We conducted a field study of the process by which a company and prospective auditors court each other and enter an engagement. The Request-for-Proposal (RFP) process we observed had been triggered by an audit partner rotation and governed by recent legislation empowering the audit committee to...

Two key assumptions underlying the regulation of U.S. financial reporting are the need to mandate the certification of financial statements, and to require that this certification be performed by independent auditors. Private incentives to demand (and supply) certification are thought to be...

The benefits of top down financial reporting regulation over the past eight decades are less obvious than its failures to achieve the purported goals. Perhaps it is time to give a chance to an alternative approach of regulatory competition

Improving financial reporting calls for achieving a fine balance between codification of accounting rules, and development of norms whose enforcement depends on judgment about shared values and expectations in society. Over the past century, financial reporting has pursued codification in excess...

Consumer surveys indicate that concerns about privacy are a principal factor discouraging consumers from shopping online. The key public policy issue regarding privacy is whether the US should follow its current self-regulation course (where the FTC encourages websites to obtain private "privacy...

The article discusses the conflict of interest in auditing. The author relates that all publicly traded companies are required by law to hire a licensed auditor. It weakens the product market discipline that normally exists in the economy. In addition, the company gets to choose and pay its own...