Despite the importance of audit committee independence in ensuring the integrity of the financial reporting process, recent research suggests that even when audit committees meet regulatory independence requirements, certain factors, such as undue influence by the CEO over the selection of the...

With the movement towards adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) worldwide, a question arises as to whether the adoption of a principles-based approach such as IFRS will ultimately result in higher quality financial reporting. This issue is particularly relevant because,...

This study provides insights on the effectiveness of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (2002) in promoting high quality financial reporting and good corporate governance. We report the results of interviews conducted with 22 experienced directors from US firms. Our results indicate that SOX has had a...

Calls from practice suggest that audit committee members with industry expertise can improve audit committee effectiveness. Nevertheless, regulators and extant literature have focused on the financial expertise of the audit committee. We posit that audit committee industry knowledge is valuable...

The objectives of this case are: (a) to alert students to the importance of non-financial information in the audit process; (b) to develop students' ability to search for relevant financial and non-financial information in the audit planning process; and (c) to emphasize the importance of...

This study examines the extent to which providing a course that emphasizes forensic accounting influences students skepticism and fraud-related judgments. We follow a cohort of students (trained students) who have enrolled in a forensic accounting course and examine their fraud judgments at...

The rising prominence of fair values and other estimates (FVOEs) to financial reporting increases their significance to the audit. Based on inspections that report numerous deficiencies, the PCAOB is concerned that auditors are not sufficiently prepared for the challenges faced in evaluating...

A primary goal of both financial reporting research and audit research is to understand the determinants of quality, and researchers in both areas have identified a wide set of variables that enhance or impair quality. In this paper, we define financial reporting quality and audit quality and...

One objection to fair value accounting for liabilities is that changes in a company’s credit risk are recognized as gains or losses in a manner that is counterintuitive to the way gains and losses are typically interpreted (Lipe 2002). Specifically, when a company’s credit risk increases...

Fair values and other accounting estimates (FVOEs) are common in financial reporting (IAASB, 2009) and regulators are concerned that auditors are insufficiently skeptical in their evaluations of FVOEs (PCAOB, 2009, 2015a, b; IFIAR, 2014). Utilizing an experiment with auditors as participants, we...