The information content of audit opinions has been scrutinised in the past. Research and discussions attempted to ascertain whether audit opinions contain useful information for financial statement users and whether accountants are qualified to make accurate assessments about a firm's viability...

While firm-initiated compensation recovery (or clawback) provisions are gaining popularity and the recently enacted Dodd-Frank Act seeks to make the clawback of erroneously awarded compensation mandatory for all listed companies, little is known about their effectiveness. We find that the...

We are interested in understanding how agency conflicts in private firms arise through ownership structures and family relationships. Specifically, we analyze auditors' increase of effort and firms' choice of auditors in situations with higher level of agency conflicts. For a large sample of...

Corporate Governance is a multi-faceted phenomenon. The Cadbury Report (1992) describes it as the “system by which companies are directed and controlled” stating that corporate “boards are responsible for the governance of their companies”. Boards set financial policy and oversee its...

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002 of the U. S. was passed to instil investor confidence in financial reporting following the spectacular collapse of high ranking firms in the US. Sections 302 and 404 provide clear guidelines to both management and their auditors on their respective roles as well as...

This study investigates the role that board structure has on the demand for audit quality in connection with family ownership in a sample of private firms. In addition to this, we also shed light on whether ownership structure and board structure are substitute mechanisms in resolving agency...

I use a sample of 409 companies that restate their earnings in 1997-2001 to examine penalties for outside directors, particularly audit committee members, when their companies experience accounting restatements. Penalties from lawsuits and Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) actions are...

There are multiple studies investigating firm performance, in particular studies identifying firm characteristics that drive performance. On the other hand, research on the pricing of audit fees provides credible evidence that the financial condition of a client is a critical factor, in the...

Abstract: This study investigates the relative significance of both the social interaction index (SII) and demographic variables by analysing their association to the likelihood in classifying an auditor as internal or external to the firm. This study uses the psychometric technique of the...

We are interested in understanding how agency conflicts in private firms arise through ownership structures and family relationships. Specifically, we analyze auditors' increase of effort and firms' choice of auditors in situations with higher level of agency conflicts. For a large sample of...