Have You Seen…?
Sudip Bhattacharjee, Virginia Tech
Brian Mayhew, University of Wisconsin
Evelyn Patterson, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis
and Mark F. Zimbelman, Brigham Young University
"Is There a Link Between Executive Equity Incentives and Accounting Fraud?," by M. Erickson, M. Hanlon and E.L. Maydew. Journal of Accounting Research (Article in Press).
The authors use several measurements of equity incentives and compare the incentives of firms accused of committing fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission from 1996-2003 to two samples of firms not accused of fraud. Using numerous empirical tests, they find results that are in contrast to policy makers’ assertion that executive equity incentives are linked to fraud.
"Accelerating the Acquisition of Knowledge Structure to Improve Performance in Internal Control Reviews," by A. Faye Borthick, M. B. Curtis and R. S. Sriram. Accounting, Organizations and Society (Article in Press).
This study uses students enrolled in a senior-level accounting information systems course to show that knowledge structure training is effective in imparting transaction flow and control objective knowledge structures. In addition, the authors document that knowledge structure mediates the relationship between structure training and performance in internal control reviews.
"Accountability and Auditors’ Materiality Judgments: The Effects of Differential Pressure Strength on Conservatism, Variability, and Effort," by T. DeZoort, P. Harrison and M. Taylor. Accounting, Organizations and Society (Article in Press).
This study uses one hundred sixty auditors to investigate whether incremental levels of accountability increase judgment conservatism and decrease judgment variability in two materiality tasks. Auditors under higher levels of accountability pressure provided more conservative materiality judgments and had less judgment variability than auditors under lower levels of pressure. The study also demonstrates that a decision aid can increase conservatism and reduce variability in auditors’ materiality judgments.
"Corporate Governance Reforms: Redefined Expectations of Audit Committee Responsibilities and Effectiveness," by S. C. Vera-Muñoz. Journal of Business Ethics (Volume 62, Issue 2, 2005): 115-127.
This paper discusses the new expectations of audit committee responsibilities and effectiveness in the wake of corporate governance reforms and provides some directions for future research. The author argues that recent regulatory changes have redefined and re-emphasized the roles and responsibilities of all the participants in a public company’s financial reporting process. Most notably, these reforms have intensified scrutiny of corporate audit committees.
"Auditor Calibration in the Review Process," by N. Harding, S. Hughes and K. T. Trotman. Advances in Accounting Behavioral Research (Volume 8, 2005): 41-57.
This study investigates the efficiency and effectiveness of a recent change in audit workpaper review toward delegating more review tasks to senior auditors and including more staff auditors in the review process. The study considers the calibration of reviewers of different experience levels on both conceptual and mechanical errors. The results reveal that reviewers are miscalibrated (overconfident) in their workpaper error judgments. No differences are found in the calibration of staff and senior auditors across hierarchical level or type of error.
"Audit Committees, Boards, and the Quality of Reported Earnings," by N. Vafeas
Contemporary Accounting Research (Volume 22, 2005): 1093-
This study uses data between 1994 and 2000 to investigate how the quality of earnings is related to audit committees and boards of directors. Using logistic regressions, the author finds evidence that these relationships are consistent with the predictions of agency theory. This study contributes to this body of literature by using different earnings quality measures from prior studies, and by expanding the range of audit committee attributes deemed important in determining audit committee performance.
"The Different Types of Assurance Services and Levels of Assurance Provided," by M. Hasan, S. Maijoor, T.J. Mock, P. Roebuck, R. Simnett and A. Vanstraelen. International Journal of Auditing (Volume 9, 2005): 91-102
This paper compares differences in types and levels of assurance services between the former Big Five audit firms to smaller audit firms. Factors affecting the level of assurance for moderate assurance service engagements were identified and differences between the Big Five and other audit firms are reported.
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