To see the other types of publications on this topic, follow the link: Big 4 audit firms.
Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Big 4 audit firms'
Create a spot-on reference in APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, and other styles
Consult the top 46 dissertations / theses for your research on the topic 'Big 4 audit firms.'
Next to every source in the list of references, there is an 'Add to bibliography' button. Press on it, and we will generate automatically the bibliographic reference to the chosen work in the citation style you need: APA, MLA, Harvard, Chicago, Vancouver, etc.
You can also download the full text of the academic publication as pdf and read online its abstract whenever available in the metadata.
Browse dissertations / theses on a wide variety of disciplines and organise your bibliography correctly.
1
Zimmerman, Aleksandra B. "Does the Audit Market Price Partner Big 4 Experience in Non-Big 4 Firms?" Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies / OhioLINK, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1459427972.
Full text
2
Kutum, Imad. "The application of business risk audit methodology within non-Big-4 firms." Thesis, University of Stirling, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/1893/2766.
Full textAbstract:
This research is motivated by interest in recent changes in the audit approaches of audit firms. The business risk audit approach has been adopted based on assertions about its benefits by administrators of large audit firms and academics linked with these firms and, more recently, has been legitimised by the issuance of international auditing standards that give recognition to this approach. Studies investigating the business risk audit approach have relied on the content of audit manuals of large audit firms and pointed to claimed benefits, such as providing consistency of worldwide audit practice, broadening auditors’ awareness of risks, increasing audit effectiveness and efficiency, and creating more value for audit clients. In investigating this recent change in audit approaches, this thesis is concerned with the application of the business risk audit approach within the non-Big-4 audit firms, with a focus on three countries: the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. The research focuses on the motivation for adopting this approach for non-Big-4 audit firms in the three countries, and the advantages, disadvantages and aftermath of applying this method. These issues are addressed through research methods comprising semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire survey. These methods are deemed appropriate to provide consideration of the contextual factors affecting the non-Big-4 audit firms and audit practice in the three countries examined. The findings show that non-Big-4 audit firms in the three countries adopted the business risk audit; their motivation was primarily to follow the standards in each country and to follow the general trend in the industry. The advantages were consistent with previous research; there was direct benefit to audit effectiveness and risk management. One major disadvantage of applying this method was the cost burden to both the audit firm and their clients. Some of the interviewees claimed that this method is better suited to large firms and large audits. Overall evidence from this research shows that this method helped auditors better understand their clients and assess the risk associated with the audit process. Auditors from non-Big-4 firms expressed their interest that the business risk audit should remain in use with some modification to fit small and medium audits. This study also contributes to the literature on the internationalisation of audit practice and the audit practice of small- and medium-sized audit firms, which is lacking in existing research related to this group.
3
Ahmed, Kemal. "Auditing Fair Value measurements and Disclosures: A case of the Big 4 Audit Firms." Thesis, Umeå universitet, Handelshögskolan vid Umeå universitet (USBE), 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-67452.
Full textAbstract:
Abstract Problem: In today’s business environment, rising demand in financial reporting and frequent changes in accounting frameworks lead to an increased focus on reliability in Fair Value Measurement (FVM) and disclosures. The frequent changes in accounting frameworks create a challenge for managers in measuring accounting estimates accurately and have been an exceedingly difficult task. The difficult task is that of the auditors. How would auditors endorse and ensure the reliability and relevance of financial statements? Also how could they evaluate the accuracy of the measurement of fair values as presented in the financial statements? (IFAC, 2011, ISA 540). Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explore the methods and approaches used by auditors while auditing fair values from practical perspectives. Method: A multiple case study with pure qualitative methods and an inductive approach has been adopted. The qualitative method used a semi-structured interview to collect data. Result: The result shows that by understanding the challenges and following the phases of auditing, auditors can maintain the quality of financial reporting. Four key audit phases are relevant to audit FVM. These are: understanding the Client-Business environment, Engagement, Internal Control, and Planning phases of auditing. Furthermore, the results revealed key challenges of auditing FVM and disclosures. These challenges are information insufficiency in the market (reliability), competence, auditors’ lack of fair value audit exposure, and the manager's leadership role and style. Moreover, as previous studies on FV have primarily relied on synthesis of academic literature, the thesis contributes knowledge to academia by using an empirical approach.
4
Broberg, Pernilla. "The auditor at work : a study of auditor practice in Big 4 audit firms." Doctoral thesis, Högskolan Kristianstad, Avdelningen för Ekonomi, 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hkr:diva-10519.
Full textAbstract:
By combining different aspects of auditing and by focusing on the individual auditor and observing auditors at work, this dissertation explores the auditing concept. It focuses on activities carried out by auditors in local settings and how the macro-level phenomenon of “auditing” is realised in micro-level, day-to-day audit work. In doing this, the following research question is addressed: What does the auditor do? The dissertation includes and discusses certain aspects of auditing. The aspects chosen provide certain opportunities and limitations and are as follows: the audit profession, audit quality, auditing standards, structure versus judgment, the production of comfort, expert systems and trust versus scepticism. The empirical material consists of observations and interviews. The findings suggest that from an auditor perspective auditing includes not only a professional side but also a more commercial side. It appears that auditors combine more traditional tasks such as quality assuring the client’s information and reporting with tasks more directed towards assuring that the client firms’ management is satisfied. The findings also suggests that from an auditor perspective audit quality is about comfort and that making structured judgments seems to be an important action towards reaching a sufficient level of comfort and, hence, to perform high-quality audits. Finally, the findings of this dissertation suggest that much of the “professionalism” in the audit profession lies with the audit firms. Substantial knowledge is “built in” to the audit firm system; an important auditor skill is to be able to operate the system whilst appearance, behaviour and conduct is about adhering to such effort and auditors are influenced by audit firm expectations on how audit work should be done. The consequences of such “audit firmalization”, a concept identified in this dissertation, on the audit profession seem to be an important focus for future research.
5
Andersson, Linn, and Elin Österberg. "Resurser i icke Big 4 byråer : En studie ur ett revisionskvalitetsperspektiv." Thesis, Högskolan Kristianstad, Sektionen för hälsa och samhälle, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hkr:diva-16943.
Full textAbstract:
Revisionskvalitet är ett återkommande ämne i såväl forskning som i media. Forskare belyser olika faktorer som påverkar revisionskvalitet och den här studien fokuserar på resurser. Majoriteten av tidigare forskning om revisionskvalitet har Big 4 byråer som utgångspunkt. För att skapa bättre förståelse för hela revisionsprofessionen studeras därför en mindre byrå i den här studien. Syftet är att utforska resurser för revisorer på icke Big 4 byråer, utifrån ett revisionskvalitetsperspektiv. Studien har både deduktiva och induktiva inslag där det deduktiva inslaget utgörs av en teoretisk referensram som ligger till grund för studien. Det induktiva inslaget har gjort det möjligt att studera resurser dels utifrån tillgången till, men även bristen på och användningen av resurser i icke Big 4 byråer. Det har även gjort det möjligt att lägga till ett ytterligare perspektiv då empirin påvisade faktorer som inte identifierats innan datainsamlingen påbörjades. Studiens empiri består till stor del av primärdata från deltagande observationer, men även från semistrukturerade intervjuer. Resultatet visar att revisorerna på Revisionsbyrå A har tillgång till, och använder, samtliga resurser som tidigare forskning visat påverka revisionskvalitet positivt. Resultatet visar även tre nyfunna resurser som tillhör det nyfunna kapitalet materiellt kapital, och även de resurserna har en positiv påverkan på revisionskvalitet. Slutsatsen är att revisorerna på Revisionsbyrå A, utifrån dess tillgång till resurser, kan leverera hög revisionskvalitet. Studiens resultat är baserat på empiri från en mindre byrå och det teoretiska bidraget kompletterar tidigare forskning om revisionskvalitet i Big 4 och icke Big 4 byråer. Resultatet av studien är även ett bidrag till revision och revisionskvalitet praktiskt och empiriskt.Audit quality is a reoccurring field in both research and media. Researchers highlight different factors that affect audit quality and this study focuses on resources. The majority of previous research of audit quality have Big 4 firms as their starting-point. In order to gain a better understanding of the entire audit profession, a smaller firm is the focus of this study. The purpose is to explore resources for auditors in non-Big 4 firms, from an audit quality perspective. The study has both deductive and inductive characteristics; the deductive characteristics are visible through a theoretical framework that functions as a foundation for the study. The inductive characteristics have made it possible to research the resources through both the access to, yet also the lack of, as well as the use of resources in non-Big 4 firms. It has, moreover, made it possible to add another perspective since the empirical data showed factors that had not been identified before the data collection was initiated. The empirical data of this study consists to a large extent of primary data from observations, but also of data from semi-structured interviews. The results show that auditors at Audit Firm A have access to, and use, all the resources that previous research had shown to affect audit quality in a positive way. Moreover, the results show two new resources that belongs to the newly found capital called material capital, and these resources does also have a positive effect on audit quality. The conclusions drawn are that auditors at Audit Firm A can, with respect to their access to resources, deliver high quality audit. The results of the study is based on empirical data from a smaller firm and the theoretical contribution complements previous research of audit quality in Big 4 and non-Big 4 firms. Moreover, the results is also a contribution to audit and audit quality both practical and empirical.
6
Garnier, Claire. "Qui sont les associés d’audit des cabinets Big 4 ? : Une lecture interactionniste des carrières des auditeurs dans les cabinets Big 4 en France." Thesis, Jouy-en Josas, HEC, 2014. http://www.theses.fr/2014EHEC0013/document.
Full textAbstract:
Cette thèse entend contribuer à l’étude des carrières des associés des firmes professionnelles en s’intéressant en particulier au processus de construction de l’identité d’associé. En nous appuyant sur le concept interactionniste de carrière nous analysons le « devenir associé » dans le contexte des grands cabinets d’audit internationaux (les Big 4). Ce devenir est un processus qui débute quasiment dès le recrutement et qui relève de mécanismes informels et tacites et de manœuvres politiques. Nous caractérisons ces mécanismes par la notion « d’écurie » qui permet à la fois de comprendre le fonctionnement des procédures de cooptation dans sa dimension non-officielle, mais également la hiérarchisation de la partnershipet le déroulement des carrières en son sein, une fois le stade de l’association passé. La conclusion à laquelle nous parvenons est que l’auditeur devient associé bien avant sa cooptation, en se reconnaissant lui-même comme un professionnel. Ce turning point n’est cependant que le premier sur le chemin qui mène à la partnership car c’est seulement au moment où il rejoint cette dernière que l’auditeur devient l’associé qu’il était, en se faisant reconnaître comme tel par ses pairs, achevant ainsi sa conversion identitaire d’auditeur en associé. Par notre travail, nous nous inscrivons dans la lignée des études en sociologie des professions et en théorie des organisations qui ont exploré le champ de la socialisation des professionnels de l’audit et de la construction de leur identité ainsi que le fonctionnement des grands cabinets internationauxThis PhD studies the process of becoming a partner in professional services firms, envisaged through the lens of the building of the partner identity. To this end, it implements the concept of « career » developed by interactionist sociology to analyse the making of a partner in the context of the Big 4 international audit firms. Becoming a partner is a process that starts right after recruitment and which is governed by complex and largely informal mechanisms and political manoeuvring. We characterize these mechanisms with the help of the notion of “stable”, whose purpose is to understand procedures of co-option in their unofficial dimension but also to account for the structuration of the partner level in firms and the role played by hierarchies within this level in post-partner career progression. We come to the conclusion that auditors actually become partners much earlier than their official promotion to the rank, from the moment they consider themselves as such. This awakening is yet only the first turning point on the road to partnership. It is only when they are officially co-opted that auditors become the partners they were, by being recognised as such by their peers, completing therefore their identity conversion.This work contributes to the literature in the sociology of professions and organizational theory fields by investigating how professionals are socialized and how their identity is constructed and by grasping more accurately the organization of professional services firms
7
Cronholm, Jacob, and Elin Didriksson. "Partners påverkan på revisionskvalité: En andelsfråga? : En studie om hur partnerandelen i de fyra största revisionsbyråerna i Sverige influerar organisationen och på så vis påverkar revisionskvalitén." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för ekonomistyrning och logistik (ELO), 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-96838.
Full textAbstract:
Bakgrund: Utvecklingen av revisorsprofessionen kan härledas ända till 1895. En utveckling som grundas i professionalitet men som på senare år blivit allt mer kommersialiserad. Revisionsbyråernas ägare benämns som partners och likt andra organisationstyper har ägarna en stor påverkan på organisationen. Partners skiljer sig dock från många andra ägare i stora företag med sin aktiva närvaro i det dagliga arbetet. Positionen som partner innebär bl.a. makt, status och finansiella fördelar. Incitamenten med partnerskapet bör variera beroende på partnerandel, vilket kan tänkas leda till en dominans av antingen professionell eller kommersiell logik. Syfte: Studiens syfte är att undersöka om partnerandelen påverkar revisionskvalitén inom de fyra största revisionsbyråerna i Sverige. Metod: För att undersöka studiens syfte har en hypotes skapats utifrån agentteorin samt kommersiell och professionell logik. Studien utförs med hjälp av en tvärsnittsdesign och en deduktiv ansats. Studien har utförts på ett urval som består av de fyra största revisionsbyråerna i Sverige och deras klienter på Stockholmsbörsens tre största listor för år 2012 och 2018. Slutsatser: Studien kan från analys och diskussion komma till en slutsats att partnerandelen har en påverkan på revisionskvalitén. Med studien kan det utläsas att auktoriserade revisorer per partner har en positiv relation till revisionskvaliténBackground: The development of the auditor profession originates from 1895. However, the development that is based on professionalism has in recent years become increasingly commercialized. The audit firm’s owners are called partners and like other types of organizations, the owners have a big impact on the organization. However, partners differ from other owners with their presence in the daily business. The position as a partner comes with power, status and financial advantages, which may lead to a dominance of either professional or commercial logic. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to explore whether the partner share affects the quality of auditing within the four biggest audit firms in Sweden. Method: To fulfill the purpose of the study, a hypothesis has been formulated with agency theory and commercial and professional logics. This study uses a crosssectional design with a deductive approach. The selection of data includes the four biggest audit firms in Sweden and their clients on the three biggest lists in the Swedish stock market during 2012 and 2018. Conclusions: The study can conclude from analysis and discussion that the partner share has an impact on audit quality. The study shows that authorized auditors per partner have a positive relationship to audit quality
8
Yu, Dong Michael. "The effect of big four office size on audit quality." Diss., Columbia, Mo. : University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10355/4827.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007.The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on October 15, 2007) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.
9
Sonsa-ardjit, Pitchaya, and Ramon Vejaratpimol. "Clients’ Perspectives Toward Audit Service Quality of the Big 4 inThailand." Thesis, Karlstad University, Faculty of Economic Sciences, Communication and IT, 2010. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-6198.
Full textAbstract:
Purpose
The purpose of this thesis is, firstly, to investigate clients’ perspective toward the Big 4’s financial audit service quality. Secondly, the gaps between clients’ perceptions and expectations of audit service quality provided by the Big 4 audit firms will be studied. Finally, factors influencing clients’ expectations of audit service quality will be categorised.
Method
A combination of qualitative and quantitative approach is used in the form of a web-based self-completion questionnaire. A qualitative approach is used in one section of the questionnaire which is an open-ended question asking about the
clients’ perception toward audit service quality. A quantitative approach is used in the rest of the 2 sections of the questionnaire; firstly, asking the respondents to score the level of perception and expectation of audit service quality; secondly, asking for types of clients’ industries. The respondents are 25 clients who have direct experience with the Big 4 audit firms located in Thailand.
Finding
Clients strongly expect assurance, reliability, and responsiveness while strongly perceive assurance and reliability of the Big4’s audit service quality. However, it is obvious that clients’ perception of all 5 dimensions is less than those of expectation; assurance, reliability and responsiveness are significantly different at .05 level. Moreover, eight factors from given expectation score are re-categorised in order from the most important issue to the least important as follows; Factor 1: Trust & Confidence, Factor 2: Responsiveness & Accuracy, Factor 3: Knowledge and skills in clients’ industry, Caring and Independence, Factor 4: Understanding of Clients, Factor 5: Timing/Scheduling & Right Service, Factor 6: Physical Facilities, Factor 7: Professional appearance & Professional Procedures, and Factor 8: Information & Communication Channels and Materials.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the factors that are not satisfied by the clients; assurance, reliability, responsiveness, should be taken account of by the Big 4. Not only the Big 4 operating in Thailand have to be aware of their service quality, the other audit firms both international brands and local brands should also be aware of their service quality in order to satisfy their clients and to avoid damages of the firms and markets from audit failure. Both the audit firms and the clients together can help in audit quality improvement.
Recommendation
To improve audit service quality, it is not only the Big4 audit firms’ responsibility but also the good cooperation from the clients could be the crucial support, and the ongoing policies are needed because it takes some time to see the consequences. When the quality level of audit service becomes a win-win situation, both audit firms and clients receive mutual benefits. Moreover, the Big 4 are the big actors in the audit industry in Thailand with promptly financial and human resource, they should support non-Big 4 to improve audit service quality. Because it means the overall image of audit service in Thailand would be improve somehow.
10
Dahlström, Viktor, and Robin Danielsson. "Levererar Big-4 en högre revisionskvalitet jämfört med Non-Big 4? : En kvantitativ studie som jämför större och mindre revisionsbolags revisionskvalitet relaterat till revisionsarvodet." Thesis, Högskolan i Gävle, Företagsekonomi, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-23802.
Full textAbstract:
Syfte: Större revisionsbolag har länge inom redovisningslitteraturen associerats med bättre revisionskvalitet jämfört med mindre revisionsbolag. På senare tid har frågan lyfts om större revisionsbolags höga revisionsarvoden beror på högre revisionskvalitet eller marknadsmakt. Denna studie bidrar med nya empiriska underlag inom jämförelsestudier mellan större och mindre revisionsbolag, där revisionsarvodet används som proxy för revisionskvalitet. Vidare tar denna studie, till skillnad från tidigare studier, även hänsyn till revisionskvalitet inom olika riskmiljöer. Metod: Studien har använt sig av en kvantitativ metod med ett positivistiskt förhållningssätt genom arbetet. En deduktiv forskningsansats har tillämpats där tidigare forskning har legat som grund till studiens framförda hypoteser. Insamling av finansiella sekundärdata för totalt 2518 företag har utförts via databasen Thomson Reuters Datastream. Resultat & slutsats: Studiens resultat påvisar signifikanta skillnader i revisionskvalitet mellan större och mindre revisionsbolag i studiens olika riskmiljöer. För studiens europeiska länder är förhållandet mellan större och mindre revisionsbolag likvärdiga medan de amerikanska revisionsbolagen skiljer sig signifikant revisionskvalitetsmässigt. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Studien har genomförts utan hänsyn tagen till kvalitativa faktorer som kan komma att påverka revisionskvalitet, vilket öppnar ett utrymme för komparativa studier med en kvalitativ inriktning. Det finns även möjlighet att utöka antalet börsmarknader för respektive land eller utvidga antalet länder i olika riskmiljöer. Uppsatsens bidrag: Studien lämnar två bidrag till redovisningslitteraturen i form av nya empiriska bevis inom revisionskvalitet mellan större och mindre revisionsbolag samt unik forskning kring revisionskvalitetsstudier mellan riskmiljöer. Vidare lämnar studiens resultat incitament åt praktiker att granska revisionsmarknaden för eget vinstintresse samt svarar på normgivares funderingar kring marknadsbalansen mellan större och mindre revisionsbolag.Aim: Big audit firms have long been associated with higher audit quality, compared to smaller audit firms. Recent studies suggest that the higher audit fees from bigger audit firm is affected by market misuse rather than better audit quality. This study provides new empirical evidence between the comparison of big vs small audit firm, where audit fees are used as proxy for audit quality. Furthermore, this study investigates different litigation environment that could affect audit quality. Method: This study uses an quantitative based method with an positivist, deductive approach, were earlier studies have had an impact on our hypotheses. Financial information from 2518 companies has been collected from Thomson Reuters Datastream. Result & Conclusions: This study's result provides significant differences of audit quality between big and small audit firms in different risk environments. For this study, the audit quality relationship between big and small audit firms are equivalent for the European countries while audit quality between big and small audit firms in the US differ significantly. Contribution of the thesis: This study leaves two contributions to the extent audit literature, in terms of empirical evidence of audit quality between big and small audit firms and unique research results of audit quality in different litigation environments. Furthermore, the results of this study creates incentives for practitioners to review the audit market for self interests and answer legal setters concerns about unbalanced audit markets. Suggestions for future research: The study has been carried out without consideration of qualitative factors that may affect audit quality. It’s opening a space for comparative studies with an qualitative approach. It is also possible to expand the number of stock exchanges for a country or expand the number of countries in different risk environments.
11
Desai, Vikram G. "CHANGE IN THE INDIAN ACCOUNTING PROFESSION: THREE STUDIES RELATED TO THE ENTRY OF THE BIG FOUR ACCOUNTING FIRMS IN INDIA." Doctoral diss., University of Central Florida, 2007. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETD/id/2097.
Full textAbstract:
This dissertation focuses on the globalization of audit markets. In particular, this dissertation is studying the entry of the Big Four accounting firms into India post-economic and political reforms of the early 1990s. The dissertation is comprised of three separate, but related studies. Each study appeals to prior research in accounting and related disciplines to examine the entry of the Big Four accounting firms in India. The first study appeals to audit market and economic research on incumbent pricing to examine ways in which local accounting firms in India adapted to the competition introduced by the Big Four accounting firms. The second study is an account of the change in the organizational field of the Indian accounting profession caused by the entry of the multinational accounting firms from 1990 to 2005 from a social constructionist perspective using the model of nonisomorphic change. The third study examines the change in the Indian accounting profession from 1990 to 2005 caused by the entry of the Big Four accounting firms in India from a critical perspective. It appeals to the theories of globalization to examine the change. Taken together, these studies attempt to provide the Big Four accounting firms useful information about the pricing strategies likely to be faced by them from local accounting firms in a new market, provide insights into the multiple roles played by professional associations in the process of radical change in the organizational field, and emphasize that globalization of accounting markets has not been accompanied by a level playing field for the local accounting profession in the globalized markets.Ph.D.
Kenneth G. Dixon School of Accounting
Business Administration
Business Administration PhD
12
Scheidt, Isabella. "The Audit Oligopoly in the European Union : Quantitative Analysis on the Client Industry Structure for the Big Four Audit Firms in the European Union." Thesis, Mittuniversitetet, Institutionen för ekonomi, geografi, juridik och turism, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-40826.
Full text
13
Zhang, Jinjian S. M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "Why Big 4 accounting firms did not dominant China's stock market as they did elsewhere." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/98984.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis: S.M. in Management Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2015.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 41-46).
The Big 4 accounting firms (PriceWaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, Deloitte and Ernst Young) are dominating the audit markets in the U.S., European Union, Japan and theoretically every major capital market EXCEPT China. As of March 2015, there were around 86% of public companies listed in the New York Exchange (NYSE) as audited by the Big 4, while only 6% of the public companies listed in the Shanghai and Shenzhen Exchange as Big 4's audit clients. To understand this phenomenon, this thesis studies the problem not only from an auditor's selection perspective but the audit firms' client acceptance and continuance decision. Moreover, the regulatory environmental development was also discussed to better consolidate relevant factors that contributed to the formation of current auditing market landscapes in China. With respect to conventional auditor selection theories like agency theories by Jensen and Meckling (1976)1, this thesis argued that managers of Chinese listed companies exercised heavy influence in the auditor selection process, resulting in reverse selection problems in auditor selection. The Big 4 accounting firms, on the other hand, enjoy fabulous auditing fee premiums from auditing market segments involving overseas investors/stakeholders because of their unique reputation. However, this fact limits their incentives to expand business to less lucrative market segments. The auditing regulatory environment was also becoming unfavorable to the Big 4 Accounting firms in recent years. This thesis is constructed as below: First, there is an introduction to Big N accounting firms and their global presence. Second, the characteristics of listed companies in China's stock market and the development of accounting and auditing industry in China were elaborated. The third part is specifically addressed to the Big 4 accounting firms and their development in China over the decades since their establishment in 1992. Later we review the current literatures regarding auditor selection, client acceptance and continuance decisions in the third part, and use these frameworks to develop our answers to topic questions in the fourth part. As the conclusion, the fifth part summarizes the arguments developed in the fourth part and addresses the limitations of this thesis. The purpose of this thesis is to form an understanding concerning the question why Big 4 Accounting firms did not dominant China's stock market as they had done in most of the developed markets. Based on these findings, Chinese policy makers may want to improve the corporate governance of the listed companies, especially in those areas related to the independence of auditing committees, if the government wish to improve their overall audit quality provided to domestic listed companies.
by Jinjian Zhang.
S.M. in Management Research
14
Klasson, Linnea, and Lovisa Knutsson. "Can risks be defined while flying blind? : Performing audit risk assessments under environmental uncertainty; a qualitative study using COVID-19 as an empirical example." Thesis, Jönköping University, IHH, Företagsekonomi, 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-53095.
Full textAbstract:
Abstract Background & Problem: Risk assessment is a central part of the audit process. Previous audit failures have increased the importance further. Several suggested determinants of risk assessments have been explored within literature. However, literature has not up until now explored what reflection environmental uncertainty has on the risk assessment process. Due to the ongoing pandemic, COVID-19, the opportunity to explore the reflection of uncertainty has been made feasible. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore how societal challenges reflect on auditors’ risk assessments of entities. The thesis is conducted using COVID-19 as an event signifying societal challenge. Methodology: This thesis uses an exploratory and abductive research approach. With a qualitative strategy, empirical data has been collected through semi-structured interviews with authorized auditors as participants. Findings: Our findings conclude that the four aspects being firm, environment, individual, and audit client together form the risk assessment. In contrast to literature, the audit client aspect was argued as more important. Further, environmental uncertainty is reflected in risk assessments through these four aspects and can affect each aspect individually in various ways. Future research: Since this study explores reflections of a crisis, while it is still present, we would find it interesting to examine its aftermath. In line with previous literature and our empirical findings, we foremost would suggest future researchers to explore the impact of a societal challenge on audit quality and whether differences are present concerning audit firm size.
15
WANG, Meixin. "An assessment of dual audit effect and contagious effect on the audit quality of non-Big N CPA firms for Chinese companies in different markets." Digital Commons @ Lingnan University, 2014. https://commons.ln.edu.hk/acct_etd/19.
Full textAbstract:
External auditor is an independent agent to provide assurance about the validity of financial statements prepared by management to enhance the reliability of information in financial reports. As such, audit quality has long been a concern for all stakeholders and is a topic of on-going research interest. In China, the dual audit requirement for AB share companies and AH share companies started in 2001 was abolished in 2007 and 2010 respectively. This study attempts to examine whether there are dual audit effect and contagious effect on the audit quality of non-Big N audit firms for A share companies in different markets. I focus on non-Big N audit firms since the audit quality of these firms are of greater concern. Using data from 2001 to 2012, I compare the audit quality of A share companies that also have B (or H) shares ((AB/H) with the audit quality of pure A share companies to test whether there is a dual audit effect on the audit quality of A-share financial statements. I also compare AB/H share companies which hire only non-Big N auditors with those ABIH share companies who hire non-Big N domestic auditors and Big N international auditors to test the existence of contagious effect on the audit quality of A-share companies. My findings indicate that dual audit does improve the audit quality of non-Big N audit firms for A share companies. However, there was mixed evidences on the contagious effect using different measures of audit quality. This study contributes to the literature on enhancing our understanding of the determinants of audit quality in China. It can also provide policy makers in emerging economies some useful evidence on ways to improve audit quality.
16
Isacsson, Johannes, and William Ryan. "Total Kvalitetsstyrning inom Non-Big X Revisionsbyråer : Praktiskt arbete med ISQC 1." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Företagsekonomi, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-139363.
Full textAbstract:
Background and problem: The Enron scandal is one of many audit scandals during the 21st century, which in combination with the global harmonization has led to increased demands on the audit sector and its quality. Due to this the ISQC 1 was designed, which purpose is to control and guide an internal quality control that will achieve and maintain a high level of quality. Research on audit quality has risen with the designing of ISQC 1, where focus mostly have been on how audit firms have managed the implementation of and the work with the standard. However, the research focuses on big international audit firms, which results in audit firms with a lower number of employees being left in the dark. The established field of Total Quality Management can be used to study how audit firms with a lower number of employees work with ISQC 1. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to create an understanding of how non-Big X audit firms use ISQC 1 to assure the quality of their services. Method: This study uses a qualitative method and an inductive approach, with elements of a deductive approach. Empirical primary data has been gathered by longer semi-structured interviews with eight auditors who all works on different non-Big X audit firms. A content analysis has also been executed, which compares ISQC 1 with the cornerstones of TQM. Conclusion: This study indicates that non-Big X audit firms mostly uses meetings, teachings and audit manuals to create a quality culture and work as a basis for the audit process. Furthermore, the study implies that ISQC 1 is experienced as resource-demanding, copious and more adjusted to big international audit firms. To face these issues, this study indicates that a cooperation with audit networks can help. When it comes to audit firms assuring the quality of their services, this study points out that preventing errors is critical for the non-Big X audit firms. Ultimately this study supports that there is an expectation gap, and that customers demand different things than what ISQC 1 advocate.Bakgrund och problem: Enronskandalen är en i raden av olika revisionsskandaler under 2000-talet, som i kombination med den globala harmoniseringen har lett till ökade krav på revisionsbranschen och dess kvalitet. Till följd av detta utformades standarden ISQC 1 vars syfte är att styra och vägleda en intern kvalitetskontroll för att på så sätt uppnå en jämn och hög nivå på kvaliteten. I och med utformningen av ISQC 1 har också forskning uppkommit där fokus har varit på hur revisionsbyråer klarat av att implementera och arbeta med standarden. Denna forskning fokuserar dock främst på stora internationella revisionsbyråer, vilket gör att revisionsbyråer med färre anställda kommer i skymundan. För att undersöka hur revisionsbyråer med färre anställda arbetar med ISQC 1 kan då det etablerade fältet total kvalitetsstyrning användas. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att skapa förståelse för hur non-Big X revisionsbyråer arbetar med ISQC 1 för att kvalitetssäkra sina tjänster i praktiken. Metod: Denna studie använder sig av en kvalitativ metod och en induktiv ansats med inslag av deduktion. Empirisk primärdata har samlats in genom längre semi-strukturerade intervjuer med åtta revisorer som arbetar på olika non-Big X byråer. Vidare har även en innehållsanalys genomförts som jämför ISQC 1 med hörnstensmodellen. Slutsats: Studien indikerar på att non-Big X revisionsbyråer främst använder sig av möten, utbildningar och revisionshandböcker för att både skapa en kvalitetskultur och ligga till grund för revisionsprocessen. Studien ger vidare antydningar om att ISQC 1 upplevs som resurskrävande, överflödig och mer anpassad efter stora internationella byråer. För att bemöta dessa problem ges indikationer på att ett samarbete med revisionsnätverk kan underlätta. I arbetet med att kvalitetssäkra tjänster indikerar vidare denna studie på att förebyggande av fel är kritiskt för non-Big X byråer. Slutligen stärker studien att ett förväntningsgap finns, då kunderna efterfrågar annat än vad ISQC 1 förespråkar.
17
Riccardi, William III. "An Empirical Analysis of the Global Audit Market: International Financial Reporting Standards-Related Changes and Differences within the Big 4 Global Networks." FIU Digital Commons, 2014. http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/1440.
Full textAbstract:
Ongoing debates within the professional and academic communities have raised a number of questions specific to the international audit market. This dissertation consists of three related essays that address such issues. First, I examine whether the propensity to switch between auditors of different sizes (i.e., Big 4 versus non-Big 4) changes as adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) becomes a more common phenomenon, arguing that smaller auditors have an opportunity to invest in necessary skills and training needed to enter this market. Findings suggest that clients are relatively less (more) likely to switch to (away from) a Big 4 auditor if the client’s adoption of IFRS occurs in more recent years.
In the second essay, I draw on these inferences and test whether the change in audit fees in the year of IFRS adoption changes over time. As the market becomes less concentrated, larger auditors becomes less able to demand a premium for their services. Consistent with my arguments, results suggest that the change in audit service fees declines over time, although this effect seems concentrated among the Big 4. I also find that this effect is partially attributable to a differential effect of the auditors’ experience in pricing audit services related to IFRS based on the period in which adoption occurs. The results of these two essays offer important implications to policy debates on the costs and benefits of IFRS adoption.
In the third essay, I differentiate Big 4 auditors into three classifications—Parent firms, Brand Name affiliates, and Local affiliates—and test for differences in audit fee premiums (relative to non-Big 4 auditors) and audit quality. Results suggest that there is significant heterogeneity between the three classifications based on both of these characteristics, which is an important consideration for future research. Overall, this dissertation provides additional insights into a variety of aspects of the global audit market.
18
Fidalgo, Mariana Sofia Oliveira. "O efeito da cultura na divulgação das Key Audit Matters : evidência de clientes europeus de uma Big 4." Master's thesis, Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/19151.
Full textAbstract:
Mestrado em Contabilidade, Fiscalidade e Finanças EmpresariaisA partir da entrada em vigor do novo relatório de auditoria, tornou-se obrigatória a comunicação das Key Audit Matters (KAMs) para as auditorias das demonstrações financeiras para os períodos findos em ou após 15 de dezembro de 2016 de entidades de interesse público. Desta forma e tendo em conta que os fatores culturais podem influenciar os julgamentos e decisões dos auditores sobre a divulgação das KAMs, a presente dissertação investiga o possível efeito que a cultura do país de origem da empresa de auditoria tem na divulgação das KAMs no relatório de auditoria. Para realizar este estudo, obteve-se o número de KAMs através dos relatórios de auditoria do ano de 2017 de entidades de interesse público, todas elas cotadas, e auditadas pela Deloitte da Alemanha, Bélgica, Espanha, França, Holanda, Irlanda, Itália, Portugal, Reino Unido e Suécia. Além disso, obteve-se as pontuações para cada uma das duas dimensões culturais (Power Distance e Individualism versus Collectivism) de Hofstede atribuídas aos vários países, através da ferramenta de comparação de países de Hofstede Insights. Os resultados obtidos através do estudo demonstram que quanto mais um auditor reconhece e respeita a diferença de poder, menor é o número de KAMs que ele tende a divulgar no relatório de auditoria. Esta tendência para divulgar um menor número de KAMs também ocorre quanto mais um auditor tiver preferência pelo individualismo. Assim, o estudo demonstra que o efeito da cultura se sobrepõe à pertença da auditora a uma rede.
From the entry into force of the new audit report, the communication of the Key Audit Matters (KAMs) has become mandatory for the audits of financial statements for the periods ending on or after December 15, 2016 of public interest entities. Thus, and taking into account that cultural factors may influence the judgments and decisions of auditors on the disclosure of KAMs, this dissertation researches the possible effect that the culture of the country of origin of the audit firm has in the disclosure of KAMs in the audit report. In order to conduct this study, we obtained the number of KAMs using the 2017 audit report of public interest entities, all of them listed and audited by the German, Belgian, Spanish, French, Dutch, Irish, Italian, Portuguese, British and Sweden Deloitte. Moreover, we obtained the scores for each of the two cultural dimensions (Power Distance and Individualism versus Collectivism) by Hofstede assigned to the different countries, using the country comparison tool of Hofstede Insights. The results obtained in this study reveal that the more an auditor recognises and respects the difference in power, the smaller the number of KAMs that he intends to disclose in the audit report is. This tendency to disclose a smaller number of KAMs also occurs the more an auditor prefers individualism. Thus, the study shows that the effect of culture superimposes the fact that the audit company belongs to a network.
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
19
Eliasson, Emelie, and Bianca Saarisilta. "Etisk affärskultur i små och stora revisionsfirmor : En studie om skillnader i den etiska affärskulturen och dess påverkan på revisorers objektivitet." Thesis, Högskolan i Gävle, Avdelningen för ekonomi, 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-18900.
Full textAbstract:
Syfte: Tidigare studier har visat att objektiviteten hos revisorer tenderar att brista i större utsträckning i små revisionsfirmor än i större revisionsfirmor. Det finns samtidigt forskning som fastställer att den etiska kulturen i en organisation har en stor inverkan på de enskilda individernas etiska handlande. Studier visar även att organisationskulturen kan skilja sig mellan stora och små organisationer. Vi har utifrån tidigare forskning valt att undersöka om den etiska affärskulturen skiljer sig åt i små och stora revisionsfirmor och om en starkare etisk affärskultur är relaterad till en starkare objektivitet hos revisorer. Metod: Vi har valt att använda oss av en kvantitativ enkätundersökning i vår studie, eftersom vi önskat identifiera ett samband mellan revisionsfirmors storlek och dess etiska affärskultur och om den i sin tur har en påverkan på revisorers objektivitet. Studien har genomförts med hjälp av Ardichvili, Jondle och Mitchells (2013) enkät för att mäta den etiska affärskulturen samt ett etablerat test för att mäta objektiviteten hos revisorer som bland andra Bamber och Iyer (2007) har använt sig av. Enkäten har skickats ut till godkända och auktoriserade revisorer i Sverige. Insamlad data har analyserats och redovisas med hjälp av statistiska metoder. Resultat: Studien visar på en något starkare etisk affärskultur i de revisionsfirmor som inte är en av de fyra största i Sverige. Resultatet kan dock inte generaliseras till den större populationen på grund av en låg svarsfrekvens. Inget signifikant samband hittades mellan graden av den etiska affärskulturen och revisorernas objektivitet. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: En kvalitativ studie med djupgående intervjuer eller observationer skulle kunna ge en mer nyanserad bild av skillnaderna i den etiska affärskulturen hos revisionsfirmorna. Uppsatsens bidrag: Studier av den etiska affärskulturen i stora och små revisionsfirmor och dess påverkan på revisorers objektivitet har oss veterligen inte behandlats tidigare. En validering av den etiska affärskulturen i små och stora revisionsfirmor kan ge uppmärksamhet till svagheter i kulturen och därmed indikatorer på vad som kan förbättras ur ett etiskt perspektiv.Aim: Previous studies have shown that the objectivity of the auditors tend to be weaker in small audit firms than in larger audit firms. Research indicates that the ethical culture of an organization has a large impact on individuals' ethical conduct. Studies also show that organizational culture may differ to some extent between large and small organizations. Based on the previous research we have chosen to examine if the ethical business culture differ in large and small audit firms and if a stronger ethical business culture is related to a higher objectivity of the auditors. Method: We have chosen to use a quantitative questionnaire survey method in the study. We wanted to investigate if there is a correlation between the size of audit firms and their ethical business culture and the degree of objectivity of the auditors. The study was conducted using Ardichvili, Jondle and Mitchell’s (2013) questionnaire to measure the ethical business culture and an established test earlier used by Bamber and Iyer (2007) to measure the objectivity of the auditors’. The questionnaire was sent to approved and certified public auditors in Sweden. The collected data were analyzed and reported using statistical methods. Result: The study shows a slightly stronger ethical business culture in the non Big 4-firms than the Big 4-firms in Sweden. The result can not be generalized to the larger population due to a low response rate. No significant associations were found between the degree of ethical business culture and auditor objectivity. Suggestions for future research: A qualitative study using interviews or observations could provide a more nuanced picture of the differences in business culture of auditing firms. Contribution of the thesis: Studies of ethical business culture in large and small audit firms and it’s impact on auditors’ objectivity has to our knowledge not been researched before. A validation of the ethical business culture in small and large audit firms can give attention to weaknesses in culture and thus indicators of what can be improved from an ethical perspective.
20
Alfaysal, Rami, and Emma Andersson. "The diffusion of Gender Policy in Accounting firms : the role of company structure and size." Thesis, Karlstads universitet, Handelshögskolan (from 2013), 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-71829.
Full textAbstract:
Women have a few managerial positions compared to men in audit and accounting firms. It said that large companies have intentions to increase the number of women accountants in managerial positions. The study is investigating the implementation of gender policies and diversity in auditing firm with a specific focus on how company size may impact how organizations come to work with issues of gender and diversity. A qualitative method has been implemented in this study, by conducting 17 semi-structured interviews with women auditors and accountants, working in 4 large firms and 5 small firms in Sweden. The study shows that the policies of the large companies are not fully implemented. While setting policies for small firms will just help women auditors/accountants to improve their career education.
21
Fransson, Oliver, and Simon Sleman. "The absolution of non-audit services – unravelling a nexus of research : A quantitative study of non-audit services’ impact on financial reporting quality among private firms in Sweden." Thesis, Internationella Handelshögskolan, Jönköping University, IHH, Företagsekonomi, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-48577.
Full textAbstract:
Non-audit services provided by audit firms have been a popular scientific topic within the fields of audit and accounting research over the past decades. Numerous researchers have attempted to provide a theoretical contribution by examining different ways of measuring the concepts of audit quality and financial reporting quality. The resulting consequences are mixed results and a lack of consensus among researchers from both research fields. The two, in other situations, rather distinctive research fields of audit quality and financial reporting quality, have, in several cases, been confounded without analytical reflection regarding their differences. In parallel to the scientific progress, regulatory bodies have noticed the increasing trend of non-audit services and how they constitute larger portions of the audit firm’s annual revenues. Their responses have been legal restrictions, both in the US and Europe, in order to cease the trend. The purpose of this thesis is to make a pronounced investigation regarding the relationship between non-audit services and financial reporting quality in Swedish private firms. Furthermore, it will also be of interest to examine if this proposed relationship is moderated by the presence of the four global market-leading audit firms or not. The study is based on a deductive approach and a quantitative research strategy, to collect and analyze data from annual reports. To fulfill the purpose of the study, the data is analyzed by conducting binary and multinomial logistic regression tests. The results suggest that there is an association between certain types of non-audit services and financial reporting quality. Specifically, services that are unrelated to tax have proven to be statistically significant positively correlated with financial reporting quality. No evidence was found supporting a moderating effect by the characteristics of audit firms, suggesting that the choice of an audit firm is irrelevant for attaining high financial reporting quality when purchasing non-audit services. The study’s theoretical contribution is the novelty arising from the combination of studying non-audit services’ impact on financial reporting quality within a Swedish setting on private firms. The study also provides empirical contribution by using a proxy for financial reporting quality rarely used in previous research. The findings are of practical importance since they suggest that firms potentially benefit in their financial reporting by purchasing these kinds of services, which contradicts past actions made by regulatory bodies.
22
Gustafsson, Sofia, and Josefine Söderberg. "Professionell skepticism i en digitaliserad värld : En kvalitativ studie med fokus på den enskilde revisorn." Thesis, Umeå universitet, Företagsekonomi, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-172943.
Full textAbstract:
Den enskilde revisorn har till uppgift att granska ett företags finansiella rapporter och kommunicera resultatet till företagets intressenter. För att kvalitetssäkra att den finansiella informationen visar på en rättvisande bild av det reviderade företaget krävs det att revisorn är ifrågasättande och uppmärksam i sitt arbete. Denna attityd benämns professionell skepticism och ska återspegla en revisors alla handlingar. Revisionsbranschen står inför många utmaningar där den traditionella rollen kommer att förändras. En bidragande orsak till det är den exponentiella tekniska utvecklingen där automatiska processer i allt större grad tar över och den mänskliga inblandningen minskar. Syftet med studien är att studera huruvida graden av professionell skepticism hos den enskilde revisorn påverkas i takt med den tekniska utvecklingen. För att framställa en teori gällande den aktuella forskningsfrågan har en kvalitativ forskningsmetod med intervjuer varit utgångspunkten. Det skapar en möjlighet att studera den enskilde revisorn i sin naturliga omgivning och öka förståelsen för hur revisorn upplever den rådande situationen. Digitaliseringen har resulterat i att revisorerna numera kan analysera en större mängd data och uppnå en högre träffsäkerhet vilket bidrar till en högre kvalitet på revisionerna. Resultatet visar på attdigitaliseringen kräver en förändring av den enskilde revisorns professionella skepticism för att bibehålla en hög kvalitet. Digitaliseringen medför att det inte längre är tillräckligt att vara skeptisk i revisionen utan det krävs även att revisorn är ifrågasättande till de digitala hjälpmedlen. Det råder en stor ovisshet om revisorerna i framtiden kommer att bli programstyrda och inte utövar en tillräcklig professionell skepticism. För att förebygga detta krävs det att revisorerna besitter nödvändig kunskap för att förstå det bearbetade materialet och för att kunna vara skeptisk till det material som de automatiska processerna levererar. Resultatet visar därmed att kunskap är av stor betydelse för att den enskilde revisorn ska utöva en professionell skepticism. Revisioner kommer fortsatt att vara komplexa och revisionsprocessen går inte att automatisera fullt ut. En mänsklig inblandning och en professionell skepticism kommer därav alltid vara nödvändig och studiens resultat visar på att den enskilde revisorn kommer att behöva anpassa sättet att tänka skeptiskt i en digitaliserad värld.The individual auditor has a responsibility to review a company's financial reports and communicate the results to the company's stakeholders. In order to assure that the financial information present a true and fair view of the audited company it requires that the auditor is questionable and observant. This attitude is called professional scepticism and should be reflected in all actions performed by the auditor. The auditing industry faces many challenges where the traditional role of the auditor will change. A contributing reason is the exponential technical development where automatic processes increasingly take over human involvement. The purpose of the study is to examine whether the degree of professional scepticism of the individual auditor is affected in line with technical progress. To formulate a theory regarding the current research question, a qualitative research method with interviews has been used. This creates an opportunity to study the individual auditor in his or her natural environment and creates an understanding of how he or she experiences the current situation. The technical development has resulted in auditors being able to analyze a bigger amount of data and therefore achieve a higher accuracy, which contributes to a higher quality in the audits. The result indicate that the technical development requires a change of the auditor´s professional skepticism in order to maintain a high quality. The auditor should not only be skeptical in audits but also have a questioning mind towards digital devices. The present auditors experience a big concern that the future auditors will not have a sufficient professional skepticism and only rely on the digital devices. To prevent this from happening the auditors need to understand the data presented by the digital devices in order to exercise a sufficient level of professional skepticism. Therefore, the result indicate that knowledge is of great importance for the individual auditor´s professional skepticism. Audits will continue to be complex and the audit process cannot be fully automated. A human involvement and a professional skepticism will therefore always be necessary and the result shows that the individual auditor will need to adapt the way of thinking skeptically in a digitalized world.
23
Kjellqvist, Lissie, and Carlqvist Teresia Söderberg. "Revisionskvalitet : Kartläggning och analys av huruvida en revisionsbyrås storlek påverkar revisionskvalitet." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Företagsekonomi, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-131032.
Full textAbstract:
Revisorer har idag till uppgift att granska och uttala sig kring ett företags ekonomi, dess redovisning och, i Sverige, företagets förvaltning. Revision handlar delvis om att förstå det granskade företaget och dess verksamhet. Höga krav ställs på revisorns kompetens och oberoende, delvis för att intressenter ska kunna fatta viktiga beslut efter en korrekt utförd revision. Uppsatsen studerar huruvida det finns olika faktorer som har en inverkan på kvalitetsskillnader mellan små och stora revisionsbyråer. Vi vill med studiens syfte kartlägga och analysera huruvida revisionsbyråns storlek påverkas dess revisionskvalitet. Vi försöker i denna studie besvara vårt syfte utifrån två olika delstudier. Uppsatsens första delstudie består av en grundlig litteraturgenomgång där vi presenterar, för uppsatsen, relevant forskning. Efter en genomgripande litteraturgenomgång fann vi fem faktorer som vi valde att bygga vidare vår uppsats på. Dessa faktorer var upptäcka brister, rapportering av brister, klientportfölj, rykte och kontorsstorlek. Slutsatsen i delstudie 1 visar att faktorerna torde ha en betydande inverkan på revisionskvalitet och att de stora byråerna har lättare, än de mindre byråerna, att åstadkomma en revision av hög kvalitet. Några exempel på detta är att mycket kompetens på plats torde öka chansen att upptäcka brister i revisionen och att de stora byråernas rykte kan vara gynnsam för byråns klientselektion. Därefter följer delstudie 2 som är en fördjupning av uppsatsens delstudie 1. I denna del utförde vi en intervjustudie där 13 revisor intervjuades från både små och stora revisionsbyråer. Detta gjorde vi för att få en klarare bild över hur revisionskvalitet uppfattas av dagens revisorer och huruvida de ser någon skillnad mellan byråstorlekarna. Vi lade även till komfortfrågor under dessa intervjuer då vi ansåg det vara av stort intresse att tillföra den individuella revisorn och dennes upplevda komfort och huruvida detta kunde ha en inverkan på revisionens uppnådda kvalitet. Intervjustudiens resultat visade inga specifika mönster på att revisionskvaliteten skulle vara högre hos någon av de respektive byråstorlekarna. Vi fann istället den individuella revisorn och dennes komfort som den mest betydande faktorn för revisionskvalitet. Vårt kunskapsbidrag blir således utifrån denna studie att revisionskvaliteten inte torde skilja sig åt mellan byråstorlekarna. Vår analys åskådliggör däremot att den individuella revisorns engagemang och komfort är den avgörande faktorn till huruvida skillnader inom revisionskvalitet uppstår mellan byråer.Today auditor´s task is to review and express their opinion on a company's finances, their accounts and, in Sweden, the company's management. Audit is partly about understanding the audited company and its operations. There are high demands on the auditor's competence and independence, partly because stakeholders should be able to make important decisions for a proper and thorough audit. The research involves studying whether there are different factors that have an impact on the quality differences between small and large accounting firms. We found the subject interesting and wanted to identify and analyze whether the auditing firm's size affected its audit quality. In this study we tried to answer our purpose from two different studies. The first sub-study consists of a thorough literature review where we present, for this essay, relevant research. After a thorough literature review, we found five factors that we chose to build our essay on. These factors included the identification of gaps, the shortcomings Report, Client Portfolio, Reputation and Office Size. The conclusion of this study shows that these factors have a significant impact on audit quality, and that the larger firms, from these factors, have it easier to achieve higher quality audits. Some examples are that more expertise in the office should increase the chance of detecting deficiencies in the audit, and that the great reputation of the agencies can be beneficial to the Agency's client selection. Then follows substudy 2, which is a deepening of the essay’s substudy 1. In this part we carried out an interview study, in which 13 auditors were interviewed from both small and large accounting firms. We did this in order to get a clearer picture of how audit quality is perceived by today's accountants, and whether they see any difference between the firm sizes. We also added comfort issues during these interviews because we considered it to be of great interest to supply the individual auditor and their perceived comfort, and whether this could have an impact on audit quality. The results of the interviews showed that no specific pattern on audit quality would be higher in any of the respective firm sizes. Interestingly, we instead found the individual auditor and his comfort as the most significant factor for audit quality. Our knowledge contribution is thus, based on this study, that audit quality is not higher in any particular firm when it comes to agency size. Our analysis illustrates, however, that the individual auditor's engagement and comfort are the deciding factors to whether differences in audit quality arises between agencies.
24
Ademi, Pajtesa, and Simon Wester. "Kostnader som uppstår för revisorer och företag vid utfärdande av en första going concern-varning : en analys av den svenska marknaden." Thesis, Högskolan Kristianstad, Sektionen för hälsa och samhälle, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hkr:diva-9543.
Full textAbstract:
Revisorerna upprätthåller en viktig funktion som oberoende bedömare av ekonomisk information som regleras genom lagar och förordningar. I dagens samhälle är det viktigt för företag att upprätta pålitliga årsredovisningar för sina intressenter. Det är ett komplext uppdrag för revisorer att göra en adekvat bedömning av företagets fortsatta drift om going concern-varningar skall utfärdads som inte får leda till felbedömningar. Detta eftersom effekterna av sådana medför stora konsekvenser för både företagen och revisionsbyråerna. Utfärdandet av going concern-varningar kan i sin tur resultera i så väl stora intäktsbortfall för revisionsföretagen som negativa signaler till företagets intressenter som kan medföra stora konsekvenser. Exempel på åtgärder är att företaget byter ut sina revisorer eller att företaget begärs i konkurs, det vill säga att den självuppfyllande profetian går i uppfyllelse. Uppsatsens syfte är att visa om det finns ett samband mellan de förlorade revisionsarvodena vid utfärdandet av en första going concern-varning av svenska revisorer. Dessutom skall uppsatsen visa om det existerar ett samband mellan utfärdandet av going concern-varningar och sannolikheten för konkurs för de reviderade företagen. Uppsatsen tillämpar en kvantitativ metod för att förklara sambanden. Detta sker genom att en testgrupp på 169 företag har selekterats som erhållit en första going concern-varning för bokslutsåret 2009. Testgruppen har jämförts med en kontrollgrupp på 169 företag som är lika finansiellt stressade men inte erhållit en going concern-varning. För att bevisa huruvida något samband existerar tillämpas statistiska beräkningar. Uppsatsens resultat fastställer att ett samband existerar mellan utfärdandet av en första going concern-varning och revisorsbyte. Ju längre ett revisorsuppdrag har pågått desto mindre är sannolikheten för att en going concern-varning skall utfärdas. Däremot visar undersökningen att det inte finns något samband mellan utfärdandet av going concern-varningar och företagskonkurser vilket också tyder på att det inte finns stöd för den självuppfyllande profetians existens.The auditors maintain an essential roll as an independent authority for control of financial information governed by rules and regulations. In the modern society it’s crucial for the companies to present correct information within annual reports for the stakeholders. It’s a complex task for the auditors to make an adequate judgment of the companies ongoing business if an audit modified opinion should be issued which may not lead to any misjudgements. As the results of such a misjudgement will have huge consequences for both client and auditor. Issuing a going concern modified audit opinion may result in large loss of revenues for the auditors as well as negative information to the stakeholders of the company which may lead to serious consequences for the business of the company. As example on measures taken by the company is to replace their auditors or that the company files for bankruptcy, which means that the self-fulfilling prophecy is accomplished. The purpose of this paper is to show if it exists a correlation between the losses of auditors revenues when issuing a first going concern modified audit opinion by Swedish auditors. In addition this paper will prove if it exists a correlation between issuing a going concern modified audit opinion and the probability of bankruptcy for the revised company. This paper applies a quantitative method to explain the correlations. This analysis is made by the selection of a test group of 169 companies which have received a first going concern modified audit opinion during the financial year of 2009. The test group has been compared by a control group of 169 companies which are financial distressed but have not received a going concern modified audit opinion. To prove whether if it exist any correlations statistical calculations is applied. The results of this paper determine the existence of a correlation between issuing a first going concern modified audit opinion and audit switch. The longer the audit tenure has lasted the lesser is the probability that a going concern modified audit opinion to be issued. However this paper finds no evidence of any correlation between issuing of a going concern modified audit opinion and company bankruptcy which reject the existence of self-fulfilling prophecy.
25
Öberg, Carl, and Mikaela Carlsson. "Intern employer branding i revisionsföretag : En kvalitativ flerfallsstudie om hur Big Four företagen kan minska sin personalomsättning." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Institutionen för ekonomisk och industriell utveckling, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-167470.
Full textAbstract:
Att lyckas behålla anställda har blivit en alltmer vanlig fråga för arbetsgivare i och med en förändrad arbetsmarknad med hög konkurrens, och en för hög omsättning av personal kan få stora konsekvenser för ett företag. En bransch som länge präglats av hög personalomsättning är revisionsbranschen, och trots att tidigare studier har gjorts för att hitta anledningar till detta är det fortfarande ett omtalat problem, och revisionsbyråerna arbetar ständigt med att få sina anställda att stanna kvar på företagen, inte minst Big Four företagen. Employer branding, och främst intern employer branding, har visat sig ha en påverkan på personalomsättning eftersom det kan leda till att anställda väljer att stanna kvar på företagen. Revisionsföretagen har fortfarande problem med hög personalomsättningen och ännu har inte intern employer branding undersökts i revisionsbranschen. Syftet med studien är att skapa förståelse för vad Big Four företagen kan förbättra i sitt arbete med intern employer branding för att minska personalomsättningen. Studien är en fenomenologisk flerfallstudie av kvalitativ karaktär där empirin har samlats in genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med nuvarande och tidigare anställda från de fyra största revisionsföretagen, Big Four. Den abduktiva ansatsen har möjliggjort en djupare förståelse av fenomenet då empirin och teorin under studiens gång har utvecklats och bearbetats för att nå fram till tydliga resultat. Studiens resultat redogör för vad som kan förbättras inom Big Four företagens interna employer branding arbete för att minska personalomsättningen. Dessa förbättringar är bland annat; skapa ett unik employer brand, ta hänsyn till individuell utveckling och att arbetsuppgifter ska vara intressanta över tid. Flera exempel på förbättringsmöjligheter är mer detaljerad feedback, att anställda ska bli mer bekanta med företagspolicys och att anställda ska få ökad förståelse för hur de bidrar till företagens organisatoriska mål.Success in retaining employees has become an increasingly common issue for employers as a result of a changing labor market with high competition, and too high a turnover of employees can have major consequences for a company. An industry that has long been characterized by high employee turnover is the audit industry, and although previous studies have been done to find reasons for this it is still a stated problem, and the accounting firms are constantly working to get their employees to stay at the companies, not least the Big Four companies. Employer branding, and in particular internal employer branding, has been shown to have an impact on employee turnover, as it can lead to employees choosing to stay with the companies. The audit firms still have problems with high employee turnover and internal employer branding has not yet been investigated in the audit industry. The study aims to create an understanding of what the Big Four companies can improve in their work with internal employer branding to reduce employee turnover. The study is a phenomenological multi-case study of a qualitative nature where the empirical data were collected through semi-structured interviews with employees and former employees of the four largest audit firms, the Big Four. The abductive approach has allowed a deeper understanding of the phenomenon as the theory and the empirical data has been developed and processed throughout the study to achieve clear results. The result of the study describe what can be improved within the Big Four companies' work with internal employer branding to reduce employee turnover. These improvements include; create a unique employer brand, take individual development into account and make work tasks interesting over time. Further examples of opportunities for improvement are more detailed feedback, that employees should become more familiar with company policies and that employees should gain a greater understanding of how they contribute to corporate organizational goals.
26
Raphael, Lucia. "Sustainability Assurance and the Engagement of Multidisciplinary Teams." Thesis, Karlstads universitet, Fakulteten för humaniora och samhällsvetenskap (from 2013), 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-36902.
Full textAbstract:
Research have revealed that the accounting profession engage multi-disciplinary teams in the assurance of sustainability reports. However, how such teams are composed or the values that these teams bring to the assurance engagement process, and how reliance is established on the work performed by such teams has been left uncovered. This research sought to fill this gap, and hence, contributed to providing an understanding surrounding this issue. Semi-structured interviews with auditors from the Big Four Audit firms, engaged with performing sustainability assurance was conducted. The findings revealed that the engagement of multi-disciplinary teams, comprising both financial accountants and sustainability specialists from various disciplines, was necessary in ensuring quality assurance work performance. Firstly, the in-depth knowledge of sustainability subject matters possessed by the sustainability experts, enabled the questioning of the correctness of sustainability items reported by the clients. Secondly, sustainability experts were valuable in the planning stage of the engagement, in identifying client risk areas. Thirdly, sustainability expert involvement, enabled the winning of work contracts. Additionally, the engagement of multi-disciplinary teams was revealed to be valuable to the client firms. Firstly, the sustainability experts assisted clients in identifying the most valuable issues to report to their stakeholders. Secondly, due to the expert’s knowledge and experience, it enabled them to inform clients on high reporting levels. Finally, sustainability experts provided clients with valuable feedback that aids the improvement of the client processes, and the management of risks. The establishment of reliance on the work performed by the teams, requiring an accountant to signoff every engagement work performed by the team, as required by the applicable assurance standards, was partially supported by this study. Sustainability experts, who were non-accountants, was revealed to be engaged in this signing off ritual, hence, leaving room for the questioning of such assurance engagements signed off by sustainability experts.
27
Lindahl, Ida, and Elisabeth Wendel. "Revisorns oberoende vid fristående rådgivning : det ständiga dilemmat." Thesis, Högskolan i Borås, Institutionen Handels- och IT-högskolan, 2014. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-17853.
Full textAbstract:
Revisorn anlitas för att ge ett oberoende yttrande som ska säkerställa pålitligheten i företagensfinansiella rapporter. Denna tilltrosskapandande effekt kan endast uppnås om revisorn görsina bedömningar och fattar beslut utan att låta sig påverkas av andra personers viljor ellerönskningar. Att revisorn är oberoende är särskilt viktigt i de fall revisorernas arbete påverkarintressenters beslutsfattande. Diskussionen kring revisorns oberoende i samband medtillhandahållandet av fristående rådgivning har debatterats flitigt. Vissa menar att denfristående rådgivningen medför positiva effekter på revisionen, medan andra anser att denborde förbjudas då den utgör ett hot mot revisorns oberoende och påverkar förtroendet förbranschen. Genom införandet av revisionspaketet står revisionsbranschen inför nyaregleringar av oberoendet och den fristående rådgivningen. Denna uppsats ämnar fördjupadiskussionen och undersöka varför det kan upplevas som ett problem när en revisionsbyrå, irollen som oberoende kontrollorgan, erbjuder både fristående rådgivning och revision.Frågeställningen besvaras med hjälp av relevanta teorier, modeller och intervjuer medrevisorer, intressenter samt normgivande organ. Den fristående rådgivningen kan medföra attrevisorn inte uppfattas som oberoende och kan utmana förtroendet hos allmänheten. Vidarekan det upplevas som ett problem när den fristående rådgivningen sker på revisionsklienter.Medias skildring av debatten, att det verkar föreligga ett förväntningsgap samt en bristandetransparens kan även det vara bidragande orsaker till problematiken. Revisionspaketet kankomma att öka transparensen, minska förväntningsgapet samt stärka förtroendet för branschenoch kan således komma att minska problematiken med att ett oberoende kontrollorganerbjuder både fristående rådgivning och revision.Program: Civilekonomprogrammet
28
Gogani, Roya, and Jonathan Nyrén. "Revisorernas kostnad av att utge en going concern- varning." Thesis, Högskolan i Gävle, Akademin för utbildning och ekonomi, 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-15697.
Full textAbstract:
De uppgifter som revisorn presenterar i sin revisionsberättelse bör intressenter och företag ha förtroende för. Revisorn ska vara en oberoende länk mellan intressenter och företag. Läsaren förväntar sig finna eventuella ekonomiska problem i årsredovisningen. Detta är dock inte alltid fallet. Det är viktigt att revisorerna kan göra en pålitlig bedömning över företagets möjligheter till fortsatt drift. Beslut om going concern-varning måste grunda sig på oberoende och god kunskap om företagets situation. En felaktig going concern-varning kan orsaka problem och intäktsbortfall för både företaget och revisionsbyrån. Intressenterna kan förlora förtroendet för företaget och företaget kan i sin tur byta revisor. Studien fokuserar på huruvida revisorerna kan vara sparsamma med att utge going concern-varning för att inte riskera att förlora företaget som klient och därmed förlora revisionsintäkter. Därför undersöker studien om det finns ett samband mellan förlorade revisionsarvoden och utfärdandet av en första going concern-varning bland svenska företag. Studien vill också visa ifall en going concern- varning ökar sannolikheten för konkurs den s.k. självuppfyllande profetian. Ett bidrag till tidigare forskning är att studien beaktar revisionsuppdragets längd i förhållande till going concern-varning. Från databasen Affärsdata har 432 företag selekterats ut från bokslutsåret 2009. Av dessa hade 216 erhållit en going concern- varning. Denna testgrupp har sedan jämförts med en kontrollgrupp med samma antal som varit finansiellt stressade men inte erhållit någon varning. Studien har använt SPSS som statistiskt program för att kunna göra önskade beräkningar. Studiens resultat visar at det finns ett samband mellan en första going concern-varning och revisorbyte. Studien visar också att längden på revisionsuppdraget påverkar benägenheten att ge en going concern-varning. Däremot finner undersökningen inte något belägg för den s.k. självuppfyllande profetian.The information that the auditor provides in their audit report should be valid in the eyes of the stakeholders of the company. The auditor should be the independent link between the company and its stakeholders. When reading the audit report, one expects to find all the possible economic problems identified in it, however this is not always the case. It is crucial that the audit of a company’s going concern is reliable. Decisions regarding going concern-modified opinions should be independent and be based on valid information regarding the company’s economic situation. One faulty going concern-modified opinion can set off a whole range of issues and revenue loss for both the company and the audit firm. Consequently stakeholders can lose their trust in the company resulting in a change of audit firm. This thesis is focused on whether or not auditors might be reluctant to hand out going concern-modified opinions in fear of losing a client and the revenue associated with it. Therefore, the thesis investigates whether or not there is a relationship between lost revenue and the first instance of issuing a going concern-modified opinion for Swedish companies. This thesis is also investigating whether the issuance of a going concern-modified opinion will increase the possibility of the company going bankrupt, the so-called self-fulfilling prophecy. A contribution to the previous research regarding the going concern issue is the consideration of audit tenure. We have used 432 companies with fiscal year 2009 extracted from the database Affärsdata. Out of this selection, 216 had been issued a going concern-modified opinion. This test group is then compared to the control group with the same number of companies that were identified as financially distressed but without receiving a going concern- modified opinion. The thesis has used the statistical program SPSS to complete the calculations needed to complete the analysis. The result shows a positive relationship between the first going concern-modified opinion and the change of audit firms. The period of time the auditing requires also effects the predisposition to issue a going concern-modified opinion. However the study was unable to find any statistical evidence for the so-called self-fulfilling prophecy.
29
LEE, WEN-CHE, and 李文哲. "A Study on Litigation Performance Difference of Big 4 Audit Firms and Non-Big 4 Audit Firms." Thesis, 2017. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/15095099775525054439.
Full textAbstract:
碩士國立臺北大學
會計學系
105
Due to the Certified Public Accountant (here and after“CPA”) Examination was restructured from percentage system to qualified system, the persons of CPA grows dramatically. Most accountants seek and develop new businesses that the non-auditing businesses increased and more important. Most of prior research focused on audit quality and performance of the comparing with the big 4 audit firms and non-big 4 audit firms, but few on the non-audit business. We focused on Tax Court Litigation and compared the performance with the big 4 audit firms and non-big 4 audit firms. Besides, we explore whether the performance of appointed to big 4 audit firms and non-big 4 audit firms exist differences or not on legal person tax and individual tax. The research samples included tax court litigations of Consolidated Income Tax, Profit-seeking Enterprise Income Tax, Value-added and Non-value-added Business Tax, The Specifically Selected Goods and Services Tax and Estate and Gift Tax from 2013 to 2015 through all level administration courts. We adopt Logit Model and OLS as research models to finding. As narrative statistical analysis results, the proportion of the clients non-big 4 audit firms as litigation agents, winning suit and performance are higher than the big 4 audit firms. As the result of empirical analysis, the poor performance due to the huge and complex cases, the amount of litigation is higher and administrative tax litigation process is more difficult. Those reasons cause the big 4 audit firms to win hardly. For the legal person case, we adopt the degree of the amount of litigation is reduced to measure the performance, we find the performance of the big 4 audit firms is less than non-big 4 audit firms and the degree of the reduced amount is fewer in complex litigation suit. Further, for winning suit, it is not significant differences between appointed to the big 4 audit firms and non-big 4 audit firms. But in legal person case, there is significant differences between appointed to the big 4 audit firms and non-big 4 audit firms.
30
Hemmingsson, Oscar, and Linnéa Lindbom. "Audit Quality in Swedish Audit Firms : The Significance of Ethical Firm Culture from a Behavioral Perspective." Thesis, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-413781.
Full textAbstract:
Dysfunctional auditor behavior has transformed into one of the biggest challenges for audit quality. The purpose of this study is to analyze the culture to the ethical decision process in the Swedish context. The study uses a self- administered questioner with 75 junior and senior auditors employed in Mid-East Sweden including Stockholm. The study finds that ethical firm culture has an important relationship to the decision-making process. Furthermore, the study shows that the components of the decision-making model; recognition, judgment, intention and RAQA reacts differently to ethical firm culture. Finally, the study finds a relationship when the data is grouped separately as big 4 and non-big 4 auditing firms. Big 4 firms show a negative relationship between ethical firm culture and RAQA, while non-big 4 firms show a positive relationship between ethical firm culture, intention and, recognition.
31
Lee, Cheng-Hsien, and 李政憲. "Office size of the Big 4 audit firm and audit quality." Thesis, 2018. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/q7pgk6.
Full textAbstract:
碩士國立臺灣大學
會計學研究所
106
This study examines the association between big 4 office size and audit quality in Taiwan from 2011 to 2016. This study defines the dummy variable office size by the practice office is Taipei office or not. Audit quality is measured by discretionary accruals. The results find that cases audited by Taipei office have lower discretionary accruals than other offices. It shows the Taipei office has better audit quality. Besides, exclude the samples of Taipei office, the empirical results show that the audit qualities between Hsinchu office and other office are significant different, Hsinchu office has higher accruals. Results are consistent with DeAngelo’s finding in 1981. The economic bond effects the auditor’s independence and reduces audit quality.
32
Eldaly, Mohamed K. A., and M. Abdel-Kader. "How to regain public trust in audit firms? The case of the Financial Reporting Council." 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10454/10974.
Full textAbstract:
YesThis study aims to provide a better understanding of the role of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) in restoring public trust in audit profession in the UK. It analyses the views of partners in the Big 4 audit firms on this role. This study identifies three main strategies to promote trust and enhance the choice of auditors in the UK audit market. These strategies are improving audit quality, increasing the transparency of the big audit firms and reducing the barriers to competition in the audit market. The findings suggest that partners of the Big 4 believe that the FRC's projects effectively participate in improving audit quality as well as providing wider information about the audit firms to the public. However, different actions need to be taken to enhance the choice in the market.
33
Eldaly, Mohamed K. A., and M. Abdel-Kader. "An independent audit oversight system in a non-developed market: the case of Egypt." 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10454/8861.
Full textAbstract:
YesThis study aims to provide a better understanding of oversight the audit profession in Egypt, including its motivations, objectives and its working approach. Further, it reaches a better understanding of the Egyptian Big 4 partners’ perceptions of the new Audit Oversight Board (AOB). Previous studies have frequently examined the audit oversight system in developed countries (US and UK in particular), but little is known on how the system works on developing countries. We believe that facing different problems and challenges demands that audit regulators in developing countries follow different approaches in order to improve the quality of their audit markets. Lack of skilled auditors, lack of transparency and public accountability, and a high level of corruption are the main problems facing the audit profession in Egypt (Awadallah, 2006, Wahdan et. al., 2005: a). Our findings suggest that establishing an audit oversight board in Egypt has been motivated by the need to attract foreign investments and follow the global trend of auditing in developed countries. A number of legal changes are needed in order to improve the AOB’s efficiency.
34
Liu, Hsin-Tzu, and 劉心慈. "A Further Examination on the Determinants of Audit Fee: Homogeneity or Heterogeneity in Audit Pricing of Taiwan's Big 4 Accounting Firms?" Thesis, 2013. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/92666612890344373220.
Full textAbstract:
碩士輔仁大學
會計學系碩士班
101
This thesis aims to investigate whether the fee pricing are homogeneous among the Big 4 accounting firms in Taiwan. Prior research indicated that big accounting firms have a different audit fee structure from that of small firms. The author tries to make a further examination on the determinants of audit fees for the Big 4 and explain the empirical findings from the perspective of audit market competition and audit pricing strategies. The hypothesis is tested against an audit fee model by using data selected from the companies listed on TSE or OTC for the period of 2005 to 2011 and grouped by the Big 4/ non-Big 4 audit firms. For the purpose of alleviating the selection bias resulted from self-selection and sample endogeneity, the author applies the two-stage regression proposed by Heckman（1979）on constructing the selection models by reference to Chaney et al.（2004）and Shiue et al.（2008）. Then, Wald test and stepwise regressions are conducted. The empirical results show that the mixes of audit fee determinants are significantly different not only between the Big 4 and the non-Big 4, but also among the Big 4. In other words, the audit pricing strategies are not homogeneous among the Big 4. In addition, companies seem to be willing to pay different fees to different audit firms because of perceived differences in brand name and reputation. Consequently, treating the Big 4 as one whole group may lead to wrong inferences on the issues of audit pricing.
35
Relvas, Guilherme Francisco Mendes. "O custo da dívida, a dimensão do auditor e auditores conjuntos: o caso das maiores empresas europeias." Master's thesis, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10071/8692.
Full textAbstract:
M42, G32Usando uma amostra das maiores empresas europeias para o período de 2005 a 2012, examino o impacto da dimensão e do número de auditores no seu custo da dívida, visto existirem poucos estudos deste tipo na Europa. O custo da dívida é mensurado pelo quociente entre o gasto de juros e a média da dívida a curto e a longo prazo, enquanto a dimensão tem por base a dicotomia entre empresas Big 4 e não- Big 4. Este estudo, vem confirma que a qualidade da auditoria, mensurado pelo dimensão do auditor e pelo número de auditores numa mesma empresa auditada, diminui o custo da dívida, o que confirma a utilidade da auditoria, apesar da recente alteração da diretiva europeia de auditoria, para reforçar a qualidade da auditoria.
Using a sample of the largest European companies for the period of 2005 up to 2012, I examine the impact of the dimension of the audit companies and the numbers of the auditors in their cost of debt, since there are not many studies of this kind. The cost of debt is measured by the quotient between the interest expense and the average of the short and long term debt, while the dimension of the auditor is based on the dichotomy between Big 4 and no Big 4 audit companies. This study, confirms that the quality of the auditing, measured by the dimension of the auditor and numbers of auditors in the same audited company, decrease the cost of debt, confirming the utility of auditing, despite of the recently change on the European Directive of auditing, to reinforce the quality of auditing.
36
Pei-Ling, Hsieh, and 謝沛玲. "The Association between Audit Fee and Audit Quality of BIG Four Public Accounting Firms in China." Thesis, 2016. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/73487478660799200985.
Full textAbstract:
碩士國立臺北商業大學
會計財稅研究所
104
Previous studies had indicated that audit quality is related to audit fee. This research took the companies listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and audited by China's top four sino-foreign cooperative public accounting firms as research samples to explore the correlation between audit fee and audit quality after the establishment of a market-oriented accounting system in Mainland China, 2009. The research findings showed that the audit fee had a significant positive correlation with business performance and asset size, which the worse the company’s capital structure, the higher the audit fee. In addition, the audit quality had a significant negative correlation with audit fee, which indicated that a poor performance company needed to pay higher audit fee in the context of protecting accounting firms’ reputations.
37
Cassell, Cory A. "A New Era for the Big 8? Evidence on the Association Between Earnings Quality and Audit Firm Type." 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2009-05-624.
Full textAbstract:
I examine the association between earnings quality and audit firm type using a three-tiered audit firm classification scheme which allows for an explicit examination of the quality of Second-Tier audited earnings. My tests are motivated by the lack of competition in the market for audit services, theoretical arguments which suggest a positive association between audit firm size and audit quality, evidence pointing to the rapid post-Andersen growth in Second-Tier audit practices, and the lack of empirical research that fully differentiates audit firm type.
My results indicate that the post-Andersen growth of Second-Tier audit firms coincides with improved Second-Tier audit quality, relative to the other audit firm types (Big N and other non-Big N). Specifically, the results indicate that Second-Tier client earnings quality was not distinct from that of other non-Big N clients in the pre-Andersen period. However, in the post-Andersen period, the results indicate that Second-Tier client earnings quality was higher than that of other non-Big N clients. Moreover, the post-Andersen results provide partial evidence suggesting that there is no difference in Second-Tier and Big N client earnings quality and, thus, lend some credence to the notion of a new era for the Big 8. These results convey important information to market participants (e.g., investors, underwriters, analysts, etc.) who wish to assess the extent to which financial statements are likely to be free from opportunistic managerial manipulation, to clients that are contemplating switching to a Second-Tier audit firm, to government agencies who have expressed concern over the state of competition in the market for audit services, and to those who have promoted the use of Second-Tier audit firms in the wake of SOX-related resource constraints.
38
Jhuang, Huei_Jhen, and 莊慧貞. "Mandatory Auditor Change and Earnings Quality: From the Perspective of Groups within the Big Four Audit Firms." Thesis, 2008. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/46424254136542455919.
Full textAbstract:
碩士東海大學
會計學系
96
In recently years, auditor rotation has been mandated in many countries to increase auditor independence and hence earnings quality. Due to the audit environment in Taiwan, this study examines the effects of different types of auditor change on earnings quality with non-voluntary changing auditor. In particular, intra-group auditor change whether hence audit quality is noticed. Three types of auditor rotation are examined, including intra-group, inter-group and inter-auditor firms. This study collects 1,836 observations of listed companies audited by Big Four CPA firms in Taiwan from 2002 to 2006. Earnings quality is proxied by performance-adjusted discretionary accruals. Results show that earnings quality of inter-group auditor change is not better than intra-group auditor change in that year. In addition, the result shows no significant difference on earnings quality before and after intra-group auditor change. But the results show that earnings quality is deteriorated after inter- auditor firm change. Moreover, for firms with worse earnings quality before auditor change, earnings quality is improved no matter what kind of auditor change is involved. Keywords: Earnings quality, Auditor change, Big four, Discretionary accruals
39
Lin, Yu-Cheng, and 林育丞. "Mandatory Auditor Rotation and Earnings Management of Controlling Shareholders – The Perspective of Groups within the Big Four Audit Firms." Thesis, 2011. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/27581392256516379441.
Full textAbstract:
碩士東海大學
會計學系
99
This study explore whether there are distinct differences between the profit management control effect on the control deviation of control shareholders and pledge shares or not, which are triggered by the intra-groups and inter-groups auditor rotation in big accounting firms under the coercive rotation. Hoping to comprehend the practical audit quality after the mandatory rotation and present some valuable reference supplementary for rotation policy, by analysing on the controlled shareholders core agent problem and comparing the audit quality among different group-types of accountant rotation. This research targets on the public companies audited by the Big Four in Taiwan from 2003 to 2009. The group data are collected from the Big Four, and via the propensity score matching method to control the endogenous of the intra-group and inter-group accountant rotation, so as to separate the potential self-selection bias on accountant rotation for organizations. When it comes to profit management, the discretionary accrual helps to analysis. The finding demonstrates that the inter-group rotation outweighs the intra-rotation on restraining the profit managing behavior from control deviation of controlling shareholders under the coercive rotation, there is nothing different even on the consideration of the independence of directors. The implication is that it helps for enhancing the audit quality and reducing the opportunity of profit control on the control shareholders by demanding the inter-group accountant rotation. On the other hand, there is no evidence demonstrates the performance of retraining on controlling stockholders’ pledge shares of inter-group accountant rotation better-performs than intra-group rotation. Instead, the higher ratio of restraining pledge share it is, the more cautious and more careful on audit behavior on inter-group rotation would be. Therefore, compare to intra-group rotation, accountants prefer exercising on reducing on profit discretionary accrual.
40
Caeiro, Ana Cláudia Vieira dos Santos Ramos. "Os fatores que influenciam a escolha das empresas de auditoria em Portugal." Master's thesis, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10071/18238.
Full textAbstract:
O objetivo deste estudo é verificar quais são os fatores determinantes para a escolha das
firmas de auditoria em Portugal e ainda verificar se esses fatores influenciam positivamente a
escolha das big 4, face às restantes empresas de auditoria ou não.
O presente estudo é justificado pela falta de estudos semelhantes aplicados à realidade
portuguesa e pela necessidade crescente de as firmas de auditoria conhecerem os principais
fatores que influenciam a sua escolha, de forma a adotarem estratégias que permitam captar e
reter os seus clientes, num setor cada vez mais regulado e competitivo.
Assim, a contribuição deste estudo revela-se particularmente importante para as firmas de
auditoria e para os reguladores deste setor em Portugal. Trata-se do primeiro estudo acerca
dos fatores que influenciam a escolha das firmas de auditoria aplicado à realidade portuguesa,
o qual incide sobre empresas não cotadas e baseia-se em questionários com um número
significativo de respostas. O desenho de investigação também único visto usar uma regressão
do comum uso de estatística descritiva.
A revisão de literatura tem como objetivo identificar quais os fatores que influenciam
geralmente a escolha dos auditores pelos seus clientes, permitindo formular as hipóteses a
testar neste estudo.
A amostra corresponde a 347 empresas portuguesas, com diferentes dimensões e pertencentes
a vários setores de atividade.
Os resultados mostram que a proximidade geográfica da firma de auditoria, e o fator
recomendação aumentam a probabilidade de seleção das big 4, face às restantes firmas de
auditoria. Pelo contrário, a orientação para o cliente e a competência técnica dos
colaboradores da firma de auditoria, diminuem a probabilidade de seleção das big 4 em
relação às restantes firmas de auditoria.
A dimensão do cliente e um mau desempenho surgem como características do cliente que
influenciam positivamente a seleção das big 4, relativamente aos restantes auditores, de
acordo com os resultados obtidos.The purpose of this study is to verify the determining factors for audit firm’s selection in Portugal and also to verify if these factors positively influence the choice of the big 4 rather than other audit firms. The present study is justified by the lack of similar studies applied to the Portuguese reality and by the increasing need for audit firms to know the main factors that influence their choice, in order to adopt strategies to capture and retain their clients, in a growing regulated and competitive sector. The contribution of this study proves to be particularly important for the audit firms and for the regulators of this sector in Portugal. This is the first study on the factors influencing the choice of audit firms applied to Portuguese reality, which focuses on unlisted companies and is based on questionnaires with a significant number of responses. The literature review enables the identification of factors that generally influence the choice of auditors by their clients, allowing us to formulate the hypotheses to be tested in this study. The random application of questionnaires aims to measure the degree of agreement with those factors, from the respondent’s perspective. From the responses of 347 Portuguese companies, with different dimensions and from various activity sectors, a log-it regression was developed in order to obtain the information to validate the hypotheses under investigation. Thus, the results of this study point out that the geographical proximity of the audit firm and the recommendation factor, increase the likelihood of a big 4 selection, compared to the other audit firms. On the contrary, the client orientation and the technical competence of the audit firm's employees decrease the likelihood of selecting a big 4 in relation to the other audit firms. Customer size and a poor performance, translated as a negative net result, appear as customer characteristics that positively influence the selection of a big 4, relative to the other auditors, according to obtained results.
41
Chen, Jian Jung, and 陳建中. "The Research of Difference Cognition to Big 4 Accounting Firms to the Accounting Students’ Constellation of Four Elements and Blood Type." Thesis, 2015. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/81280753810107214011.
Full textAbstract:
碩士靜宜大學
會計學系
103
The objections of this study are students in Providence University department of accounting. Using Google form to collect samples. The total numbers sent to the students are 749, and got 210 responds. The respond rate is 28%. In constellation of four elements, the result shows that students prefer not to work in the CPA firm even they understood the welfare. In blood type, the result shows that blood type B is the only one which more willing they can work in the CPA firm after they understood the welfare.
42
CHAN, CHIA-YU, and 詹佳育. "The Impact of SAS NO.43 on The Association Study of The Factors Affecting Auditor-Client Realignments to Non-Big 4 CPA Firms." Thesis, 2013. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/39360138575612412972.
Full textAbstract:
碩士中原大學
會計研究所
101
The past study on auditor-clients realignments mainly focuses on Big 4 CPA firms and audit quality. However, there is little literature discussing auditor-clients realignments from Big 4 CPA firms to Non-Big 4 CPA firms. In recent years, the importance of corporate governance has been emphasized. In addition, the SAS NO.43 expanded auditors’ responsibility of fraud auditing. We conduct our research to study the impact of SAS NO.43 on the association of the factors affecting auditor-client realignments to Non-Big 4 CPA Firms. We explore our study on companies which change auditors to a Non-Big 4 CPA firms between 2000 and 2011, with similar size and industry sample companies as match samples. We investigate whether realignment to Non-Big 4 CPA firms more likely occurred while clients are with relatively weaker corporate governance, higher financial risk, poor audit opinion, and earning manipulation post SAS NO.43. The empirical results show that companies with poor corporate governance more likely change auditors to Non-Big 4 CPA firms post SAS NO.43. It also shows that the realignments to Non-Big 4 firms would not be affected by higher financial risk. Before SAS NO.43, company would tend to change to Non-Big 4 CPA firms while receiving an audit opinion other than unqualified in previous year. Such tendency does not exist post SAS NO.43 because most of the opinions other than unqualified are modified unqualified opinions. The results also show that the association between earnings management and auditor change is not affected by SAS NO.43. The importance of corporate governance is more emphasized after the announcement of SAS NO.43. Thus, auditors tend to be more prudent and thorough post SAS NO.43, and in turn auditors’ opinions become more conservative. Companies with weaker corporate governance may avoid adverse audit opinion via change to Non-Big 4 CPA firms. So, corporate governance becomes the main factor affecting companies’ rea¬lignments to Non-Big 4 CPA firms.
43
Silva, Sofia da Nazaré Gonçalves da. "O custo da dívida das empresas portuguesas não cotadas, a dimensão do auditor e o sistema de normalização contabilística." Master's thesis, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10071/11607.
Full textAbstract:
JEL classification: G32, M42Usando uma amostra das maiores empresas portuguesas não cotadas para o período de 2007 a 2012, examina-se o impacto da dimensão da firma de auditoria, da introdução do Sistema de Normalização Contabilística (SNC) e o impacto de uma grande firma de auditoria com o SNC no custo da dívida. O custo da dívida é mensurado pelo quociente entre o gasto dos juros e a média da dívida a curto e longo prazo e a dimensão da firma de auditoria numa base da dicotomia Big 4 e não-Big 4. Os resultados confirmam que o tipo de auditor não influencia o custo da dívida nem antes da adoção do SNC nem depois e que a adoção do SNC reduz o custo da dívida das empresas portuguesas não cotadas. Este estudo é o primeiro que analisa as consequências da adoção do SNC no custo da dívida bem como da influência da dimensão das firmas de auditoria em empresas portuguesas não cotadas.
Using a sample of the largest private Portuguese companies for the period from 2007 to 2012, I examine the impact of the audit firm size, the introduction of the Sistema de Normalização Contabilística (SNC) and the impact of a large audit firm on the SNC in the cost of debt. The cost of debt is measured by the quotient between the interest expense and the average of the short and long-term debt and the size of the audit firm is based on the dichotomy Big 4 and non-Big 4. The results confirm that the type of auditor does not influence the cost of debt nor either before or after the adoption of the SNC and the adoption of the SNC reduces the cost of debt of the private Portuguese companies. This study is the first that analyzes the consequences of the adoption of the SNC in the cost of debt as well the influence of the size of audit firm in private Portuguese firms.
44
Medeiros, Luciano. "A percepção de uma das firmas de auditoria (Big four) em relação à aderência da formação dos seus novos profissionais no Brasil." Master's thesis, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10284/6989.
Full textAbstract:
O objetivo desta dissertação é investigar a percepção da formação dos profissionais de auditoria contábil quanto ao atendimento das expectativas de uma firma de auditoria, considerando as variáveis latentes: Auditoria, Instituições de Ensino Superior - IES e o Profissional. A metodologia utilizada contempla um método descritivo e explicativo, com revisão da literatura e uso de Survey aplicada em empresa de auditoria (Big Four), identificando 20 indicadores (variáveis mensuráveis), utilizando o modelo de equações estruturais (Partial Least Square). Os resultados evidenciam a importância da formação interna do auditor, ao mesmo tempo que algumas características comportamentais (assiduidade, liderança) indicaram um peso menor, no processo de demanda do mercado (profissional). O modelo apresentado corrobora com informações para o processo de seleção de profissionais, no instante em que sinaliza informações (indicadores) – no binômio Formação x Demanda. A pesquisa tem a limitação quanto à sua aplicação no âmbito de uma única firma de auditoria (Big Four) do mercado. O trabalho propicia um modelo de medição para o entendimento da percepção dos requisitos do mercado, das características do futuro profissional e das IES.The objective of this dissertation is to investigate the perception of the professionals training, of accounting audit, regarding the fulfillment of the expectations of an audit firm, considering the latent variables: Audit firms, Accounting College and Professional. The methodology used includes a descriptive and explanatory method, with a review of the literature and the use of survey applied in auditing company (Big Four), identifying 20 indicators (measurable variables) using the structural equations model (Partial Least Square). The results indicate the importance of internal auditor training, while some behavioral characteristics (assiduity, leadership) indicated a lower weight in the process of market (professional) demand. The model presented corroborates with information for the process of selection of professionals, the moment it signals information (indicators) - in the binomial Formation x Demand. The research has the limitation as to its application within a single auditing company (Big Four) of the market. The work provides a measurement model for the understanding of the perception of market requirements, the characteristics of the professional and Accounting College.
45
MING-CHIN, YANG, and 楊明經. "Research of the Relationship among Organizational Justice, Work-Family Conflict, Job Pressure and Employees' Turnover Intention:Employees of the Big 4 Accounting Firms as a Sample." Thesis, 2008. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/67643218988366958861.
Full textAbstract:
碩士東海大學
管理碩士在職專班
96
The accountant has been playing an important role in economic activities. In the past, the accountant generally provided audit services and income tax returns certification to its clients. However, the services providing by the accountant have been expanded to other management functions, e.g., financial planning, tax strategy planning, investment structure study and the consultation on merge and acquisition activities, etc. More and more professions are retained by the larger accounting firms to provide the services to their clients during different growth stages. The role of the accounting firms has become more vital in current economic activities than in the past. Therefore, the employees have been the most important assets of the accounting firms. A stable employee could provide more consistent and experienced services to the clients. On the other hand, high turnover rate will increase the operation cost of the accounting firms and has impact on the service quality provided to the clients. For a long time, the accounting firms have been facing the issue of high turnover rate of the employees. Therefore, to find out the positive and negative factors of the employees’ turnover intension has been an important issue facing the accounting firms. The thesis considered three key organizational justice factors regarding employees’ turnover intention, including procedural justice, distributional justice and interactional justice as well as the other factors, such as work-family conflict and job pressure. The study was conducted by sending the questionnaires to the employees of the big 4 accounting firms and inquiring the actions taken by the big 4 accounting firms to increase the job satisfaction and to reduce the turnover intention as well as to reduce the employee turnover rate. The purpose of this study is to clarify whether organizational justice can be improved to reduce employee turnover rate by increasing job satisfaction, reducing work-family conflict and reducing job pressure. This study concludes that: 1. Procedural justice in workforce has negative influence on work-family conflict. 2. Distributional justice and interactional justice have positive influence on job satisfaction. 3. Work-family conflict has positive influence on job pressure and employees’ turnover intention. 4. Job pressure has positive influence on employees’ turnover intention. 5. Job satisfaction has a negative influence on employees’ turnover intention. The study also overturns the original assumption that work-family conflict has negative influence on job satisfaction. According to the study, it is suggested that the accounting firms should understand the importance of distributional justice and interactional justice. Also, it is suggested that the accounting firms should emphasize the importance of procedure justices, including procedure consistence, less prejudice, accuracy, representative and moral principles, in the procedure of allocating resource to reduce the employees’ turnover intention. Key words: Organizational justice, Work-family conflict, Job satisfaction, Job pressure, Turnover intension.
46
Pacheco, Filipe José Ramos. "Qualidade da informação : a qualidade de auditoria no contexto português." Master's thesis, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/23593.
Full textAbstract:
A presente dissertação tem como objetivo abordar a qualidade de auditoria na envolvente da realidade portuguesa, tendo como base algumas condicionantes que poderão influenciar a qualidade do seu trabalho.
O mercado financeiro está pouco recetivo às informações divulgadas pelas empresas, consequência dos sucessivos escândalos empresariais, surgindo então, o trabalho do auditor, desenvolvido por uma entidade externa, autónoma e independente do auditor como forma de a aumentar a confiança dos potenciais interessados nas informações das demonstrações financeiras.
Contudo, a eficácia do trabalho desenvolvido pelo auditor, por vezes é posta em causa, pelo que surge a motivação para perceber o objetivo desta investigação.
Os incentivos legais, contratuais e de interesse pessoal, são o principal incentivo para a distorção da realidade concreta das contas das empresas, originando a manipulação dos resultados. Neste estudo, foi utilizado o modelo das variações do capital circulante (accruals), como proxy para a mensuração do nível de manipulação de resultados fomentada pelos gestores, baseada no modelo apresentado por McNichols (2002).
Neste estudo, assume-se também como pressuposto que uma empresa com menores níveis de manipulação tem subjacente uma melhor qualidade de auditoria. Assim, utilizando como proxy a manipulação de resultados, estimou-se um modelo que permite testar a qualidade de auditoria. Este modelo permite perceber de que forma esta poderá ser influenciada pela dimensão da empresa de auditoria, pelo ano de troca de auditor e, por fim, pela continuidade do auditor na mesma empresa. São tidas em conta as especificidades das empresas da amostra, tal como a dimensão, a tangibilidade, o endividamento e a rentabilidade. Esta investigação foca-se apenas nas pequenas e médias empresas, pelo facto do tecido empresarial português ser essencialmente por empresas não cotadas, em que a exposição pública é mais reduzida comparativamente às empresas cotadas.
A evidência empírica mostra que as empresas de auditoria Big 4 apresentam uma menor qualidade de auditoria, apesar de em empresas com maior dimensão, maior endividamento ou resultados mais negativos, esta diminuição da qualidade de auditoria ser menos acentuada. Permitiu ainda concluir, que quanto mais tempo o auditor realiza o seu trabalho numa determinada empresa, maior é a qualidade de auditoria apresentada. Adicionalmente, no ano de troca de auditor numa determinada empresa, também é apresentado um aumento da qualidade de auditoria.The present dissertation seeks to understand the quality of auditing in the surrounding of the Portuguese reality, based on some constraints that may influence the quality of its work. Financial markets are not very receptive regarding the quality of the information provided by companies, which may be the result of successive corporate scandals; hence, the job of an auditor, developed by an external, autonomous, and independent from the auditor, entity, displays an increasingly important role to augment the trust of those agents who are potentially interested in the company report. However, the efficiency of the world developed by the auditor is sometimes doomed, hence arising the necessity of understanding the objective of this investigation. Legal, contractual and self-interest incentives are the main stimulus for the distortion of the company financial conditions’ true reality. In this study, it was regressed a model for the variations of the company’s accruals as a proxy of a measure of the level of results’ manipulation influenced by managers, based on McNichols (2002) model. In this study, it’s assumed that a company with lower levels of manipulation has a better audit quality. Thus, using the manipulation of results as proxy, we estimated a model that allows to test audit quality. This model enables to understand how audit quality can be influenced by the auditor company’s dimension, the year in which the auditor was replaced and, finally, the time of the auditor in the same company. There are some company’s characteristics taken into consideration, such as its dimension, its tangibility, its leverage and its profitability.This investigation focuses only in little and medium companies since Portuguese companies are mainly non-public ones, where public information is usually less than public ones. Empirical evidence shows that bigger auditor companies (Big 4) have lower auditor quality. However, for bigger, more leverage and with negative earnings companies, this lower audit quality is less pronounced. Finally, it allowed to conclude that, the longer the time an auditor is with the same company, the higher the quality of the work developed. Additionally, in replacement years, the quality of the work developed by the auditor increases.