This dissertation examines the litigation and legal liability exposure of auditors related to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX). Three separate studies were conducted to examine how auditor s litigation exposure is evaluated by potential litigants (lawyers), and how auditor liability is...

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act made audit committees directly responsible for the appointment, compensation, and supervision of companies' auditors. Limited research in the auditor selection process and PCAOB inspections suggest that managers, not audit committees, may still be selecting the auditors,...

The quality of the opinion provided by audit firms is an important determinant of their long-term survival, but audit quality is difficult to gauge, which makes it particularly sensitive to the behaviour of the individuals who carry on audit work. This paper seeks to identify the incidence of...

This study provides evidence pertaining to organizational characteristics associated with greater perceived disaster recovery plan (DRP) strength or effectiveness. Based on an analysis of data gathered from over 100 public companies, company size and perceived management support for DRPs are...

This article discusses the significance of external auditor. Companies searching for financial and accounting talent to join their senior executive teams often lure partners and other professional staff away from accounting firms that perform their annual audits. Livent Inc., the Toronto-based...

We examine 316 Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) inspection reports issued to smaller CPA firms (100 or fewer issuer clients) through July 2006. We find that 60 percent of the inspected firms have audit deficiencies. Firms with audit deficiencies are smaller, have a larger number...

This study examines whether client satisfaction can help explain cross-sectional variation in Big 6 audit fees paid by Fortune 1000 clients. After controlling for other factors related to audit fees (including audit quality attributes), client satisfaction with the audit team is positively...

A study's purpose was to investigate the relationship among client satisfaction, attributes of audit quality, auditor change, and controller work experience. To address this purpose, controllers of Fortune 1000 companies were asked to evaluate their existing auditor on each of 12 dimensions of...