We present a framework and empirical evidence to explain why, on average, 11% of listed firms in China received modified audit opinions (MAOs) between 1992 and 2009. We argue that there are two reasons for this phenomenon: strong earnings management incentives lower firms' financial reporting...

Using listed companies in China's A-share market from 1997 to 2009, this paper investigates the relationship between controller changes (including changes in controlling shareholders, directors and CEOs) and auditor changes. The empirical evidence indicates that controller changes are positively...

Since its foundation, China's government auditing system has played a very important role in maintaining financial and economic order and improving government accountability and transparency. Though a great deal of research has discussed the role of government auditing in discovering and...

This paper focuses on the reform of accounting standards in China in 2007 and investigates its impact on equilibrium pricing in the audit market. We find that the concentration of the audit market and the probability of issuing modified audit opinions do not significantly change, but that audit...

This study examines whether auditors are employed as a monitoring mechanism to mitigate agency problems arising from different types of controlling shareholders. In a context of concentrated ownership and poor investor protection, controlling shareholders can easily expropriate wealth from...

This study uses data from companies listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange to investigate the relationship between corporate governance and audit fees. Full sample results reveal a significant negative relationship between corporate governance and audit fees, and subsample results further show...

The existing literature on audit opinion shopping provides inconsistent evidence on whether such shopping has any association with abnormal audit fees. In this paper, we hypothesize that firms engage in audit opinion shopping and pay an abnormal audit fee only when their degree of accounting...

Although forms of address are widely used in textual and other types of disclosure, empirical evidence of their effects is rare. China provides a unique setting in which to test the economic consequences of the forms of address used in audit reports. From 2003 to 2011, about 60% of auditors...

This study investigates changes in audit strategy in China following the introduction of risk-based auditing standards rather than an internal control-based audit mode. Specifically, we examine whether auditors are implementing the risk-based audit mode to evaluate corporate governance before...

In this study, we examine whether education, as an important component of the human capital of auditors, is related to the occurrence of financial misstatement, and investigate the moderating effect of professional experience. Using a sample of 16,651 firm-year observations from the Chinese...