This paper investigates how political and legal institutions affect the governance role of auditors for a sample of firms originating in 42 countries. Prior studies focus on investor protection, but I focus on political rights as well. Specifically, I investigate how institutions and audit...

I examine the effects of occupational licensing on the quality of Certified Public Accountants (CPAs). I exploit the staggered adoption of the 150-hour rule, which increased the educational requirements for a CPA license. My analysis shows that the rule reduces the number of entrants into the...

Exploiting a legal regime change in China in 2005 that significantly increased auditors' legal liability, we reexamine why auditors are more likely to issue modified audit opinions (MAOs) to clients who receive negative press coverage before audit report dates. We find that the probability for...

I examine the effects of occupational licensing on the quality of certified public accountants (CPAs). I exploit the staggered adoption of the 150-hour rule, which increases the educational requirements for a CPA license. The analysis shows that the rule decreases the number of entrants into the...

We study the effects of cross-listings on audit fees. We first develop a model in which legal environments play a crucial role in determining the auditor's legal liability. Our model and analysis predict that auditors charge higher fees for firms that are cross-listed in countries with stronger...

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) was enacted to “protect investors by improving the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures made pursuant to the securities laws…” The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) was created as part of SOX and given a duty to impose...

The ultimate objective of financial reporting is to provide transparent financial statements and disclosures that meet the informational needs of investors and other users of financial statements. One of the primary goals of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (USHR 2002) is to provide more reliable...

International and U.S. accounting and auditing standard setters have focused considerable attention and rule making around group audits and in particular the reporting quality of subsidiary entities. We examine how membership in a consolidated group and the related group audit affects the...

Using proprietary data, we analyze how a variety of audit composition and team characteristics are associated with audit effectiveness and efficiency. We find that more time allocated prior to the final phase of the audit is associated with more effective audits. We also decompose the time...