دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی کیفیت حسابرسی در معیارهای هزینه خدمات غیر حسابرسی: شواهد از دیدگاه ضعف مادی - الزویر 2017

abstract

Regulators have voiced concerns regarding the impact of auditor provided non-audit services (NAS) on auditor independence, and by extension, audit quality. This study considers whether the provision of various levels of (NAS) influences the auditor’s propensity to issue material weakness opinions (MWO). The results indicate that audit clients that purchase zero NAS, and clients that purchase NAS less than Sarbanes-Oxley’s benchmark of NAS fees less than 5% of total fees, are more likely to receive a MWO than clients with a NAS at higher levels.

6. Conclusion

Regulators have long had concerns regarding the impact of NAS on auditor independence. SOX requires audit committees to preapprove NAS that total greater than 5% of the prior-year’s total fees paid to the auditor. Using a sample of 25,252 firm-year observations between 2004 and 2015, this study examines the link between levels of NAS (zero NAS, NAS less than 5% of the prior year’s total fees, and NAS less than 10% of the prior-year’s total fees) and the issuance of MWO. The results indicate that audit clients that do not purchase NAS, and clients that purchase NAS less than the 5% SOX benchmark are more likely to receive a MWO than clients with a NAS to total fee ratio greater than the 5% benchmark. Collectively, the results indicate that auditors who provide zero NAS and auditors that provide NAS less than the SOX 5% benchmark provide better audit quality than those auditors who provide NAS greater than the 5% benchmark of SOX. The results suggest that an outright ban of NAS is not warranted and that NAS start to impact auditor independence once those fees are greater than 5% of total fees. The implications of the findings with respect to audit quality apply to MWO. The extant literature has used other proxies such as discretionary accruals, restatements, and GCO to proxy for audit quality. Whether the findings are robust to using these other audit quality proxies is a question for additional research, thus a limitation of the study.