijbesar.ihu.gr/volume13_issue1.php
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jere R. Francis & Paul N. Michas & Scott E. Seavey, 2013. "Does Audit Market Concentration Harm the Quality of Audited Earnings? Evidence from Audit Markets in 42 Countries," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(1), pages 325-355, March.
    2. Jere R. Francis & Jagan Krishnan, 1999. "Accounting Accruals and Auditor Reporting Conservatism," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(1), pages 135-165, March.
    3. Nicholas Dopuch & Ronald R. King & Rachel Schwartz, 2001. "An Experimental Investigation of Retention and Rotation Requirements," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(1), pages 93-117, June.
    4. Wuchun Chi & Huichi Huang & Yichun Liao & Hong Xie, 2009. "Mandatory Audit Partner Rotation, Audit Quality, and Market Perception: Evidence from Taiwan," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(2), pages 359-391, June.
    5. Francis, Jere R., 2004. "What do we know about audit quality?," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 345-368.
    6. DeFond, Mark L. & Subramanyam, K. R., 1998. "Auditor changes and discretionary accruals," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 35-67, February.
    7. Lamoreaux, Phillip T., 2016. "Does PCAOB inspection access improve audit quality? An examination of foreign firms listed in the United States," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 313-337.
    8. Paul Hribar & D. Craig Nichols, 2007. "The Use of Unsigned Earnings Quality Measures in Tests of Earnings Management," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(5), pages 1017-1053, December.
    9. Kothari, S.P. & Leone, Andrew J. & Wasley, Charles E., 2005. "Performance matched discretionary accrual measures," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 163-197, February.
    10. Chih†Ying Chen & Chan†Jane Lin & Yu†Chen Lin, 2008. "Audit Partner Tenure, Audit Firm Tenure, and Discretionary Accruals: Does Long Auditor Tenure Impair Earnings Quality?," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(2), pages 415-445, June.
    11. Bartov, Eli & Gul, Ferdinand A. & Tsui, J.S.L.Judy S. L., 2000. "Discretionary-accruals models and audit qualifications," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 421-452, December.
    12. Mark L. Defond & Jere R. Francis & Nicholas J. Hallman, 2018. "Awareness of SEC Enforcement and Auditor Reporting Decisions," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 35(1), pages 277-313, March.
    13. DeFond, Mark & Zhang, Jieying, 2014. "A review of archival auditing research," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 275-326.
    14. Gul, Ferdinand A. & Fung, Simon Yu Kit & Jaggi, Bikki, 2009. "Earnings quality: Some evidence on the role of auditor tenure and auditors' industry expertise," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 265-287, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Bandyopadhyay, Sati P. & Chen, Changling & Yu, Yingmin, 2014. "Mandatory audit partner rotation, audit market concentration, and audit quality: Evidence from China," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 18-31.
    2. DeFond, Mark & Zhang, Jieying, 2014. "A review of archival auditing research," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 275-326.
    3. Kevin Koh & Li Li & Xuejiao Liu & Chunfei Wang, 2023. "The Effect of Audit Partner Diversity on Audit Quality: Evidence from China," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 59(1), pages 340-380, March.
    4. Neal Arthur & Medhat Endrawes & Shawn Ho, 2017. "Impact of Partner Change on Audit Quality: An Analysis of Partner and Firm Specialisation Effects," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 27(4), pages 368-381, December.
    5. Mehdi Nekhili & Fahim Javed & Haithem Nagati, 2022. "Audit Partner Gender, Leadership and Ethics: The Case of Earnings Management," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 177(2), pages 233-260, May.
    6. 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.
    7. Brandon Gipper & Luzi Hail & Christian Leuz, 2017. "On the Economics of Audit Partner Tenure and Rotation: Evidence from PCAOB Data," NBER Working Papers 24018, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Daniela Hohenfels & Reiner Quick, 2020. "Non-audit services and audit quality: evidence from Germany," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 14(5), pages 959-1007, October.
    9. Firth, Michael & Rui, Oliver M. & Wu, Xi, 2012. "How Do Various Forms of Auditor Rotation Affect Audit Quality? Evidence from China," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 109-138.
    10. TINA M. Jose Vega & Dennis M. López, 2012. "Evaluating The Effect Of Industry Specialist Duration On Audit Quality And Audit Fees," Working Papers 0023, College of Business, University of Texas at San Antonio.
    11. Chen, Lihong & Xiao, Tingting & Zhou, Jia, 2023. "Do auditor changes affect the disclosure of critical audit matters? Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    12. Lorenzo Dal Maso & Gerald J. Lobo & Francesco Mazzi & Luc Paugam, 2020. "Implications of the Joint Provision of CSR Assurance and Financial Audit for Auditors' Assessment of Going‐Concern Risk†," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(2), pages 1248-1289, June.
    13. Ku He & Xiaofei Pan & Gary Tian, 2017. "Legal Liability, Government Intervention, and Auditor Behavior: Evidence from Structural Reform of Audit Firms in China," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(1), pages 61-95, January.
    14. Zhang, Min & Xu, Haoran & Li, Xu, 2017. "The Effect of Previous Working Relationship between Rotating Partners on Mandatory Audit Partner Rotation," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 101-121.
    15. Quick, Reiner & Schmidt, Florian, 2018. "Do audit firm rotation, auditor retention, and joint audits matter? – An experimental investigation of bank directors' and institutional investors' perceptions," Journal of Accounting Literature, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 1-21.
    16. Singh, Abhijeet & Singh, Harjinder & Sultana, Nigar & Evans, John, 2019. "Independent and joint effects of audit partner tenure and non-audit fees on audit quality," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 186-205.
    17. 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).
    18. Timothy B. Bell & Monika Causholli & W. Robert Knechel, 2015. "Audit Firm Tenure, Non‐Audit Services, and Internal Assessments of Audit Quality," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(3), pages 461-509, June.
    19. Jiang, Fuxiu & Ma, Yunbiao & Wang, Xue, 2020. "Multiple blockholders and earnings management," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    20. Chy, Mahfuz & De Franco, Gus & Su, Barbara, 2021. "The effect of auditor litigation risk on clients' access to bank debt: Evidence from a quasi-experiment," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(1).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    audit quality; dual attestation; auditor locality; auditor tenure;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F02 - International Economics - - General - - - International Economic Order and Integration
    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • O19 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - International Linkages to Development; Role of International Organizations

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:tei:journl:v:13:y:2020:i:1:p:21-28. 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: Kostas Stergidis (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dbikagr.html .

    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.