Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Background of audit committee members'

The aim of this thesis is to provide insights into what the concept of audit quality means for a number of parties who have responsibilities for delivering, commissioning or evaluating audit quality in practice - auditors, AC members and quality inspectors concerning. It explores the influence of internal and external factors in the auditing setting on the construction of meaning of audit quality and how meaning is symbolised in practice. This research is based on an interpretive approach employing research methods of document analysis, semi-structured interviews and a survey questionnaire. Drawing on a symbolic interactionist framework, the research illustrates the process of giving meaning to audit quality in practice. The study identifies various constructs that give meaning to audit quality in practice - auditors' characteristics, firm's characteristics, compliance obligations, the content and control of audit procedures, financial statement quality and client service orientation. It also identifies acts such as asking challenging questions, professional appearance, the quality of interaction between auditor and AC, consultation and training, and objects such as documents and records as fundamental in symbolising audit quality in practice. The study also highlights the existence of possible conflicts between some of these constructs of audit quality and the potential for problems in audit quality in practice.The research reports that the audit practitioners predominantly framed their conceptions of the meaning of audit quality around four important constructs: client service, compliance obligations, the technical audit process or content, and individual auditors' characteristics. Client service is found to have a particular importance for the practitioners' meaning of audit quality. Their construction of the meaning for audit quality is influenced by interactions with other audit market constituents as well as by economic and societal forces in the auditing environment. Auditors perceptions of what quality means in practice are underpinned by factors such as the need to legitimise the conduct of the auditor, to restore trust and confidence in the public at large about the quality of audit services, to maintain profitability and the survival of the audit firm given the competitive and commercial pressures in the audit market, and to legitimise firm methodology and the resulting audit process to outside constituents.Amongst the AC members interviewed, the meaning of audit quality appears to be associated with the characteristics of individual auditors, in particular, auditors' interpersonal and behavioural skills, attributes of the audit firm (size and industry specialisation) and financial statement quality. The findings show that AC members perceptions of audit quality significantly depend on the 'relational' rather than the technical attributes of individual auditors. The quality of the financial statements also dominates the AC members' perceptions of audit quality rather than a technical interpretation of the quality of the content of the audit process. The AC members' conception of meaning for audit quality is influenced by interaction and communication with the external auditors. For the quality inspectors, the meaning of audit quality is mainly constructed in relation to the conduct or content of an audit. Therefore, the level of challenge to the management of the audit, and the sufficiency of evidence and documentation are important for constructing their perceptions of audit quality. They also ascribe considerable importance to the internal compliance-quality control applied within the audit firm the notion of audit quality. Overall, the study describes the multifaceted meaning of audit quality and how this is influenced and shaped by interactions - based on role expectations, self-image, economic and social factors - and illustrates the way in which various acts and objects are used to represent practical meaning for the abstract concept of audit quality in practice. These findings have relevance for auditors, other parties to audit engagements, policy makers and regulators concerned with the contribution of auditing to the financial reporting system and for academic researchers seeking to develop a deeper understanding of how that contribution is achieved in practice.

This study examines the perspectives of experienced audit committee members on mandatory audit firm rotation (MAFR) in a South African context. This follows the recent initiatives by the Independent Regulatory Board of Auditors (IRBA) to make audit firm rotation compulsory in South Africa. Semi-structured, in-person interviews were conducted with audit committee members in South Africa to explore and contribute to the existing literature on audit committee member positions on MAFR. Twenty-two audit committee members were interviewed. Key discussion areas revolved around the regulator’s intended impact of MAFR in South Africa, including the promotion of auditor independence, the lowering of audit firm market concentration and acceleration of the rate of transformation in the South African audit industry. The findings show a general consensus among the audit committee members interviewed that MAFR will not achieve any of the objectives of the IRBA and that the members are predominantly in opposition of MAFR. Furthermore, the members proposed various arguments against MAFR, illustrating how the policy has limited benefits, if any, and will introduce many monetary and non-monetary costs into the audit industry, which could negatively impact the appeal of the audit industry. The vast majority of members held the view that the primary purpose of MAFR in South Africa is not to promote auditor independence, but is rather intended to address market concentration and transformation. However, the findings indicate that MAFR is believed to not be the best solution for these issues and, as such, further research and alternative measures should be sought by the regulator.

The purpose of this study was to indentify collective skills and background that audit committee members must have in order to be effective. In addition, the study examined the extent of prevalence of each skill indentified, which can then be deduced into model to work out the right combination of audit members according to qualifications, experience and skills that they posses. The model can thus be used in selecting candidates to serve in audit committees. Two categories of samples selected from a list of the top 100 companies for 2008 to 2010 and a combined list of the bottom 20 companies for the 2005 to 2009 and the bottom 20 companies for 2010, compiled by Inet Bridge and published by Business Times, were used in the study. Profiles of audit committee members of companies selected in the samples, which were published in the annual reports of the respective companies in which they were serving as audit committee members were consolidated with those published on Bloomberg Business week website, http:investing.businessweek.com/research /stocks/people/ person, and thereafter summarized. The profiles indicated qualifications, professional background, business management experience and a list of companies that each member was serving or had served as a member of board of directors. Skills categories adopted in Audit Committee Institute (2006) were used in analysing expertise, experience and background of audit committee members, namely financial, business management, corporate director, legal and industry specific background. The variables were statistically tested using t-test and chi-square. The results of the study revealed that finance, corporate director and business management were necessary for an audit committee to function effectively. The study further found that legal and industry specific background were least considered skills in the composition of audit committees.
Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012.
Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)
unrestricted

碩士
逢甲大學
會計學系
107
With the rapid advancement of science and technology, the business transaction model has also been advancing with the times. With the international development trend, the system of corporate governance has been promoted and implemented. The shortcomings that have occurred so far can be described as endless, which makes the investment publics distrust of the capital market, so that the competent authorities begin to examine the implementation of the internal supervision mechanism of the enterprise. It is hoped that the audit committee will be set up by all listed cabinets and cabinet companies by 2022. In order to enhance the functions of independent directors and board of directors, companies can value sustainable development. However, the development of enterprises is similar to the growth curve of living organisms, that is, the development of enterprises will also be stagnant or declining. Different stages need different strategies. Understanding the risk management required at each stage is the basis of decision-making. The growth, performance and survival of an enterprise are of great significance. In order to understand the supervisory effect of the professional background of the audit committee members on the enterprise risk management, this study is mainly based on the listing company that has set up the audit committee in Taiwan from 2012 to 2017, and compares the audit committee under different life cycles. The diverse professionalism of members and the impact on corporate risk management indicators. The results of the research can help the company to find the audit committee members at various stages, provide professional opinions to assist enterprise risk management, and make a contribution to the selection of audit committee members. The study found that when members of the audit committee with professional background, the supervision of enterprise risk management is weak.

博士
國立成功大學
會計學系
103
After a number of major accounting scandals, audit committees are now expected to be the major corporate governance mechanism to ensure the quality of financial reporting. In this study, I examine whether scholars with high educational attainment, ethics, and reputation are well-suited to serve on audit committees to enhance oversight of management and thus improve financial reporting since the composition of audit committee attributes its effectiveness. Since different fields of study affect individuals in different way, I conjecture that that the educational specializations of scholars may influence their abilities as audit committee directors to oversee management. In addition, I propose that the reputations of the universities that scholars who are members of audit committees work for impact their monitoring behavior. I find that firms with scholars serving as members of their audit committees have better accrual quality than those without such individuals on their committees. Besides, scholars with business related and medical specializations seem to demand better accrual quality compared to those with other educational specializations. Furthermore, audit committee scholar members from higher ranking schools are more effective in limiting earnings management than those from lower ranking institutions.

碩士
國立高雄應用科技大學
會計系
105
In order to strengthen corporate governance, Taiwan amended Securities and Exchange Act to introduce independent directors and audit committee system in 2006, and gradually expand the mandatory establishment of the audit committee. So the audit committee will play the most important role of supervision in the future corporate governance mechanism. This study used real activities management to examine the supervisory of audit committee. The sample is the listed company in Taiwan from 2009 to 2015. First, we test the relationship between the company setting up the audit committee and the real activities management, also consider the problem of selection bias. And further examine whether the characteristics such as gender, education and professional background of the audit committee members will help to enhance the supervisory capacity. The empirical results show that audit committee has no significant impact on real activities management when the selection bias is considered. And the higher proportion of the accounting or financial experts in audit committee lead to higher manipulation of real activities management. The gender and eduaction of the audit committee members are not significantly related to real activities management.

碩士
東吳大學
會計學系
104
The audit committee has been introduced to Taiwan since the Securities and Exchange Act amended in 2006. With the circumstances that the firm’s audit fees publicly disclosing increase a lot, this study examines whether independent audit committee members’ board tenure affect audit fees. The samples are selected from listed, OTC and emerging firms which have established audit committee from 2006 to 2014. After eliminating the firm that establish audit committee less than one year and the one not disclosing audit fees, there are 694 effective observations. This study measures audit committee members’ board tenure in 3 ways: (1) the average board tenure, (2) the longest board tenure, and (3) the difference between average board tenure and the longest board tenure. The empirical results indicate that the 3 ways above are positive related to audit fees. The results may suggest that long board tenure audit committee members are more likely to acquire professional abilities in monitoring as a result of work experience and they may gain much knowledge of the firm’s internal control system and business operations overtime. While the professional monitoring ability of audit committee members increase, they may ask external auditors to pay more audit efforts on the account that they consider important or risky to financial reporting. In response to the higher audit demand, auditors may pay more efforts on planning, executing audit works. Therefore, it cause a higher price of audit fees.

碩士
國立成功大學
財務金融研究所碩士在職專班
104
This study focuses on whether audit committee members receiving equity-based compensation affects the level of audit fees. Based on a study of S＆P 1500 companies from the years 2002 to 2013, the empirical results reveal a significantly negative association between the ratio of equity-based compensation to total compensation of audit committee members and audit fees after controlling for the complexity of the company, its business and financial risk factors, unfavorable reporting issues, several factors related to the auditor, and corporate governance variables. This indicates that audit committee members receiving a higher proportion of equity-based compensation will result in lower audit fees being charged by the CPA, thus supporting the alignment theory. The aim of this study is to assist investors in understanding that when audit committee members receive a higher proportion of equity-based compensation in terms of their total compensation packages, overall the company will have better performance, and thus lower audit fees. This study thus provides a reference to investors when making investment decisions.

This study attempted to discover the role of internal auditors in the professional development of audit committee members, leading to enhanced performance, through the provision of induction programmes and professional development opportunities to committee members, with due regard for the principles of good governance and international best practices. A secondary aim of this study was to propose methods to improve the relationship between the internal audit activity and audit committees in providing additional support to its members. The audit committee's needs and requirements were assessed by using the audit committee charter as the basis in identifying the responsibilities of the committee and the professional development needs of committee members in an organisation. It was found that a framework for the induction and professional development of audit committee members would be most useful to internal auditors to assist audit committees to meet their requirements and improve their performance.
Auditing
M. Com.

碩士
國立臺灣大學
會計學研究所
99
Audit committee has the function of monitoring the firm’s controls of financial reporting. The professional background of audit committee enhances its ability of supervising the firm’s reporting reliability. Therefore, Blue Ribbon Committee, Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and Taiwan Securities and Exchange law require at least one of the audit committee members to be an accounting or financial expert to ensure the quality of financial statements. This study explores two aspects of the audit committee’s professional background: accounting expert and profession eligibility. Based on agency theory, this study analyzes the impact of board characteristics on the professional background of audit committee. Supporting agency theory, the empirical results of this study lead to the conclusions that the percentage of outside directors in the board, board size, the independence of non-outside directors, and board ownership are all positively related to the number of accounting expert in and profession eligibility of audit committee. Second, the larger board tends to select more accounting or financial experts in audit committee. However, against the predication of agency theory, the empirical results of this study show that, when the chair of the board also serves as CEO, there is higher percentage of accounting or financial experts in audit committee.

碩士
國立東華大學
會計與財務碩士學位學程
105
Using S&P 1000 non-financial U.S. firms from 2009 to 2013 as a sample, this study aims to investigate the association between audit committee with banking expertise and the demands of high quality audit. I first show that when the audit committee with banking expertise will more likely to retain an industry audit expert, at either national- or city-level, or both of these levels. Second, I also show that banking expertise, either alone or in conjunction with an accounting expertise on audit committee is more like to retain an industry audit expert at both national- and city-level. Overall, these results suggest that banking expertise can improve the effectiveness of the audit committee in monitoring the financial reporting process, increasing the demand of high quality audit, and thus, lead to enhance the audit quality.

碩士
中原大學
會計研究所
107
This study examines the relationship between earnings management and the independent audit committee members’ board tenure for Taiwan listed and over-the-counter (OTC) companies with audit committee from the year of 2006 to the year of 2017. The earning management is assessed with the discretion accruals absolute value (ABSDA), the discretion accruals positive value (DA+), and the discretion accruals negative value (DA-). The independent audit committee members’ board tenure is measured by three ways－average board tenure (AVGTENURE), the longest board tenure (MAXTENURE), and the difference between average board tenure and the longest board tenure (MAXAVG). The empirical results indicate that AVGTENURE, MAXTENURE, and MAXAVG are all significantly positively related to DA- , but negatively related to ABSDA and DA+; except for MAXAVG and DA+. In other words, the longer the independent audit committee members stay in the board, the more industrial expertise they get, and easier for them to understand the process of business operations. Therefore, the audit committee members can play the supervision role to mitigate the extent of earnings management behavior.

碩士
國立臺灣大學
會計學研究所
103
To make sure that the audit committee can provide sufficient oversight over financial reporting system, the regulators require that all the audit committee members should be independent. Although all the audit committee members appear to be independent, still they can be connected to CEO through their social networks. The purpose of this thesis is to explore whether the social ties between the audit committee members and CEO will affect the quality of financial reporting. Using hand-collected data from 2011-2013, I examine the relationship between social ties and abnormal accruals, proxy of earnings management. I didn’t find that these social ties will increase abnormal accruals. But when I further subdivide these social ties into education ties and employment ties, I find a significant positive relation between education ties and abnormal accrual, which suggests that the audit committee member who has education ties between CEO is more likely to trust CEO and thus may weaken their oversight over financial reporting system. When both education and employment ties exist between CEO and audit committee members, the results still hold.

碩士
銘傳大學
會計學系碩士在職專班
105
The purpose of this study aims to explore whether the original supervisory system or new audit committee system could effectively constrain corporate earnings management. The sample period covers 2010 to 21 14. This study first examines the relation between audit committee versus supervisory and corporate earnings management. Furthermore, this study examines the impact of the three characteristics of these two governing systems on restraining earnings management. The above three characteristics include the female proportion, accounting expert proportion, and the level of busyness. The empirical results indicate that audit committee has stronger monitoring effects on restraining the corporate earnings management than supervisors. As for governing members’ characteristics, both audit committee and supervisors could not significantly mitigate the magnitude of banks’ earnings management.

Prior research has assumed that financial reporting failures indicate that individual directors have provided inferior monitoring of the reporting process and has found that directors suffer the loss of board positions following reporting failures. These penalties, however, are not uniformly applied across all outside directors. Using a sample of firms that have experienced multiple reporting failures and a matched sample of non-restating firms, I collect information on individual audit committee members and investigate whether retention on the audit committee is related to the quality of the director or to the influence of the CEO over the board of directors. I then examine whether the retention of directors on the audit committee is related to further aggressive accounting practices and to additional negative consequences for investors in the long run. I find that the retention of directors on the audit committee is positively related to the quality of the director and negatively related to CEO influence over the board for both the restating and nonrestating sample. I further find that the retention of directors on the audit committee following a reporting failure is not related to future aggressive accounting practices. Test examining other long-term consequences to investors are inconclusive. Overall, these results suggest that the labor market for directors operates in an efficient and effective manner.

碩士
國立成功大學
會計學系
102
The authorities amended the Securities Exchange Act in 2006 and introduced the audit committee system to achieve sound corporate governance and strengthen the functions of the board. Auditor selection is one of the major functions of audit committees. To reduce the information asymmetry between companies and investors, audit committees have the responsibility to select high quality and reputable auditors. The purpose of this study is to investigate the association between audit committee member characteristics and auditor industry specialization selection. Audit committee member characteristics which include gender, financial or accounting expertise, other directorship and diligence are investigated. All of the listed and over-the-counter companies in Taiwan with audit committees from 2007 to 2012 are used as a sample to test the hypotheses. The results suggest that:(1) the more financial or accounting experts in an audit committee, the more likely it will be to that an industry-specialist auditor will be selected, (2) the average number of directorships held by directors is negatively associated with auditor industry specialist selection, (3) the number of meetings is negatively associated with auditor industry specialist selection, and (4) firms with female audit committee members are less likely to select an industry-specialist auditor.

碩士
國立中興大學
會計學研究所
104
In order to understand the importance of gender, the study examines the effect of female CFOs and female audit committee members on the likelihood of financial restatements separately. The study also considers whether female CPAs would strengthen the relation mentioned above, since financial statements are audited by CPAs. Using the listed and OTC companies in Taiwan from 2006 to 2014 as empirical data, empirical results indicate that female CFOs have a significantly negative association with the occurrences of financial restatements, and when there is at least one female audit committee member in companies, a significantly negative association between female audit members and financial restatements exists. Moreover, if there is at least one female CPA in the composition of CPAs, it strengthens the negative relation between female CFOs and financial restatements significantly, but on the other side, the study doesn’t find that it strengthens the relation between female audit committee members and financial restatements. Besides, the empirical results of the sensitivity tests show that the higher the proportion of female audit committee members is, the less the likelihood of financial restatements occurs. However, when there are different definitions for CPAs, the study couldn’t consistently document that they strengthen the effects of female CFOs and female audit committee members on the likelihood of financial restatements.