This paper shows that politically connected non-Big 4/5 auditors are associated with lower levels of audit quality (proxied by the level of abnormal non-core earnings and the proportion of modified audit opinions) than firms with no political connections. We also show that more economically...

This study empirically evaluates the impact of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA) and the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 upon the (equity) risk of the largest US firms, the backbone of the US economy. Drawing from the literature, hypotheses are developed and empirically...

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board recently proposed amendments to the standard audit report that would require the disclosure of critical audit matters (CAMs), and the Securities and Exchange Commission continues to evaluate the use of principles-based (imprecise) accounting...

The roles and liabilities of public accountants (audit firms) are limited to the members (shareholders) or those charged with corporate governance (such as trustees) of a particular firm as clearly affirmed in International Standard on Auditing (ISA 200) – Objectives of the auditor.The results...

A primary concern facing the PCAOB's requirement of disclosing critical audit matters (CAMs) is increased auditor litigation risk. Evidence with Key Audit Matters from the U.K. indicates auditors may subsequently remove a CAM or continue to report the same CAM for several years. Therefore, we...

Researchers have questioned whether individual differences in moral reasoning might partly account for the variation in auditor misreporting behavior documented in prior experimental-markets research in auditing. In the first experimental market study to directly test the relation between moral...

Using 321 circuit court rulings, we construct a measure that captures the within-country variation in courts’ attitudes toward securities law violations. Case-level analyses confirm that district courts heed home-circuit precedents and are more likely to dismiss pending cases when their home...

We use confidential data on Value Added Tax payments at the sector level, in two large Italian cities, to estimate the effect of audits publicity on tax compliance of local sellers. By employing a Difference-in-Differences identification strategy, we find that such publicity has a positive...

This paper reports the results of four laboratory experiments designed to examine whether an appropriate legal system, which is a combination of legal regime (strict vs. negligence) and damage apportionment rule (joint-and-several vs. proportionate), may serve as an effective mechanism to...

The article discusses the implications of the Australian Government's plans to replace the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission (ACNC) and to create the Centre for Excellence for the not-for-profit sector. Topics discussed include the National Commission of Audit (NCoA) and the...