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.

ABSTRACT Title: Do women's risk aversion have any effect on earnings quality and audit fees? Level: Student thesis, final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business Administration Author: Josephine Jonsson and Josefin Lund Supervisor: Jan Svanberg Date: 2019 – june Aim: Due to the positive qualities women are considered to add to the boardroom and the countries' quota requirements for the proportion of women on boards, it is of great importance to examine the possible effect of an increased number of women on boards. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether there is a connection between external audit fees and the proportion of women on the board. A second purpose is to investigate whether a higher/lower audit fees associated with women on the board is related to higher earnings quality. Method: The study adopts a hypothetical-deductive approach with a positivistic perspective. Quantitative secondary data has been obtained from the Thomson Reuters Eikon. A longitudinal study has been designed and the selection has finally been analyzed in multiple regression analysis using the statistics program IBM SPSS. Result & Conclusions: The study's literature review gave reason to expect a connection between the proportion of women on the board and the companies' earnings management and audit fees explained by women's risk aversion. The study measures the companies' earnings quality with earnings management in order to seek answers to whether the audit fee can be explained by the earnings quality. The result shows no correlation and the study can thus not explain the companies' audit fees with women's tendency to act risk averse. Contribution of the thesis: From a theoretical perspective, the study contributes to business research through an increased understanding of the view of the female leader, as this study seeks out explanations other than risk aversion to the connection between audit fees and the female leader. The study's practical contribution is about clarifying the effect of appointing more women on boards, and the study provides valuable information to the companies' stakeholders due to the quota requirements of women on boards in certain countries. Suggestions for future research: Since the results in the study do not fall in line with previous research, future research should take an open perspective on whether women should be assumed to be risk averse. There may be many other explanations for the effects of women on leading positions. These effects should be investigated. It is also interesting to investigate how the quota of women in leading positions affects the companies' profitability, if the woman is hired because of her gender and not her experience and competence. / SAMMANFATTNING Titel: Har kvinnors riskaversion någon effekt på redovisningskvalitet och revisionsarvode? Nivå: Examensarbete på Grundnivå (kandidatexamen) i ämnet företagsekonomi Författare: Josephine Jonsson och Josefin Lund Handledare: Jan Svanberg Datum: 2019 – juni Syfte: Med anledning av de positiva egenskaper kvinnor anses tillföra i styrelserummen samt ländernas kvoteringskrav på andel kvinnor i styrelser är det av stor vikt att undersöka den eventuella effekt som kommer av ett ökat antal kvinnor i styrelser. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka om det finns ett samband mellan externt revisionsarvode och andel kvinnor i styrelsen. Ett andra syfte är att undersöka om ett eventuellt högre/lägre revisionsarvode associerat till kvinnor i styrelsen är relaterat till högre redovisningskvalitet. Metod: Studien antar en hypotetisk-deduktiv ansats och ett positivistiskt perspektiv. Kvantitativ sekundärdata har inhämtats från databasen Thomson Reuters Eikon. En longitudinell studie har designats och urvalet har slutligen genomgått analys i multipla regressionsanalyser med hjälp av statistikprogrammet IBM SPSS. Resultat och slutsats: Studiens litteraturundersökning gav anledning att förvänta sig ett samband mellan andel kvinnor i styrelsen och företagens resultatmanipulation och revisionsarvode förklarat med kvinnors riskaversion. Studien mäter företagens redovisningskvalitet med resultatmanipulation för att söka svar på om revisionsarvodet kan förklaras med företagens redovisningskvalitet. Resultatet visar inget samband och studien kan således inte förklara företagens revisionsarvoden med kvinnors tendens att agera riskavert. Examensarbetets bidrag: Ur ett teoretiskt perspektiv bidrar studien till den företagsekonomiska forskningen genom en ökad förståelse på synen på den kvinnliga ledaren, eftersom denna studie söker andra förklaringar än riskaversion till sambandet mellan revisionsarvodet och den kvinnliga ledaren. Studiens praktiska bidrag handlar om att tydliggöra effekten av att tillsätta fler kvinnor i styrelser och studien tillhandahåller värdefull information till företagens intressenter med anledning av kvoteringskrav på kvinnor i styrelser i vissa länder. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Då sambanden i studien inte faller i linje med tidigare forskning bör framtida forskning inta ett öppet perspektiv på huruvida kvinnan kan antas riskavert. Det kan finnas många andra förklaringar till effekterna som uppstår av kvinnor på ledande poster. Dessa effekter bör undersökas. Det vore även intressant att undersöka hur inkvotering av kvinnor i ledande positioner påverkar företagens lönsamhet, ifall kvinnan inkvoteras på grund av sin könstillhörighet och inte sin erfarenhet och kompetens.

Chen et al.(2010)以中國審計市場為調查對象，研究會計師對簽證客戶的經濟依存度(以資產衡量)對審計品質的影響。他們發現在2001年以前經濟依存度會傷害審計品質；然而在2001年至2004年間，因中國法律規範的改善，而未發現經濟依存度的負面影響。基於近年中國資本市場的長足發展且審計公費成為公眾可取得之資訊，本文延伸他們的研究樣本期間(至2008年)並以實際的審計公費計算經濟依存度。實證結果發現，無論以整體事務所或合夥會計師來計算經濟依存度，Chen et al.(2010)的結論並未改變。 / Chen et al.(2010) examine how the legal and regulatory changes in China affect the relationship between client economic importance (measured by assets audited by audit firm ) and audit quality. They find that audit quality is negatively correlated with client importance from 1995 to 2000. Therefore, when the institutional environment became more investor friendly, started from 2001 to 2004, they do not find that audit quality negatively correlated with client importance anymore. Following Chen et al.(2010), this study extends the sample period to 2008 and I use ratio of client’s total audit fees to audit firm’s total revenue as proxies for client importance to examines whether the client importance affect audit quality in china. Based on the data for firms listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from 2004 to 2008, I do not find that audit partners compromise independence for economically important clients, no matter at the firm or the partner level.

本研究探討中國國務院國有資產監督管理委員會(國資委)，實施統一委託審計之規範對於中央國有企業審計品質及審計公費的影響。國資委於2004年發布有關統一委託審計的規定，要求中央國有企業的年度財務決算審計須由國資委統一委託會計師事務所進行，並規定會計師事務所的審計年限必須介於2~5年之間，本研究欲探討此規定對中央國有企業審計品質及審計公費的影響。具體而言，本研究以異常應計數作為審計品質的代理變數，並使用差異中的差異法檢驗統一委託審計的影響，研究樣本為2001~2009年中國滬深A股上市公司。實證結果顯示，就審計品質而言，實施統一委託審計後中央國有企業的審計品質有提升，但其中會計師事務所的審計年限規定並未對審計品質造成明顯影響；就審計公費而言，實施統一委託審計後中央國有企業的審計公費下降，且在市場發展程度愈低的地區效果愈明顯。 / This paper examines the effect of regulations on audit quality and audit fees in China. China’s State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC) issued some rules in 2004 to improve audit quality for state-owned enterprises controlled by the central government (CSOEs), such as SASAC Order No. 5 and SASAC Rule No. 173. Under these rules, SASAC mandatorily assign auditors for CSOEs, and CSOEs’ managers have to retain auditors for at least 2 years and at most 5 years. This paper investigates listed companies in Shenzhen and Shanghai Stock Exchange from 2001 to 2009, and uses abnormal accruals as proxy for audit quality and a difference-in-differences design to examine the effect of these rules on audit quality and audit fees. The empirical results suggest that after the enactment of these rules, the audit quality for CSOEs relative to other companies improves and the audit fees for CSOEs relative to other companies reduce.

審計公費係影響審計品質之一大因素，且中國事務所家數眾多，更易產生低價攬客的惡性競爭行為，再者，中國上市公司重編狀況近來層出不窮，因此本文以2004-2008年中國大陸A股上市公司為研究對象，欲研究重編事件對中國企業審計公費之影響。財務報表重編事件可以分為三個時間點：財務報表錯誤年度、財務報表執行重編年度以及重編後的次一年度。就財務報表發生錯誤年度而言，本研究發現該事件會伴隨較高的審計公費，但是無論是執行重編年度或次一年度，均未發現顯著提高公費的證據。除此之外，本研究也未能獲得審計委員會之設立與審計公費有統計關聯性的證據。具體而言，除了傳統審計公費的解釋變數之外，本文未能發現財務報表重編及審計委員會與審計公費有關之證據。 / Audit fees is one of the major factors affecting quality, and there are many audit firms in China, so it is easier to produce vicious competition . Furthermore, the number of Chinese listed company which has restated financial report is increasing in recent years. So, with a sample of A-share listed corporations in China from 2004 to 2008 , this dissertation develops a conceptual model for studying the relationship between financial restatement and audit fees. Financial restatement can be divided into three time points: the year when an error occurred in the financial report , the year when the financial report is restated ,and the year after the financial report is restated .In terms of the year when an error occurred in the financial report , this dissertation find the event associated with higher audit fees ,but in other two time point , this dissertation doesn’ t find the evidence of significantly increased audit fees. Moreover ,there is no statistical significant relationship between setting up an audit committee and audit fees. Specifically, in addition to the traditional explanatory variables, this dissertation can’t find the evidence that financial restatement and setting up an audit committee are related to audit fees.

本研究利用問卷調查內部稽核人員與外部審計人員兩者對於內部稽核功能之認知、雙方互動之情形、以及內部稽核功能與審計公費之關係。研究結果發現外部審計人員對於國內內部稽核功能能否有效發揮，仍有所保留，特別是在獨立性的部分，但對於內部稽核人員的專業能力則表示肯定。另外，大多數的填答者皆有與對方互動之經驗，但互動的程度並不高，以「偶而會」及「偶而詢問」為主。縱使互動程度不高，但是雙方皆認為互動對於外部查核工作或內部稽核工作是有助益的。此外，大多數的外部審計人員認為，內部稽核功能的好壞與審計公費有一定的關係存在，但其影響的比例以5%以下居多，這可能也是間接造成雙方互動不密切的重要因素之一。 / This thesis uses questionnaires to examine the external auditors’ perceptions of the internal auditing function, the level of co-operation between the internal and external auditors, and the relationship between internal audit function and external audit fees. The empirical findings indicate that external auditors expressed concern about the internal auditing function, independence especially. And the questionnaire responses show the lack of a close relationship between the internal and external auditors. They just occasionally co-operate with each other, but they consider that it is helpful to them. In addition, most external auditors are convinced of the existence of a direct link between internal audit function and external audit fees. But the percentage of external audit fee affected by internal audit function is below 5 percent, this may be one of the reasons why they lack a close relationship between each other.

Dans la perspective d’une évaluation critique des réformes adoptées récemment par la commission européenne et la législation des pays membres, cette recherche analyse les rôles respectifs de l’auditeur et de la réglementation qui régit son activité sur la qualité et le coût de l’audit. S’appuyant sur un échantillon 4218 firmes européennes pour une période allant de 2007 à 2010, notre première étude traite de l’impact de l’auditeur et de la réglementation de l’audit sur la qualité des chiffres comptables. Les résultats montrent que les Big n’offrent aucune garantie particulière sur la qualité de l’information comptable s’ils ne sont pas simultanément spécialistes de l’activité de la firme auditée. Elle montre aussi que la nature et l'ampleur de la gestion des résultats sont influencées par les réglementations nationales de l’audit. Il apparait en effet que l’audit conduit à une information de meilleure qualité lorsque la responsabilité de l’auditeur est délictuelle plutôt que contractuelle, mais aussi lorsque son mandat peut être remis en cause chaque année. Cette étude offre également un éclairage nouveau aux différends qui opposent auditeurs et régulateurs en matière de services annexes en montrant qu’il n’est pas forcément souhaitable d’interdire ou de contraindre trop fortement ces services. Ils conduisent les auditeurs à mieux percevoir l’entreprise, ce qui leur permet d’agir utilement sur l’ampleur des manipulations réelles. Il apparait enfin que les mesures visant à imposer la rotation de l’associé signataire responsable de la mission d’audit ou à imposer un audit joint sont sans effets réels.Retenant un échantillon de 4293 firmes européennes sur la période allant de 2003 à 2011, la deuxième étude traite de l’impact de l’auditeur et de la réglementation de l’audit sur les honoraires d’audit. Les résultats montrent que recourir à des auditeurs réputés (Big ou spécialistes du secteur d’activité de la firme auditée) génère, toutes choses égales par ailleurs, des honoraires d’audit plus élevés. Il apparait aussi que trois des attributs réglementaires étudiés (la responsabilité délictuelle de l’auditeur, la remise en cause annuelle du mandat de l’audit, l’obligation d’un audit conjoint) affectent positivement les honoraires d’audit versés par les firmes européennes. Le rapprochement des résultats des deux études que nous avons menées montre donc que, moyennant le paiement d’honoraires plus élevés, des auditeurs spécialistes sont un gage de qualité des chiffres comptables audités. Ce rapprochement montre aussi que la responsabilité délictuelle de l’auditeur et la possibilité d’une remise en cause annuelle de son mandat garantissent la qualité des chiffres comptables, ces deux contraintes réglementaires étant par ailleurs associées à des honoraires d’audit plus conséquents. / This dissertation includes two studies. The first study analyzes the impact of auditor quality and audit regulation on the quality of accounting information, particularly on tradeoff between accrual-based and activity-based earnings management. In the second study in order to better understand the audit fees incurred by listed European companies we analysis the impact of audit regulation on the level of audit fees.Our representative sample is 4219 firms listed on European capital markets from 15 European countries over the period 2007 to 2010. Based on our sample, in the first study we analyze the respective impacts of both auditor quality and audit regulation on earnings quality. We capture auditor quality through using both audit firm size and audit firm industry specialization. We analyze five attributes of audit regulation including namely duration of audit tenure, restrictions on provision of non-audit services, nature of the auditors’ liability, constraints on audit partners’ rotation and obligation of a joint audit.Our main results are as follows: A) Only income-increasing earnings management, which is resulted in overstated earnings, is affected by auditor quality or audit regulations. B) Audit firm expertise influences negatively on the level of the both accrual-based earnings management and activity-based earnings management. Audits provided by large audit firms (i.e. Big4 auditors), have no impact on both accrual-based and activity-based earnings management. C) Audit firm expertise is not the only factor that affects audit quality and earnings quality. Regulation that governs audit services plays a major role in earnings quality as well. Two regulatory attributes have significant beneficial impact on accrual-based earnings management: the nature of the auditor’s liability and the minimal duration of the audit mandate. D) There is a substitution effect between accrual-based and activity-based earnings management, regarding the two attributes of audit regulation that are effective in curbing discretionary accruals. Because of regulatory constraints, the firms that cannot manage accruals upward apply more real activity management, and consequently their earnings are left affected by management actions.In 14 European countries, the diversity of regulations that govern statutory audits provides us with the opportunity to analyze how audit regulation affects audit fees. Using a sample of 4293 European firms over the period 2003 to 2011, in the second study we analyze the attributes of audit regulation, namely duration of audit tenure, restrictions on provision of non-audit services and nature of the auditors’ liability joint audit. Based on Our main results, in addition to usual determinants of audit fees (auditor reputation, firm size, leverage, audit risk…), the three attributes under study impact audit fees significantly. Fees are lower when regulation allows long audit tenure, or non-audit services, as well as when the auditor’s liability is based on tort law.

本研究以1980年至2015年美國及加拿大上市公司為研究對象，探討具有會計專長之執行長（CEO）與外界反應的關係。在探討外界反應之前，本文先檢視具有會計專長之CEO對於盈餘品質的影響，透過此結果，推論專業人士（包含會計師與分析師）與市場投資人之反應。本研究預期，當CEO具有會計專長時，會使盈餘品質降低，故審計風險隨之提高，導致審計公費增加，且分析師的追隨意願降低，同時也將影響市場投資人的反應。 研究結果發現，具會計專長CEO與盈餘管理、審計公費、公司累積異常報酬呈現顯著正相關，與分析師追隨數則為顯著負相關，顯示當CEO具有會計專長時，因有盈餘操控的情況，所以審計公費提高、分析師追隨數減少；但市場投資人或許無法體認盈餘操控的事實，故仍相信具有會計專長之CEO，有可能為公司帶來正面的影響。 / This study investigates the relationship between CEOs with accounting expertise and external reactions of investors, auditors and analysts. The sample firms used in this study are all the stock-listed companies in America and Canada during 1980-2015. Before examining such external reactions, this paper explores the association between CEOs with accounting expertise and earnings quality, which help us to obtain an explanation why auditors, analysts and investors have such reactions. The empirical results show that CEOs with accounting expertise manage earnings more aggressively than CEOs without such expertise. As a consequence, the firms with such CEOs will be charged higher audit fees and have less analyst following. However, investors might not recognize this fact; they still believe that CEOs with accounting expertise will have a positive influence on firms. Our findings could offer a reference for a company looking for a CEO that could bring accounting quality.

Auditors play an important role in the reliability of financial statements. Many investors and other financial information users rely on their opinion. During the financial crisis, auditors were critised since they did not warn the markets about financially distressed companies. In our thesis, we examine whether auditors change their behaviour during a financial crisis. Using our collected data for joint stock companies in the Czech Republic, we focus on frequency of modified and going concern opinions, amount of audit and non-audit fees charged by auditors, and audit reporting lag. Our audit fees model showed that there were significantly lower audit fees after the crisis than during the crisis years. The results also suggest that both Big 4 and non-Big 4 auditors increased their frequency of issuing modified opinions (most of which were going concern opinions) during the crisis period. In our logit going concern models for the individual years we observed change of the auditors' behaviour during the crisis years 2008-2010. We have also found out that Big 4 auditors increased their audit reporting lag in 2008 but our overall results suggest that the audit reporting lag was shorter during the crisis.

La thèse explore la question de l’efficacité des comités d’audit en France : les comités d’audit jouent-ils effectivement leur rôle ? La problématique de l’efficacité de ces comités dans le processus d’évaluation du gouvernement d’entreprise demeure importante dans le contexte français, où les textes (notamment les recommandations de la 8ème directive) restent très imprécis. Une première partie expose les critères d’efficacité et le fonctionnement général des comités d’audit à partir d’un état de la littérature et d’une étude empirique sur des données secondaires. Nous examinons de façon approfondie les principaux déterminants de la diligence d’un comité d’audit. Ce problème est examiné dans le cadre d’une relation d’agence et d’asymétrie d’information. Ainsi, notre étude dépasse le cadre de la simple existence d’un comité d’audit (purement formel), pour s’intéresser de plus près à la capacité de ces comités à protéger effectivement les intérêts des parties prenantes et ceci en renfonçant la qualité du contrôle interne et celle du processus de l’audit externe. / Corporate governance in France has developed considerably in recent years. The strengthening of governance procedures is illustrated by the creation of audit committees, which today exist in virtually all listed companies. However, the issue of the audit committee’s effectiveness in the corporate governance evaluation process remains significant in the French context, where the texts (particularly the recommendations of the 8th European Directive) continue to lack clarity. This thesis aims to contribute to our understanding of the “black box” of governance procedures by studying the way that the audit committee’s characteristics affect the extent of reporting on internal control and risk management procedures and on audit fees. It emphasizes that the mere existence of an audit committee is not sufficient; it also needs to be effective. To be effective it must have the necessary means (composition, diligence, and resources). This study therefore looks beyond the simple existence of the audit committee (purely formal) and focuses on attributes related to its composition, its diligence, and the diversity of its members in order to more closely examine the audit committee’s ability to protect stakeholder interests. To do this, we analyze 176 non-financial French listed companies during a period when establishing an audit committee was voluntary. The results obtained support previous works advocating that audit committees comply with best practice rules for expertise,independence, and diligence and be comprised of experienced and diverse members. Our results raise several questions on the scope of the transposition into French law of the 8th European Directive.