Litigation risk also provides incentives for auditors to be concerned with financial reporting quality. Consistent with
auditing and accounting standards, courts hold that auditors must consider substance over form. This is indicated in a US
Supreme Court ruling that holds auditors legally liable for misleading financial statements even when those statements are
in strict compliance with GAAP (Ball, 2009).13 This suggests that auditors are legally responsible for how well the financial
statements reflect the firm’s underlying economics, not just the mechanical application of GAAP