Browsing by Subject "Auditor rotation"

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    Análisis Empírico del Efecto de la Duración del Contrato de Auditoría en la Recepción de Informes Cualificados
    (2005) Ruiz Barbadillo, Emiliano; Gómez Aguilar, Nieves; Biedma López, Estibaliz
    Críticos de la profesión auditora han sugerido a menudo que la política de rotación obligatoria de firmas de auditoría puede ser una forma de contrapesar la percepción de que los contratos a largo plazo entre auditores y sus clientes impiden la independencia y escepticismo profesional de los auditores. La profesión auditora ha mantenido que la rotación obligatoria podría ser costosa e incrementar, de hecho, el número de fallos de auditoría. Lo necesario en este debate es la obtención de evidencia objetiva para soportar o rechazar los méritos de los argumentos opuestos que se utilizan. Ambas corrientes, es decir, los proponentes y los oponentes de la rotación de firmas auditoras, tienen intereses creados, por lo que se generan argumentos que resultan sospechosos sin tal evidencia. El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar el efecto que tiene la duración del contrato de auditoría en las decisiones sobre informes de los auditores. Los resultados de este estudio sugieren que la duración del contrato aumenta la probabilidad de recibir un informe cualificado. Esto implica que la rotación obligatoria de firmas no sería una medida necesaria para garantizar la independencia de los auditores, lo cual apoya los argumentos de la profesión auditora.
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    Is earnings management impacted by audit fees and auditor tenure? An analysis of the Big Four audit firms in the US market
    (2023) Martin De Almagro Vazquez, Gema; Valls Martínez, María del Carmen; Santos Jaén, José Manuel; Economía Financiera y Contabilidad
    Research background: Audits are intended to ensure the reliability of financial statements, as this is fundamental for different stakeholders. However, both auditor tenure and audit fees could affect the earnings management of companies. In 2014, the European Union established a mandatory audit firm rotation policy. In the United States, although there is still no manda-tory regulation in this regard, there has been a large public debate over the advisability of this policy. Another unresolved controversy is whether audit fees determine audit quality. Purpose of the article: The aim of this research is to study the effect of auditor tenure and audit fees on earnings management, i.e., to determine whether a longer-term relationship between the auditor and the audited company, as well as higher audit fees, reduce the audited company's earnings management, thereby making the financial statements more reliable for stakeholders and increasing the quality of the audit report. In addition, the Big Four auditing companies in the United States were analyzed in order to determine the influence of corporate culture. Methods: A sample of companies listed in the S&P 500 stock market index was employed for the analysis, covering the years 2012 to 2021, resulting in a dataset comprising 3,010 observations. To examine the research hypotheses while mitigating the potential bias from omitted variables, a linear regression analysis was conducted using panel data with fixed effects regression. To enhance the robustness of the results, winsorized variables were also employed. Findings & value added: Overall, the results confirm that the quality of financial statements improves as auditor tenure increases, and so implementing a mandatory auditor rotation may not be in a company’s best interests. The results also support the market segmentation theory, as higher audit fees are aligned with higher quality financial reporting. Furthermore, by analyzing the Big Four audit companies in the US, it is shown that the influence of audit fees and auditor tenure on earnings management also depends on the internal aspects of the particular audit firm, especially its ethical culture. In sum, US policymakers should neither set limits on audit fees nor enforce a mandatory audit firm rotation similar to that of the EU.