دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی حسابرسان تایید شده مالیه و نرخ های تاثیرگذار مالیات - اشپرینگر 2018

Abstract

This study examines how the appointment of tax certified individual auditors is associated with reported effective tax rates of corporate clients. The study uses a unique German institutional setting which makes it possible to track individual auditors that are also certified tax consultants and sign the audit opinion. Empirical results indicate that tax certified individual engagement partners are associated with higher effective tax rates. Further tests reveal that this association also exists for individual parent company financial statements and that it is stronger when tax confirmation services are provided to the audit client. My findings enhance the understanding of the role of individual auditors.

Summary and conclusions

Prior research has found that audit firm expertise is linked with tax avoidance (McGuire et al. 2012; Richardson et al. 2013) and that individual auditors matter to audit quality (Gul et al. 2013; Knechel et al. 2015). This study examines whether tax certified individual auditors are associated with reported corporate effective tax rates. I use a sample of individual auditors of German listed non-financial enterprises signing audit opinions and match their names with their individual tax-related qualifications (information provided by the German Chamber of Public Accountants (WPK)). The results indicate that clients working with engagement partners that are also certified tax consultants feature significantly higher current effective tax rates and higher cash effective tax rates, but no association with the effective tax rate. The study’s results propose that clients which have tax certified individual auditors do within their reporting not defer current tax expenses and cash taxes payable to future periods. Further tests reveal that providing tax confirmation services moderates the association of tax certified individual auditors with effective tax rates. This study contributes in identifying individual auditors as being another determinant explaining the ‘undersheltering puzzle’. Results are consistent with engaging tax certified individual auditors in combination with client-specific knowledge spillovers does make a difference for reported levels of effective tax rates. Moreover, the study’s evidence proposes that being a chartered tax consultant is relevant also in the context of other professions which are related to tax issues but not related to the provision of tax planning services.