We examine how Big N auditors' changing incentives impact their comment-letter lobbying on U.S. GAAP over the first thirty-four years of the FASB (1973-2006). In particular, we focus on the influence of auditors' lobbying incentives arising from two basic factors: managing expected litigation...

This paper examines possible differences in auditors' performance when they make belief based versus probability-based risk assessments by focusing on two phases of the financial statement audit process: the assessment of two attributes of audit evidence (‘strength' and ‘direction') and the...

This paper studies the effect of tax advice expenses and the auditor on the effective tax rate for large Belgian firms. Moreover, we analyze how this relation changes when the corporate governance code was implemented in 2003. Following the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002, Belgium approved a similar...

Motivated by evidence from the empirical accounting and finance literatures suggesting that short sellers target firms with suspect financial reporting, we investigate whether short interest provides a signal of the degree of audit risk. We find a positive association between audit fees and...

Important audit judgments concerning client selection, audit program planning and risk assessment all may be impacted by the approach taken to assess risk and to interpret audit evidence. This experimental study examines whether auditors' risk assessments are influenced by the risk assessment...

This study documents a substantial impact of Big4 auditor choice on the sale proceeds of controlling interests of U.S. private firms. A representative private stock-purchase company with median enterprise value ranging from $14 to 18 million experiences a dollar value decrease in enterprise...

This study examines investors' response to the disclosure of prior period, auditor-waived misstatements under Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 108, Considering the effects of prior year misstatements when quantifying misstatements in the current year. Auditors' misstatement correction decisions...

While contemporary auditing standards such as ISA 315 provide broad categories of client risks, prior research regarding audit resource allocation decisions has been based on individual client risks. This study contributes to the literature by using factor analysis to examine how individual...

At present, ways to improve audit quality and auditing decisions are intensively being discussed worldwide by standard setters and researchers. Audit quality is mainly influenced by two factors the requirements of standard setters and the professional judgment of auditors. Especially the...

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