What are the implications of major customer dependency, i.e., the degree of a supplier firm's dependency on its major customers, for external auditors? While the conventional view emphasizes the negatives of major customer dependency for client business risk, we find that suppliers with more...

We test whether credit rating analysts consider managerial ability as a credit risk factor and find that higher-ability managers obtain more favorable credit ratings. Controlling for past performance, these results suggest that managerial ability is itself a significant credit rating factor....

Canada adopted IFRS in 2011 and firms were required to provide reconciliation from Canadian GAAP (CGAAP) to IFRS for the fiscal year before the adoption. We run a “horse race” of earnings quality between CGAAP and IFRS. Further, by making use of a natural experiment and a single country...

Credit rating agencies and auditors are complementary certification agents subject to a conflict of interest inherent in their compensation structure. We examine client firm credit ratings to test alternative hypotheses of abnormal audit fees. We predict and find both cross-sectional and time...

While prior research has examined the relation between firm-level attributes and auditors' decisions, there is little empirical evidence on whether managerial attributes are informative to auditors. We examine the relation between managerial ability, i.e., ability in transforming corporate...

We examine auditor independence in the banking industry by analyzing the relation between fees paid to the auditors of banks and the extent of earnings management through loan loss provisions. We also examine whether this relation differs across large banks whose managements are required under...

The purpose of this study is to empirically examine the relations between audit outcomes and accounting standard design (principles-based vs. rules-based) for US firms. Considering that audit outcomes may vary with audit risk, which may differ under different accounting standards, we examine and...

Recently, the SEC adopted rules for the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act which bars trading of securities of companies whose auditors are not inspected by the PCAOB. Currently, the PCAOB is unable to inspect the audit work papers of Chinese audit firms that audit U.S.-listed Chinese...

We examine how auditor reputation conditions the market valuation of banks' loan loss provision (LLP). The inherent uncertainty associated with and discretion permitted in estimating the LLP contributes to information asymmetry. The auditor's certification and monitoring roles influence firm...

Very little is known about whether personal characteristics of senior managers convey information about audit risk. We focus on one characteristic of the CEO, the number of years the CEO has worked in the firm before becoming the CEO (CEO in-house experience). We posit that the CEO's in-house...