We study regulation of the auditing profession in a model where audit quality is unobservable and enforcing regulation is costly. The optimal audit standard falls short of the first-best audit quality, and is increasing in the riskiness of firms and in the amount of funding they seek. The model can encompass collusion between clients and auditors, arising from the joint provision of auditing and consulting services: deflecting collusion requires less ambitious standards. Finally, banning the provision of consulting services by auditors eliminates collusion but may not be optimal in the presence of economies of scope.
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Paper provided by Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy in its series CSEF Working Papers with number
133.
Length: Date of creation: 01 Mar 2005 Date of revision:
01 May 2007 Publication status: Published in CESifo Economic Studies, Vol. 53, No. 3, September 2007, pages 363–388 Handle: RePEc:sef:csefwp:133
Find related papers by JEL classification: G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation K22 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law - - - Corporation and Securities Law M42 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting - - Accounting - - - Auditing
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References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
Giovanni Immordino & Marco Pagano, 2008.
"Corporate Fraud, Governance and Auditing,"
CSEF Working Papers
203, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy, revised 16 Sep 2009.
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