The effect of accounting firms on extended auditor’s reporting

• Main Author: 陳渝雯
• Other Authors: 陳宇紳
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/91282668591341593949

碩士 === 國立政治大學 === 會計學系 === 105 === The new guidelines of International Standards on Auditing require auditors communicate key audit matters in auditor’s reports based on each specific audit case with their professional judgments. This study investigates the effect of accounting firms on key audit matters disclosed in the auditor’s report. Using a sample of premium listed firms in the United Kingdom, we find fixed effects of accounting firms on the number of key audit matters and the number of key audit matters is associated with accounting firm characteristics; namely, accounting firm size, whether the accounting firm is an industry expert and the percentage of female partners. Specifically, we find a negative association for accounting firm size and industry expert, respectively, and a positive association for the percentage of female partners. Furthermore, our results indicate that the negative relation between accounting firm size/industry expert and the number of key audit matters is driven by the proportion of audit fees in total fees suggesting that accounting firms’ fee concerns is a significant factor in making disclosure decision of key audit matters. Overall, our study provides some evidence that the usefulness and information value of extended auditor’s reports are pertinent to fee concerns of accounting firms.