We focus on the impact of auditor choice on the quality of firms’ internal accounting systems.
We examine a sample of firms where, in contrast to most research settings, the auditor might play
an active role in helping firms maintain the quality of their internal accounting systems. We use
data from inspections carried out by the Norwegian Directorate of Taxes to construct a measure
of accounting-system quality. We find that all else equal, opt-out firms have lower-quality
accounting systems, though the magnitude of this effect is modest. In addition, we find that optout
firms experienced a decline in quality after opting out and that the magnitude of this effect is
not trivial. Also, we find that opt-out firms compensated for this decline in quality by using
external help in preparing their annual financial reports. In sum, these results suggest that auditors
can help small firms maintain high-quality internal accounting systems but that firms that choose
not to be audited can mitigate the loss of the auditor’s expertise by engaging other competent
third parties.
We focus on the impact of auditor choice on the quality of firms’ internal accounting systems.We examine a sample of firms where, in contrast to most research settings, the auditor might playan active role in helping firms maintain the quality of their internal accounting systems. We usedata from inspections carried out by the Norwegian Directorate of Taxes to construct a measureof accounting-system quality. We find that all else equal, opt-out firms have lower-qualityaccounting systems, though the magnitude of this effect is modest. In addition, we find that optoutfirms experienced a decline in quality after opting out and that the magnitude of this effect isnot trivial. Also, we find that opt-out firms compensated for this decline in quality by usingexternal help in preparing their annual financial reports. In sum, these results suggest that auditorscan help small firms maintain high-quality internal accounting systems but that firms that choosenot to be audited can mitigate the loss of the auditor’s expertise by engaging other competentthird parties.
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