Market Reaction to the Going-Concern Modified Audit Opinions of Public Companies After the IFRS Adoption

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adolfo Henrique Silva ◽  
Moacir Sancovschi ◽  
Thaina Lourenço
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 4425
Author(s):  
Taewoo Kim

In this paper, I investigate the relationship between previous going-concern audit opinions and subsequent asymmetric timeliness in accounting. Using the time-series and price-based models and conservatism proxy, I find that firms with going-concern audit opinions subsequently report losses in a more timely manner than firms that did not receive going-concern audit opinions. Furthermore, I also find that firms exiting going-concern audit opinions are more likely to report losses rather than gains in a timely manner, compared to firms non-exiting from going-concern opinions. This study extends the prior research by exploring the association between going-concern opinions and accounting conservatism from the perspective of client firms—that is, how firms behave strategically and conservatively to bypass going-concern opinions, once the firms had received previous going-concern opinions.


2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rana Bayo Flees ◽  
Sulaiman Mouselli

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the impact of qualified audit opinions on the returns of stocks listed at Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) after the introduction of the recent amendments by the International Auditing and Assurance Standard Board (IAASB) on audits reporting and conclusions. It further investigates if results differ between first time qualified and sequenced qualifications, and between plain qualified opinion and qualifications with going concern. Design/methodology/approach Audit opinions’ announcements and stock returns data are collected from companies’ annual reports for the fiscal years 2016 to 2019 while stock returns are computed from stock closing prices published at ASE website. The authors apply the event study approach and use the market model to calculate normal returns. Cumulative abnormal returns (CARs) and average abnormal returns (AARs) are computed for all qualified audit opinions’ announcements. Findings The empirical evidence suggests that investors at ASE do not react to qualified audit opinions announcements. That is, the authors find an insignificant impact of qualified audit opinion announcements on stock returns using both CAR and AAR estimates. The results are robust to first time and sequenced qualifications, and for qualifications with going concern. Results are also robust to the use of risk adjusted market model. Research limitations/implications The insignificant impact of qualified audit opinions on stock returns have two potential conflicting research implications. First, the new amendments introduced to auditors’ report made them more informative and reduce the negative signals contained in the qualified opinions. That is, investors are now aware of the real causes of qualifications and not overreacting to the qualified opinion. Second, the documented insignificant impact confirms that ASE is not a semi-strong form efficient. Practical implications The apparent excessive use of qualifications should ring the bell on whether auditors misuse their power or companies are really in trouble. Hence, the Jordanian regulatory bodies need to warn auditors against the excessive use of qualifications on the one hand, and to raise the awareness of investors on the implications of auditors’ opinions on the other hand. Originality/value This study is innovative in twofold. First, it explores the impact of qualified audit opinions on stock returns after the introduction of new amendments by IAASB at ASE. In addition, it uses event study approach and distinguishes between first time qualified and sequenced qualifications, and between plain qualified opinion and qualifications with going concern. The results are consistent with efficient market theory and behavioral finance explanations.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingjing Wang

The going concern (GC) assumption forms the basis for preparing financial statements unless liquidation becomes imminent. ASU 2014-15 requires management to evaluate GC uncertainties quarterly and provide disclosures in the notes. I compare management GC disclosures between the pre-standard and post-standard regimes. I find that the market reacts negatively to substantial doubt in GC only after ASU 2014-15. Next, I find the effect of ASU 2014-15 for quarterly reports, but not annual reports. More importantly, by employing detailed textual analysis to extract and categorize mitigation-plan discussions, I show that certain types of management mitigation plans are interpreted more positively by investors after ASU 2014-15, thereby alleviating the negative market reaction. These plans include issuing debt, debt restructuring, increasing revenue, and selling assets. Finally, I demonstrate that management GC conclusions are more indicative of corporate failures after ASU 2014-15 and that mitigation-plan discussions are associated with firms' future viability.


Author(s):  
Matthew Grosse ◽  
Tom Scott

This paper examines the information content of interim review assurance in the Australian mandatory disclosure setting. First, we find a strong negative market reaction to interim going concern conclusions (IGCC) contained in the review of interim financial statements. Second, we find no significant difference between the market reaction to IGCCs and annual going concern opinions (AGCO) received at the annual report audit. Finally, we show IGCCs are significant predictors of subsequent AGCOs, and provide incremental information from the previous annual report audit opinion. Overall, these results contribute to the literature on the benefits of mandatory interim assurance by showing that going concern conclusions contained in interim financial statements provide investors with new and relevant information.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 432
Author(s):  
Anna Kania Widiatami ◽  
Nanny Dewi Tanzil ◽  
Cahya Irawadi ◽  
Ahmad Nurkhin

Auditors are required to provide services in auditing financial statements presented by management and provide audit opinions on the fairness of the presentation of financial statements. Sometimes, in reality, management and auditors have their interests so that each party can achieve the goals. The conflict of interest appears on the independence of the auditor in issuing audit opinions, especially the audit opinion with the going concern explanatory paragraph. The audit committee, as a supervisory board, will continue to maintain the independence of the auditor in issuing audit opinions with the going concern explanatory paragraph. This study aims to examine the effectiveness of the audit committee in maintaining the independence of external auditors issuing audit opinions, especially the audit opinion with the going concern explanatory paragraph. Based on the purposive sampling method obtained a sample of 168 companies. Testing the hypothesis in this study using logistic regression and moderated regression analysis. The results showed that financial distress had a significant negative effect for the audit opinion with going concern explanatory paragraph. Furthermore, the audit committee was not able to strenghten the relationship of financial distress on the audit opinion with a going-concern explanatory paragraph.


2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (160) ◽  
pp. 785-800
Author(s):  
Costel ISTRATE ◽  
◽  
Ovidiu Constantin BUNGET ◽  
Irimie Emil POPA ◽  
◽  
...  

The purpose of this paper is to identify and to comment the main justifications of modified audit opinions and the main observations included in the emphasis of matter paragraphs from the audit reports of Romanian companies listed on the regulated market of Bucharest Stock Exchange (BSE). The authors analyze a sample of more than 1,000 observations-year for the 2007-2019 period. They found that 25% of these reports contain a modified opinion and the main explanations relate to the revaluations of fixed tangible assets, to the provisions, to the impairment of the fixed assets, to some legal issues, to items concerning the closing inventory and, to a lesser extent, to the going concern matters. In 30% of the reports analyzed, there was identified emphasis of matter paragraphs; the main observation is by far related to the going concern, followed by the financial and operating difficulties of companies and by the effects of different global crisis (financial or others).


Abacus ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
PETER J. CAREY ◽  
MARSHALL A. GEIGER ◽  
BRENDAN T. O’CONNELL

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