We find that non-Big 4 audit offices with greater awareness of SEC enforcement are more likely to issue first-time going concern reports to distressed clients; where SEC “awareness” is measured using (1) audit office proximity to SEC regional offices, and (2) proximity to specific SEC...

In an effort to make audit reports more informative to investors, the U.K. recently passed a new audit reporting standard that requires auditors to disclose the risks of material misstatement (RMMs) that had the greatest effect on the financial statement audit. Using short-window market...

Prior research confirms regulators’ concern that special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) exhibit elevated financial reporting risk (Kim, Park, Peterson, and Wilson 2022). In this study, we explore the auditor’s role in either elevating or reducing SPAC financial reporting risks....

This study investigates (1) whether legitimacy management motivates audit committees to voluntarily disclose their financial reporting oversight activities in the audit committee report and if so, (2) whether such legitimacy management disclosure strategy is effective. The answer is important...

This study examines whether material corporate events that occur during the year-end closing process constrain management's and the auditor's resources and inhibit them from providing high quality financial reports. For a sample of U.S. company financial reports issued during 2000–2013, we...