Firms that Fail to Address PCAOB Quality Control Criticisms Satisfactorily: New Insights on Audit Quality and Going Concern Reports

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
William L. Buslepp ◽  
Lisa Victoravich
Keyword(s):  
Quality Control ◽  
Audit Quality ◽  
Going Concern ◽  
Going Concern Reports

scholarly journals Audit Committee Accounting Expertise and Audit Quality – the Case of Going-Concern Opinions

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Gnanakumar Visvanathan
Keyword(s):  
Audit Committee ◽  
Audit Quality ◽  
Audit Committees ◽  
Type I ◽  
Type I Errors ◽  
Going Concern ◽  
Sarbanes Oxley ◽  
Prior Literature ◽  
Accounting Expertise ◽  
Going Concern Reports

This study examines whether audit committee accounting expertise and other audit committee characteristics promote or deter the likelihood of receiving going-concern reports from the auditors and whether such characteristics shield auditors from dismissals after the issuance of a going-concern report. The study finds no significant association between the likelihood of a going-concern report and audit committee accounting expertise or other audit committee characteristics. No significant association is also found for auditor dismissals following going-concern reports and audit committee accounting expertise. These results contrast with prior literature that examined data preceding the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (hereafter SOX) or the period immediately thereafter. Additional analysis shows that audit committee accounting expertise is found to improve the information in going-concern audit opinions by reducing Type I errors, however. Overall, these findings shed light on the evolving role of audit committees in overseeing the auditors and have implications for regulators interested in improving audit quality and investors interested in improving the effectiveness of audit committees. 

Consequences of Going-Concern Opinion Inaccuracy at the Audit Office Level

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 185-208
Author(s):  
Qiao Xu ◽  
Rachana Kalelkar
Keyword(s):  
Market Share ◽  
Audit Quality ◽  
Type I ◽  
Type I Errors ◽  
Negatively Associated ◽  
Going Concern ◽  
Big 4 ◽  
Office Market ◽  
Going Concern Opinion ◽  
Office Level

SUMMARY This paper examines whether inaccurate going-concern opinions negatively affect the audit office's reputation. Assuming that clients perceive the incidence of going-concern opinion errors as a systematic audit quality concern within the entire audit office, we expect these inaccuracies to impact the audit office market share and dismissal rate. We find that going-concern opinion inaccuracy is negatively associated with the audit office market share and is positively associated with the audit office dismissal rate. Furthermore, we find that the decline in market share and the increase in dismissal rate are primarily associated with Type I errors. Additional analyses reveal that the negative consequence of going-concern opinion inaccuracy is lower for Big 4 audit offices. Finally, we find that the decrease in the audit office market share is explained by the distressed clients' reactions to Type I errors and audit offices' lack of ability to attract new clients.

KRiskSM: A Computerized Decision Aid for Client Acceptance and Continuance Risk Assessments

2002 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 97-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy B. Bell ◽  
Jean C. Bedard ◽  
Karla M. Johnstone ◽  
Edward F. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Quality Control ◽  
Decision Aid ◽  
Audit Quality ◽  
Decision Aids ◽  
Risk Assessments ◽  
Innovative Technology ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Business Risk ◽  
Client Acceptance

This paper describes the development and implementation of KRisk, an innovative technology-enabled auditor decision aid for making client acceptance and continuance risk assessments. KRisk, developed and designed by KPMG LLP, is part of the firm's audit quality control and risk management processes. In this paper, we discuss the environmental and technological forces that affect auditor business risk management. We also describe important aspects of the development, functionality, and implementation of KRisk. We discuss possible impediments to realizing the full potential of decision aids that have been reported in prior auditing research, and describe how KRisk and related audit quality control procedures implemented at KPMG were designed to overcome such impediments. Also, we present some ideas for scholarly research dealing with auditor business risk management issues, and issues related to the design and use of decision aids in general.

The effect of real activities manipulation on going concern audit opinions for financially distressed companies

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 514-539
Author(s):  
Hongkang Xu ◽  
Mai Dao ◽  
Jia Wu
Keyword(s):  
Audit Quality ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Going Concern ◽  
Accruals Management ◽  
Reporting Decisions ◽  
Going Concern Opinion ◽  
Distressed Firms ◽  
Real Activities Manipulation ◽  
Auditor Reporting

Purpose This study aims to examine the effect of real activities manipulation (RAM) on auditors’ decision of issuing going concern (GC) opinions for distressed companies. Design/methodology/approach This study estimates and examines three types of RAM: reduction of discretionary expenses, sales manipulation and overproduction. It investigates the effect of RAM on auditor reporting conservatism by including the three measures of RAM methods in logistic regressions that explain the issuance of going concern opinions. The authors perform the analysis specifically on distressed firms for 2004-2013 period. Findings This study finds a significant and positive association between RAM and the likelihood of receiving going concern opinion in the financial distressed firm sample, suggesting that client’s abnormal business activity affects the auditor reporting conservatism. Practical implications This study provides evidence that auditors make going concern reporting decisions in consideration of the client’s abnormal operating decisions and management’s opportunism. Originality/value Recent literature argues that auditors have little recourse other than to resign if a client uses RAM to impact earnings or the financial statements, and hence the enhanced audit quality in the post-SOX period is due to the shift from using accruals management to RAM (Cohen et al., 2008; Chi et al., 2011; Kim and Park, 2014). The evidence provided in this study indicates that auditors report more conservatively (rather than simply resign) in response to the aggressive RAM.

Hiring Auditors with a Part II Quality Control Report: An Opportunity for Increased Earnings Management or Lower Audit Fees?

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-93
Author(s):  
Jared Eutsler ◽  
D. Kip Holderness ◽  
Megan M. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Quality Control ◽  
Audit Quality ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Fiscal Year ◽  
The Public ◽  
Audit Firms ◽  
Public Company ◽  
General Demand ◽  
Systemic Quality

ABSTRACT The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board's (PCAOB) Part II inspection reports, which disclose systemic quality control issues that auditors fail to remediate, signal poor audit quality for triennially inspected audit firms. Auditors that receive a Part II inspection report typically experience a decrease in clients, which demonstrates a general demand for audit quality. However, some companies hire auditors that receive Part II inspection reports. We examine potential reasons for hiring these audit firms. We find that relative to companies that switch to auditors without Part II reports, companies that switch to auditors with Part II reports have higher discretionary accruals in the first fiscal year after the switch, which indicates lower audit quality and a heightened risk for future fraud. We find no difference in audit fees. Our results suggest that PCAOB Part II inspection reports may signal low-quality auditors to companies that desire low-quality audits. Data Availability: Data are available from the public sources cited in the text.

The analysis of influencing factors on the going concern audit opinion – a study in manufacturing firms in Indonesia

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Averio
Keyword(s):  
Audit Quality ◽  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Manufacturing Firms ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Audit Opinion ◽  
Going Concern ◽  
Going Concern Opinion

PurposeIt is argued that the going concern opinion is issued if auditors have a doubt about financial condition of a company. Provision of the going concern audit opinion may worsen the company in terms of gaining public trust and may even indicate bankruptcy. This study aims to determine the factors that affect the auditor's going concern opinion.Design/methodology/approachThis research used secondary data obtained from annual reports and independent audit reports published by the Indonesia Stock Exchange. The population of this research included manufacturing firms registered in the Indonesia Stock Exchange from 2015 to 2019. The sample after the purposive sampling technique being applied consisted of 33 companies. The data were analyzed using logistic regression performed in the statistical analysis software, SPSS 24.0.FindingsThe results indicated that leverage positively affected the going concern audit opinion, then the audit quality, profitability and liquidity negatively affected the going concern audit opinion, whereas firm size and audit lag did not affect the going concern audit opinion.Originality/valueThis study is in contrast to several existing studies on the determinants of the auditor's going concern opinion and provides knowledge on developing more factors affecting the auditor's going concern opinion.

Bank officers’ perceptions and uses of qualified audit reports

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 215-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Sormunen
Keyword(s):  
Financial Statements ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Going Concern ◽  
Other Information ◽  
Audit Reports ◽  
Going Concern Reports ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to provide insights into the perceptions and uses of qualified audit reports in financial statements of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). As there is a long-standing debate on the usefulness of auditor’s going-concern reports, this study aims to provide insights into the factors that affect how banks perceive and use going-concern reports. Design/methodology/approach – Semi-structured interviews with bank officers were conducted. Findings – The study findings demonstrated that bank officers considered that the going-concern report provided information, although they did not regard the information as being particularly useful. The main factors affecting the usefulness of information are use of other information sources and bank officers’ perceptions of auditing. Other factors are also presented and discussed in the current research paper. Practical implications – Regulators have taken the action to improve the auditor’s reporting model, and the findings provided by this study are important because they provide a deeper understanding of the perceptions and uses of audit reports from smaller companies. The study also contributes knowledge about the role of audit reports in the context of SMEs finance. Originality/value – This is one of the first studies to use a qualitative approach to examine factors that affect the use of going-concern reports.

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