Because of recent corporate scandals, auditor independence and turnover have become the focus of much debate. For strengthening auditor independence , American government compulsorily stipulate that the firm has to replace its auditor every five years in Sarbanes-Oxley Act that was passed in 2002 to ensure that the increasing tenure can¡¦t lead to an bad audit quality. However, not every scholar all supports the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. In order to analyze these issues, we try to find out the relation between the length of auditor tenure and behavior of corporate income tax evasion and auditor independence by using game theory and bargaining model. Our main results are as follows. In our model, we suppose the auditor bargaining ability is positively related to tenure. Manager will gain lower benefits of tax evasion with increasing auditor bargaining ability, implying that increasing tenure reduces managerial collusion incentives. Finally, manager decides to report higher income. In contrast, auditor will gain higher benefits of tax evasion with increasing auditor bargaining ability. But for the auditor, the precondition of making company to be willing to collude with auditor is to possess the evidence of corporate income tax evasion. Because of that, auditor will increase the level of auditing efforts and choose to help company to make an incorrect attestation. So increasing tenure will influence auditor independence and audit quality.

Accounting regulators are concerned about the potential threat of long-term auditor-client relationships on auditor independence, leading to lower audit quality. The main objective of this study is to examine the association between auditor tenure and an important feature of accounting, namely conservatism. Following Basu (1997) and Ball, Kothari and Robin (2000), I define conservatism as the quicker recognition in earnings of bad news about expected future cash flows. I investigate whether long-term auditor-client relationships are associated with less timely recognition of earnings to bad news, and a lower rate of reversal of negative earnings changes. The overall results strongly show that conservatism decreases as auditor tenure lengthens. The results are robust across various measures of conservatism and a series of sensitivity tests. However, auditors¡¯ litigation exposure appears to be able to mitigate the adverse impact of auditor tenure. In additional tests, I find that the reduced conservatism is not driven by the larger clients that auditors have incentives to retain. Moreover, I find that even industry specialists could not avoid the negative impact of longer auditor-client relationships on conservatism. The study provides some support to the regulators who are concerned about the potential negative impact of auditor tenure on audit quality and the rule of mandatory audit firm rotation.

Revisorerna upprätthåller en viktig funktion som oberoende bedömare av ekonomisk information som regleras genom lagar och förordningar. I dagens samhälle är det viktigt för företag att upprätta pålitliga årsredovisningar för sina intressenter. Det är ett komplext uppdrag för revisorer att göra en adekvat bedömning av företagets fortsatta drift om going concern-varningar skall utfärdads som inte får leda till felbedömningar. Detta eftersom effekterna av sådana medför stora konsekvenser för både företagen och revisionsbyråerna. Utfärdandet av going concern-varningar kan i sin tur resultera i så väl stora intäktsbortfall för revisionsföretagen som negativa signaler till företagets intressenter som kan medföra stora konsekvenser. Exempel på åtgärder är att företaget byter ut sina revisorer eller att företaget begärs i konkurs, det vill säga att den självuppfyllande profetian går i uppfyllelse. Uppsatsens syfte är att visa om det finns ett samband mellan de förlorade revisionsarvodena vid utfärdandet av en första going concern-varning av svenska revisorer. Dessutom skall uppsatsen visa om det existerar ett samband mellan utfärdandet av going concern-varningar och sannolikheten för konkurs för de reviderade företagen.  Uppsatsen tillämpar en kvantitativ metod för att förklara sambanden. Detta sker genom att en testgrupp på 169 företag har selekterats som erhållit en första going concern-varning för bokslutsåret 2009. Testgruppen har jämförts med en kontrollgrupp på 169 företag som är lika finansiellt stressade men inte erhållit en going concern-varning. För att bevisa huruvida något samband existerar tillämpas statistiska beräkningar. Uppsatsens resultat fastställer att ett samband existerar mellan utfärdandet av en första going concern-varning och revisorsbyte. Ju längre ett revisorsuppdrag har pågått desto mindre är sannolikheten för att en going concern-varning skall utfärdas. Däremot visar undersökningen att det inte finns något samband mellan utfärdandet av going concern-varningar och företagskonkurser vilket också tyder på att det inte finns stöd för den självuppfyllande profetians existens. / The auditors maintain an essential roll as an independent authority for control of financial information governed by rules and regulations. In the modern society it’s crucial for the companies to present correct information within annual reports for the stakeholders. It’s a complex task for the auditors to make an adequate judgment of the companies ongoing business if an audit modified opinion should be issued which may not lead to any misjudgements. As the results of such a misjudgement will have huge consequences for both client and auditor. Issuing a going concern modified audit opinion may result in large loss of revenues for the auditors as well as negative information to the stakeholders of the company which may lead to serious consequences for the business of the company. As example on measures taken by the company is to replace their auditors or that the company files for bankruptcy, which means that the self-fulfilling prophecy is accomplished. The purpose of this paper is to show if it exists a correlation between the losses of auditors revenues when issuing a first going concern modified audit opinion by Swedish auditors. In addition this paper will prove if it exists a correlation between issuing a going concern modified audit opinion and the probability of bankruptcy for the revised company. This paper applies a quantitative method to explain the correlations. This analysis is made by the selection of a test group of 169 companies which have received a first going concern modified audit opinion during the financial year of 2009. The test group has been compared by a control group of 169 companies which are financial distressed but have not received a going concern modified audit opinion. To prove whether if it exist any correlations statistical calculations is applied. The results of this paper determine the existence of a correlation between issuing a first going concern modified audit opinion and audit switch. The longer the audit tenure has lasted the lesser is the probability that a going concern modified audit opinion to be issued. However this paper finds no evidence of any correlation between issuing of a going concern modified audit opinion and company bankruptcy which reject the existence of self-fulfilling prophecy.

本研究以我國1994年至2003年由四大會計師事務所查核簽證之上市上櫃公司為研究對象，探討會計師之產業專精與任期及其交互作用對於查核品質之影響，其中以裁決性應計數作為查核品質之代理變數，並同時採用會計師事務所及合夥會計師在特定產業之市場佔有率，作為產業專家之衡量指標。實證結果發現，產業專家可以限制受查客戶透過裁決性應計數從事盈餘管理，而以合夥會計師為基礎所計算之市場佔有率較會計師事務所為基礎所計算之市場佔有率，更能解釋審計品質的差異。在任期方面，研究結果顯示，會計師任期愈長愈能限制盈餘管理，而任期對於裁決性應計數絕對値之影響係反映於任期較長會計師之查核年資。但進一步檢測會計師對管理當局操弄盈餘向上或向下的態度是否隨著任期之增長而有所不同時，本研究發現，當管理當局操弄盈餘使其降低時，會計師任期增長愈能抑制管理當局向下操弄盈餘以預留未來盈餘空間；而在管理當局操弄盈餘使其增加時，會計師任期增長則沒有理由支持具查核品質。此外，在產業專家與任期之交互作用對查核品質影響方面，實證結果發現，產業專家會計師抑制盈餘管理的能力較非產業專家好，所以較不須要透過任期的增加來提升其偵測盈餘管理的能力。 / This study uses the sample comprised of listed and OTC firms in Taiwan during 1994-2003 and examines the effects of auditor industry specialization, auditor tenure and the interaction on audit quality. I use discretionary accruals as proxies for audit quality and industry specialization is measured in terms of both audit firm market share in an industry and auditor market share in an industry. My empirical results provide evidence that industry specialist auditors can restrict accruals-based earnings management and explain the differentiation of audit quality more than industry specialist audit firms. About auditor tenure, I find that absolute discretionary accruals decline with auditor tenure and tenure traced at the longer auditor tenure is superior to shorter auditor tenure. The results show that longer auditor tenure enhances audit quality. In addition, a further analysis shows that the clients have motivations on income-decreasing earnings management, auditors can limit management’s ability to create reserve to manage future earnings. But the clients have motivations on income-increasing earnings management, the study did not provide sufficient evidences to explain that audit quality is improved with tenure. Besides, the result of empirical analysis support my estimation about the interaction between auditor industry specialization and auditor tenure. The industry specialist auditors mitigate earnings management more than nonspecialist auditors and don’t enhance audit quality through extending auditor tenure.

從美國的安隆(Enron)、世界通訊(WorldCom)、全錄公司(Xerox)，義大利的帕瑪列(Parmalat)，相關專業機構包括安達信(Arthur Andersen)、美林證券(Merrill Lynch)、花旗銀行(Citibank)；到臺灣的太電、博達、訊碟….等，一連串上市公司及專業機構爆發財務弊案，投資大眾人心惶惶。會計師受託查核公司財務報表並對報表表示意見，在健全資本市場的任務中擔任極為重要的角色，社會大眾對會計師之職責賦予相當大的期待，但弊案連續爆發卻使會計師的專業遭受嚴重質疑。因此，一般而言，弊案爆發或會計師受主管機關懲處後，會計師姓名就會與「審計品質不佳」劃上等號，因此先前由被懲處之會計師所簽證之其他受查公司，不論有無類似弊病，都會被人以放大鏡來觀察。然而，究竟懲戒制度實施結果是否合乎立法初衷而提升會計師之審計品質？被懲戒之會計師是否真代表其審計品質較低？則無法得知，此即為本研究欲探討的議題。 本研究以裁決性應計數報導幅度大小將會計師之審計品質予以量化，並參考Nagy(2005)的研究模式，將樣本分為會計師更換前後期，並對獨立及配對樣本作分析，以探討因懲戒而更換會計師對審計品質之影響。研究結果發現，在更換會計師的前提下，即便懲戒更換會計師並未能顯著抑制公司對於正向裁決性應計數之報導幅度，卻能避免一般情況下更換會計師對審計品質所造成的負面情形。另外，研究結果顯示，會計師長任期(6年以上)審計品質較高；會計師短任期(2年以下)且更動過於頻繁的情況下審計品質較低。在懲戒程度與審計品質之關係方面，研究結果顯示，會計師懲戒輕重程度未與會計師審計品質高低一致；而受警告及申誡懲戒但未被客戶更換之會計師在懲戒後次期，傾向調低公司盈餘，查核工作態度變保守，但審計品質並未提升。再者，本研究發現，受懲戒而更換會計師之效果大致而言並不受客戶談判籌碼的影響。最後，就單一時點(PC=0)的會計師審計品質而言，會計師被懲戒與否其審計品質並未有顯著不同；然將樣本群組進行分析後，發現有三位至四位被懲戒會計師其審計品質顯著不佳，而被懲戒之會計師中，即使差異未達顯著，卻是幾乎每2人就有1人審計品質較一般會計師低，因此懲戒制度基本上具適當性。基於以上發現，本研究肯定會計師懲戒制度對審計品質提升之效用。 總而言之，懲戒制度在於避免專業人士怠忽其職、違規行事而侵害大眾利益，不僅處分已違法之會計師，對於其他會計師亦有警惕之意味，因此實有其存在之必要。然其制度設立之適當性，可由懲戒制度實施案例之相關研究略知一二，主管機關應參考學者研究，找出目前會計師懲戒制度效用不彰的癥結點，進行改善，以增進大眾利益，符合社會期待。 / rom USA to Taiwan, lots of frauds upset investors in recent years. Accountants are asked to express their opinions toward the financial reports, and have played an important role in the capital market. Investors rely on what accountants assure to make decisions. However, with so many frauds broke up, accountants’ professionalism and assurance quality are being questioned. Sanctions may be due to the profession’s self-regulation system or based on judgment of the regulators’ administrative power. Nevertheless, does the sanction system actually protect or enhance accountants’ audit quality as it is originally set up for？Do the punished accountants really provide lower quality on the audit they perform? The answers to these questions are unknown, and they are the subject of this study. The study quantifies accountants’ audit quality by the amount of discretionary accruals of the financial statements of their audit clients. Referring to the research model of Nagy(2005), we classify samples into two periods, i.e., before and after changing accountants. Moreover, the study matches each observation sample with a paired sample and analyzes whether the sanction has affected the audit quality. The study concludes that the sanction system is appropriate basically. The results approve that the accountant sanction system in Taiwan is somewhat effective on improving audit quality. In short, the purpose of CPA sanction is to enforce professional conduct on all members of the profession. It not only punishes the accountants that break laws, but also alerts others. Therefore, the sanction system is necessary. The regulators should refer to these findings and solve the problems that diminish the effect of the sanction system. After all, the sanction system may be able to offer investors a more matured investment environment and achieve their expectations.

Denna uppsats undersöker problematiken kring revisorernas personliga engagemang och mänskliga beteenden. Revisorer och klienter har båda incitament vilka används för att nå en viss önskad situation. Oavsett vad incitamenten används för är syftet att subjektivt tillfredsställa ett visst intresse. Uppsatsen är baserad på tidigare publicerade vetenskapliga artiklar och är en vidare forskning baserad på Tepalagul och Lins studie från år 2015, vilken innefattar en undersökning av fyra hot. Denna studie kommer medföra en fördjupad undersökning kring dessa fyra oberoendehot som anses kan komma att påverka revisorns oberoende ställning. Hoten är: klientens betydelse, erbjudandet av andra tjänster utöver revisionstjänster, mandatperioden och anknytning mellan revisor och klient. Syftet med uppsatsen är att finna klarhet i om dessa hot i praktiken faktiskt kan hota revisorernas oberoende gentemot klienten, samt om dessa hot kan motverkas och i så fall på vilket sätt åtgärder kan framstå. I studien kommer en koppling göras till psykologiska påverkningar av mänskliga beteenden. Här lyfts kognitiv dissonans fram för att förklara etiska dilemman som revisorn ställs inför i sitt yrke. Studiens syfte är även att finna en klarhet i hur kognitiv dissonans kan ge en utökad förklaring kring problematiken angående revisorernas oberoende. Beroende på hur revisorn ställer sig i situationer av olika oberoendehot med medföljande påtryckningar från klienter och omgivning kan revisionskvalitén skifta. Uppsatsen kommer att genomföras utefter den hermeneutiska traditionen och i form av en kvalitativ ansats med besöksintervjuer som datainsamlingsmetod. Utifrån respondenternas åsikter kan vi dra slutsatsen att dessa hot existerar inom revisionsyrket, men att mycket beror på revisorn som person och dennes integritet och motståndskraft. Resultaten bekräftar även att människor normalt sett vet att deras bedömningar bör vara objektiva, men att de omedvetet kan göra felaktiga bedömningar då de blandar ihop vad som är personligt fördelaktig med vad som är rättvist eller moraliskt. För var och ett av dessa hot diskuterar vi erhållna resultat från empirin och tidigare forskning. Detta med avseende på klientens och revisors olika incitament, hot, kognitiva processer, samt revisionskvalité. Studien mynnar ut i idéer kring fortsatt forskning. Vi lyfter här fram vikten av att bland annat utföra en liknande forskning med kvinnliga auktoriserade revisorer som respondenter. / This essay examines the problems concerning auditors personal engagement and human be- haviours. Auditors and clients have different incentives, which are used to reach a certain preferred situation. Regardless of what the incentives are used for, the aim is to subjectively satisfy a certain interest. The essay is based on previously published scientific articles and is a further research based on Tepalagul and Lins study from year 2015. This essay includes a survey of four threats concerning auditor’s independence. The study will present a detailed investigation of these four threats that may have an affect on the auditor's independence. The threats are: the clients importance, the offering of non-audit services, auditor tenure and the client affiliation. The purpose of this essay is to find clarity if whether or not these threats in practice may actually threaten the auditor's independence towards the client, and if these threats can be prevented and if so, in what way measures may appear. The study will be making associations to psychological factors influencing human behaviours. The concept cognitive dissonance is used in this study to explain the ethical dilemmas that auditors face in their profession. The study's purpose is also to find a clarity of how cognitive dissonance can give an extended explanation about the problems concerning auditor’s independence. Depending on how the auditor stands in situations of various threats to the independence with accompanying pressures from their clients and the environment, the audit quality may shift. The essay will be performed in line with the hermeneuthic tradition in the form of a qualitative approach with interviews as data collection methods. Based on respondents’ opinions, we can conclude that these threats exist within the audit profession, but much depends on the auditor as a person and his or her integrity and resilience. The results also confirm that humans usually know that their assessments should be objective, but they unknowingly make incorrect judgments when they mix up what is personally beneficial with what is fair or moral. For each and everyone of these threats we discuss the empirically given results and previous research. This with regard to the clients and the auditors different incentives, threats, cognitive processes, and audit quality. The study empties into the ideas about further research. We emphasize the importance of among other things carrying out a similar research with female certified auditors as respondents.

本文旨在探討關鍵查核事項與會計師事務所特性之關聯性。其中，會計師事務所特性係指其獨立性與專業能力，並分別以任期與產業專家衡量之。 　　本文實證研究結果如下：其一，主查會計師之任期對關鍵查核事項幾無影響。其二，產業專家會計師事務所與關鍵查核事項之數量及品質僅有部分試驗呈正相關。其三，產業專家主查會計師其對關鍵查核事項之數量及品質均有正面影響。 　　在增額測試的部分，結果如下：其一，對產業專家主查會計師而言，任期對關鍵查核事項有正面效果。其二，會計師事務所與主查會計師俱為產業專家的會計師對關鍵查核事項之正面影響力大於僅有會計師事務所為產業專家的會計師。最後，會計師的專業能力使其更有能力以簡明扼要的文字呈現關鍵查核事項。 / The objective of this thesis is to investigate the relationship between key audit matters (KAMs) and audit firm characteristics. In this study, audit firm characteristics are focused on their independence and ability, and are measured by tenure and industry expertise, respectively. The empirical results can be summarized as follows. Firstly, lead partners tenure has little effect on KAMs. Secondly, partial evidence is found on the association between firm-level industry specialist auditors and KAMs. Thirdly, partner-level industry specialist auditors have positive effects on both the quantity and quality of KAMs. In further examinations, the results are as follows. Firstly, tenure has positive effects on KAMs when the auditors are partner-level industry specialist. Secondly, industry experts at both firm- and partner-levels have stronger positive effects on KAMs then industry experts at firm-level alone. Lastly, auditors’ capacity allows them to present KAMs more concisely.