Tim Cairney and Errol G. Stewart
This study aims to examine whether the industry characteristics of homogeneity, product competition, high auditor competition and accounting standards complexity are associated…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine whether the industry characteristics of homogeneity, product competition, high auditor competition and accounting standards complexity are associated with auditor changes.
Design/methodology/approach
Logistic regressions test for significance of the industry characteristics on resignations, dismissals and directional changes to and from Big 4 and nonBig 4 auditors after controlling for client, auditor and engagement factors.
Findings
The authors report a lower likelihood of auditor resignations with greater accounting standards complexity. The authors also report a greater likelihood of auditor dismissals with greater industry homogeneity, greater product competition and greater auditor competition. Results also show that accounting standards complexity is associated with a lower likelihood of changes from Big to nonBig auditors, and industry homogeneity is associated with a greater likelihood of changes from Big to nonBig. Also, greater auditor competition is associated with a lower likelihood of changes from nonBig to Big auditors.
Research limitations/implications
Prior research has established the importance of industry characteristics to the market for audit services (Cairney and Stewart, 2015; Wang and Chui, 2015; Cahan et al., 2011; Bills et al., 2015). The authors report that industry characteristics also impact auditor changes. Second, previous research has used various methods that indicate general industry effects on changes. The paper contributes to this research by specifying industry characteristics. Limitations include the reliance on the self-reporting in 8-Ks to identify auditors resigning and firms dismissing auditors. Also, the paper relies on proxies for industry characteristics that were developed in prior research.
Practical implications
Regulators have expressed concern over the relatively low rates of auditor changes and the problem of lack of auditor choice. By demonstrating a significant effect of industry characteristics on changes, the authors indicate some levers that may be available to influence rates of auditor changes, especially realignments to nonBig.
Originality/value
This is one of the first studies to examine how specific industry characteristics impact auditor changes. The study may be of interest to academics who are interested in how industry factors influence auditor changes. It may also interest policymakers who could lever the characteristics of industries to address concerns about the low rates of auditor changes.
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Errol G. Stewart and Timothy D. Cairney
This study aims to examine the association between audit report lag (ARL), the length of time between the fiscal year end and the date the auditors’ report is signed, and client…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the association between audit report lag (ARL), the length of time between the fiscal year end and the date the auditors’ report is signed, and client industry homogeneity, a measure of the similarity of operations of members of an industry.
Design/methodology/approach
Regression models are used to test the significance of industry homogeneity on the ARL, of specialists in homogenous industries on the ARL, and the completion of the audits of homogenous industry clients in the year of tightening Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing deadlines.
Findings
The evidence suggests that auditors complete audits of clients more quickly in more homogenous industries. The association between ARL and homogeneity is negative, which indicates that auditors are more efficient in audits in homogenous industries. The association between ARL and specialist audits in homogenous industries is also negative. Finally, homogenous industry audits are better able to be completed by the compressed filing dates imposed by the SEC on accelerated and large accelerated filers in 2003 and 2006.
Originality/value
This study extends recent research on industry homogeneity’s influence on the audit market. By reporting an association between the homogeneity of a company’s industry and the ARL, investors and regulators have additional information to better evaluate the timing and monitor trends in the timing of the audit report dates.
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Mark Kohlbeck, Jomo Sankara and Errol G. Stewart
This paper aims to examine whether external monitors (auditors and analysts) constrain earnings strings, an indicator of earnings management, and whether this monitoring is more…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine whether external monitors (auditors and analysts) constrain earnings strings, an indicator of earnings management, and whether this monitoring is more effective after the implementation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX), given the emphasis of SOX on improving auditing, financial reporting and the information environment.
Design/methodology/approach
Agency theory establishes the premise between external monitoring and earnings strings. Auditor tenure and number of analysts following provide measures for external monitoring quality. Using prior research, empirical models explaining the presence of an earnings strings and earnings strings trend are developed to test the hypotheses.
Findings
Pre-SOX, extreme auditor tenure, indicating lower quality external monitoring, is associated with greater earnings strings trend, and analyst coverage is associated with increased likelihood of earnings strings and greater earnings strings trend consistent with analyst pressure on management. More effective auditor and analyst monitoring occurs post-SOX in terms of reduced likelihood of earnings strings and earnings strings trend.
Originality/value
The authors provide evidence on how elements of external monitoring are associated with increased earnings strings pre-SOX. Further, they contribute to the debate on the impact of SOX on external firm monitoring and the overall financial information environment. By focusing on earnings strings, the outcome of earnings management, the authors provide a unique understanding of external monitoring that also provides insight on the overvaluation of equity and ultimate destruction of firm value. The evidence demonstrates how regulation has contributed to an improved financial reporting environment and external monitoring.
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Since the first Volume of this Bibliography there has been an explosion of literature in all the main areas of business. The researcher and librarian have to be able to uncover…
Abstract
Since the first Volume of this Bibliography there has been an explosion of literature in all the main areas of business. The researcher and librarian have to be able to uncover specific articles devoted to certain topics. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume III, in addition to the annotated list of articles as the two previous volumes, contains further features to help the reader. Each entry within has been indexed according to the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus and thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid information retrieval. Each article has its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. The first Volume of the Bibliography covered seven journals published by MCB University Press. This Volume now indexes 25 journals, indicating the greater depth, coverage and expansion of the subject areas concerned.
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The following definitions and standards for food products have been adopted as a guide for the officials of this Department in enforcing the Food and Drugs Act. These are…
Abstract
The following definitions and standards for food products have been adopted as a guide for the officials of this Department in enforcing the Food and Drugs Act. These are standards of identity and are not to be confused with standards of quality or grade; they are so framed as to exclude substances not mentioned in the definition and in each instance imply that the product is clean and sound. These definitions and standards include those published in S. R. A., F. D. 2, revision 4, and those adopted October 28, 1936.
SEPTEMBER finds the summer irrevocably over, although there will still be one or two very beautiful months in the English autumn remaining. It is usually the time when the older…
Abstract
SEPTEMBER finds the summer irrevocably over, although there will still be one or two very beautiful months in the English autumn remaining. It is usually the time when the older librarian thinks of conferences, and today he realizes regretfully that these have receded into what already seems a remote past. This month as we write we have to repeat the expectation we have expressed every month since May that before these words appear in print the threatened lightning attack on the life of England will have been made by the Nazis. It is becoming so customary, however, that one can only suggest that so far as circumstances allow we proceed with our normal work. The circumstances may make this difficult but they should be faced. One thing stands out: that in public libraries, at anyrate, the demands made by readers have gradually returned to their usual level and in some places have risen above it. This does not always mean that the figures are as high as they were, because in many of the great cities and towns a part of the population, including a very large number of the children, have been evacuated. In spite of the pressure on the population as a whole, it would seem that head for head more books are being read now than at any previous time.
Recently at the Westland Helicopters facility at Yeovil Somerset, Rear Admiral Michael F. Simpson RN, Director General Aircraft (Naval), inspected the first production version of…
Abstract
Recently at the Westland Helicopters facility at Yeovil Somerset, Rear Admiral Michael F. Simpson RN, Director General Aircraft (Naval), inspected the first production version of the Sea King Mk2 Airborne Early Warning (AEW) helicopter, equipped with the successful THORN EMI Searchwater AEW radar.
As in past years the volume of material published about film is staggering. Though there are fewer theatrical movies released now than in the days when Hollywood studios cranked…
Abstract
As in past years the volume of material published about film is staggering. Though there are fewer theatrical movies released now than in the days when Hollywood studios cranked pictures out on an almost weekly basis, the need for information, particularly of a reference nature, continues to expand. Just the number of books on film including studies of individual directors, producers, actresses and actors, genre studies, biographies and autobiographies, how‐to, technique, general histories, period histories, histories of film in particular countries, reference and quasi‐reference — is overwhelming. During 1977 and through November of 1978 Choice and Library Journal reviewed more than 300 books on film.
This paper describes the personal history and intellectual development of Morris B. Holbrook (MBH), a participant in the field of marketing academics in general and consumer…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper describes the personal history and intellectual development of Morris B. Holbrook (MBH), a participant in the field of marketing academics in general and consumer research in particular.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper pursues an approach characterized by historical autoethnographic subjective personal introspection or HASPI.
Findings
The paper reports the personal history of MBH and – via HASPI – interprets various aspects of key participants and major themes that emerged over the course of his career.
Research limitations/implications
The main implication is that every scholar in the field of marketing pursues a different light, follows a unique path, plays by idiosyncratic rules, and deserves individual attention, consideration, and respect … like a cat that carries its own leash.
Originality/value
In the case of MBH, like (say) a jazz musician, whatever value he might have depends on his originality.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine how access to health care for (rejected) asylum seekers in an eastern German state is structured and experienced and to consider the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how access to health care for (rejected) asylum seekers in an eastern German state is structured and experienced and to consider the implications for their human rights.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on 12 in-depth interviews with rejected black African asylum seekers and also draws on ethnographic research undertaken at a grassroots refugee organisation and asylum homes. The analysis of the interview data are framed by theorisations of “everyday practices” as “tactics” of resistance to an imposed order.
Findings
Accomplishing health care access involved a range of structural barriers and humiliating interactions with administrative and health care staff, which had adverse consequences for their health status and were injurious to their human rights and dignity. The study participants used a range of oppositional and discursive tactics in an effort to secure certain (health) outcomes, mediate social relations and resist their domination as asylum seekers.
Research limitations/implications
Further research should focus on the cumulative micro-level effects of asylum policies on health care access and how they create health inequities and violate asylum seekers’ rights and dignity.
Practical implications
Policy priorities should include the provision of human rights education as well as training and support for administrative and health staff.
Originality/value
There is limited qualitative research on the health care experiences of asylum seekers in Germany. This paper makes policy recommendations and identifies areas for further research and human rights advocacy.