• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.18 no.9
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• pp.93-101
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• 2020

Although concerns about the opinion shopping have been continuously raised in the audit market, there has been little research on empirical evidence on the existence of audit opinions. For this reason, this study empirically confirmed whether the opinion shopping exists. At first, we measured thresholds of audit opinion issuing of two groups(changed or not-changed auditors). After that, the difference analysis was conducted to verify whether the thresholds of the audit opinion issuing was significant difference between two groups. As a result of the study, there was no significant difference in the thresholds of audit opinion issuing between two groups. This result can be interpreted that the audit opinion shopping is not a general phenomenon in the external audit market. The contribution of this study is to empirically confirmed that audit opinion shopping does not exist in the external audit market.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.8
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• pp.61-67
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• 2020

This paper examines whether the combination of risk management and audit committee functions are associated with audit report lag. Audit report lag is considered an important aspect of the financial reporting. The financial reports are the main source of information for shareholders through which they make their decisions and it assists in reducing the information asymmetry. As the internal control mechanisms substitute the external ones, the internal board committees formed by the board of directors can reduce the audit work and, consequently, reduces the audit report lag. A key committee is the risk management committee. This paper examines whether the combination of risk management and audit committee functions are associated with audit report lag. We posit that a combination of such functions in one committee refereed as audit committee affects the audit report delay. Data were obtained from 198 manufacturing companies listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) for the years 2016-2018. A pooled OLS regression analysis shows that a combination of risk management and audit committee functions in a stand-alone committee named "audit committee" is associated with longer audit report lag. The outcomes suggest companies should prioritize the establishment of standalone risk management committee with activities separated from those of audit committees.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.31-47
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• 2019

The recently revised Act on External Audit has taken effect as of November 2018, where standard audit hour rule is included to enhance the audit quality requiring appropriate audit hour input. It has two issues, one is how much the standard audit hours should be and the other is how to control the auditor proficiency between positions when deciding standard audit hours. This paper focuses on the latter issue and studies if auditor proficiency measured with the KICPA position proficiency weight is economically meaningful and has audit quality implication. The KICPA proficiency weights of partner and junior CPA are 1.2, and 0.4 with senior CPA being 1. The results are as follows. First, we find that the audit proficiency decreases discretionary accruals, the proxy of audit quality. Second, the degree to which the audit proficiency decreases discretionary accruals is pronounced with non-big4 firm. The results imply that the KICPA position proficiency weight reflects auditor experiences which help to improve audit quality.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.343-352
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• 2021

This study aims to identify the impact of the audit approach based on business risks (i.e., external environment risk, operations risk, information risk) in reducing unsystematic risks (i.e., operational risk, credit risk, liquidity risk, capital risk, and administrative risk) in Jordanian banks. To reduce the effect of unsystematic risks and, thus, improve banking performance, an audit approach based on business risks has emerged. To achieve the objectives, this study relied on descriptive statistics and the regression approach to study twenty-five Jordanian banks. The researcher used the intentional sampling method represented by employees of the accounting, financial and control departments in Jordanian banks. Seventeen banks contributed to the study, with a percentage of 68%, totaling 356 employees. A questionnaire was designed to obtain the data, and due to homogeneity among the sampling members, a purposive sample was drawn and 300 questionnaires were distributed. The results of the study found a statistically significant effect of the audit approach based on business risks with its combined dimensions on reducing unsystematic risks in Jordanian banks. The results of the study also found a statistically significant effect of the business risk-based audit approach with its combined dimensions on reducing operational risks in Jordanian banks.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.37-40
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• 2015

Purpose - Investors, creditors, governments, and others make decisions using reasonable information provided by others. In many cases, the users of this information have goals and objectives conflicting with those of the information's producers, indicating the need for external auditors. Research design, data, and methodology - Competition in auditing has noticeably intensified globally, especially in developed countries. This means that auditors are striving to increase the efficiency of their methods. In recent years, risk-based auditing has become prominent among these efforts. In risk-assessment auditing, the auditor may directly affect the effectiveness and efficiency of the audit. Results - As a central framework, the risk assessment process improves audit quality and effectiveness such that the audit will lead to necessary changes. Previous studies have shown that risk assessment affects the nature, timing, and content of audit procedures. Conclusions - In the planning stage of an audit, audit risk assessment may identify any inappropriate or inefficient distribution of resources or determine whether the results of an audit will be ineffective or incorrect. Thus, assessing audit risk is a critical task.

• Journal of East Asia Management
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.23-51
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• 2023

We investigate whether the association between management overconfident tone and the level of audit effort measured by audit fees and hours differs depending on the level of earnings management. Prior studies suggest that firms led by overconfident managers are likely to initiate risky investments, report low quality financial statements, and have material weaknesses in internal control system. These characteristics, combined together, result in higher audit risk. At the same time, auditors assess audit risk based on the quality of financial reporting, measured by level of earnings management. As a result, the assess audit risk is likely to reflect the combined effect of management overconfidence and the level of earnings management. In this paper, we investigate whether auditors differentiate the effects of real earnings management (REM) and accrual-based earnings management (AEM) when they assess the audit risk related management overconfident. Using the CEO's letter published in 2018, we measure the CEO's tone representing the degree of overconfidence (i.e., activity). Based on this measure, we find that the positive association between managerial overconfident tone and audit effort is more pronounced as the level of REM is higher. However, we find that the baseline association does not vary depending on the level of AEM. These results suggest that auditors consider the managerial overconfident severer when such characteristic accompany the higher level of REM, which can be outcome of aggressive business decisions possibly leading to the higher audit risks. We further find that these results are stronger for Big 4 auditors and continuing auditors. This paper contributes to the literature and practice as follows. First, we provide contextual evidence on how auditors reflect managerial characteristics in the audit process by documenting that auditors actively increase their audit efforts only when overconfident managerial characteristics are highly likely to lead to audit risk. This result suggests that auditors conduct external auditing considering both the efficiency and effectiveness of the audit process. Second, we suggest that auditors use information obtained from a wide range of sources to identify audit risks. Our results provide evidence of how the auditing standards, which do not provide detailed guidelines for audit risk assessment, are being applied in practice. Finally, our results also enhance the understanding of how audit fees are determined. Combined with the studies related to audit pricing, we provide the important reference for discussion between the auditor and the auditee about the audit fee that has created acute tension after the enforcement of the new External Audit Act.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.41-50
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• 2020

The paper investigates the factors that affect the demand for a voluntary audit of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam. A structured questionnaire survey of 284 SMEs was employed, preceded by in-depth interviews with auditors and SMEs' managers. The research used logistic regression estimator to address econometric issues and to improve the accuracy of the regression coefficients. The results show that the degree of director's view on voluntary audit, related stakeholder, degree of recommendation, and firm size have a statistically significant positive effect on audit decisions of SMEs while degree of audit fee has a statistically significant negative effect, and degree of subjective norm does not affect. This indicated that SMEs are more likely to have an external audit if they have some typical features: it is becoming larger in terms of size, and the directors consider that the audit has a relative benefit outweighing its cost. The research results suggested that Vietnam Government should make a statutory audit of SMEs' financial statements rather than make it an option for SMEs. The auditing firms were also recommended to actively take their audit services to SMEs rather than waiting for the SMEs' managers to contact them for their services.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.8
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• pp.95-102
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to test both the alignment theory and entertainment theory on family firms listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange. To achieve these goals, we collected secondary data from 164 non-financial family firms in various sectors during 2014-18. These family firms are classified into two categories: family control firms and family owned firms. We take the audit fee and the audit quality as dependent variables while family control firms, family-owned firms, and family CEOs as independent variables. In addition, the study uses leverage, profit and export as control variables. To test the effect of the explanatory variables on the output variables, we use two econometric models, Ordinary Least Square and the Probit regression model. In addition, Huber Sandwich test is used to check the non-normality and heteroscedasticity of panel data. Contrary to the alignment effect, the study supports the entrenchment effect and advocates that family-controlled firms as well as family-owned firms are not conscientious regarding the selection of external auditors during their contracts with audit firms. They are less likely to pay high audit fees for good quality audit in Pakistan. Furthermore, the study shows a statistically significant and positive relationship between audit quality and audit fees.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.243-253
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• 2021

This study aims to examine (1) the association between the chief executive officer tenure and audit quality, (2) the relationship between chief executive officer duality and audit quality, (3) the association between board independence and audit quality, (4) the relationship between board size and audit quality, and (5) the role of controlling variables (client size, leverage debt, and business complexity) in controlling these relationships. The research sample includes 325 financial reports from manufacturing firms listed in Amman Stock exchange over the 2014-2018 period. The study relationships are tested by using logistic regression. The results revealed a negative relationship, but not significant between CEO tenure and independent directors with audit quality. In addition, the results showed there is a negative effect of CEO duality on audit quality; also the results revealed that there is a statistically significant effect on the board of directors (board size) on the AQ. In general, the coefficient estimates of controlling variables show that client size and leverage debt positively affect audit quality, and on the contrary, business complexity has an insignificant positive relationship with audit quality. The summary of the study findings play an active role to external auditor opinion on business practice in towered the corporate governance system.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.15 no.9
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• pp.106-117
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• 2015

Audit system of local self-government has a problem in many sectors, for the development of local autonomy, improvement of these issues is essential. The purpose of this study was to improve the present problems by looking at the problems of local governments audit system. The problem with local governments audit system are as follows. First, the non-efficiency and redundancy of internal and external audit exist. Second, in terms of audit organization and mechanism of local government, independence is deficient. Third, the expertise is lacking in terms of audit personnel. Fourth, it is insufficient effectiveness ensure regarding the processing of the Audit Office at the time and results. Improvement plan of the problems of local governments audit system are as follows. First, the unification of the country and local governments of the audit and there is a need to establish a legal system on the local audit. Second, the establishment of independent internal audit mechanism for ensuring the independence of the internal audit mechanism. Third, introducing a variety of personnel system related to the human resources of audit personnel and there is a need and strengthening of education and training to the audit personnel. Fourth, the public of the audit, community participation, and etc results in the effectiveness and democratic ensuring of audit.