We test whether PCAOB inspections help remediate auditors' deficiencies in detecting and reporting material internal control weaknesses. After PCAOB inspectors report higher rates of internal control audit deficiencies, we find that auditors respond by increasing their issuance of adverse...

This study examines whether China's weak institutional environment results in lower quality audits by the Big Four firms. We find that the Big Four assign their less experienced partners to companies that are listed only in China compared with clients cross-listed in Hong Kong. The Big Four are...

Palmrose and Kinney (2017) (PK) claim that technical compliance with GAAP is sufficient to justify an unqualified audit opinion. We disagree. PK's view ignores "fair presentation," a concept equivalent to "faithful representation." Their "technical compliance" view portrays GAAP as a set of...

Regulators have expressed concerns about the “revolving door” between auditors and clients, whereby audit employees move directly from audit firms to audit clients (i.e., “direct alumni hires”). Regulators are concerned that these direct hires could compromise audit quality, partly...

Prior research finds that women receive lower salaries than men. Similarly, we show that female audit partners in Belgium receive significantly lower compensation than male partners. However, there are alternative explanations for the pay gap other than gender discrimination. For example, the...

Contrary to public expectations, companies usually receive clean audit opinions shortly prior to failure. This study examines whether audit reports in failing companies are affected by auditor dependence or opinion shopping. I find audit fees, auditor size, auditor-client tenures and dominant...

This paper tests whether SEC registrants engage in opinion shopping and examines the role of audit committees when auditors are dismissed (1996-98). There are three main findings. First, companies strategically dismiss incumbent auditors if they are more likely to issue unfavorable audit...

This paper investigates information disclosures made by chairmen in 90 UK companies shortly prior to failure. I find chairmen are more willing to blame poor performance on exogenous factors rather than managerial decisions; nearly half of chairmen fail to candidly disclose existing problems;...

This paper shows that unfavourable audit reports cause significant falls in executive compensation. Economically, the effects are larger than accounting and market performance measures, and are particularly strong when: reports are modified for issues other than going-concern uncertainties; or,...