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Opinion shopping is an essential indication of audit collusion. Hence, it is crucial to explore the driving factors of audit uopinion shopping to better control and address this issue. Drawing upon signaling theory, this paper explores the relationship between international expansion and audit opinion shopping and the moderating roles of internal control quality and auditors' quality. We find that the higher the level of international expansion of an enterprise, the greater the likelihood of audit opinion shopping. Furthermore, we also find that high internal control quality and high auditor quality can weaken the positive relationship between international expansion and audit opinion shopping. Besides, heterogeneity analysis shows that the impact of international expansion on audit opinion shopping is more pronounced in non‐SOEs and firms which stay in the growth and maturity stage. This paper contributes to the antecedent research of audit opinion shopping and exposes the possible "dark side" of international expansion. Finally, this study may provide practical implications to help the authorities better regulate internationalized enterprises as well as contribute to the healthy development of the auditing market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing the disclosure of key audit matters (KAMs) has been an important change in audit reports in recent years. After the implementation of this policy, what changes have taken place in the behaviour of auditors after the implementation of this policy? What impact has it had on the audit report? A series of problems deserve systematic analysis and empirical testing. This paper examines the relationship between the communication of KAMs and earnings management. We examined quasi‐natural experimental data shaped by new auditing standards issued by the Ministry of Finance of China on 23 December 2016. The new auditing standards have been implemented in phases for the listed companies. We find that (1) communicating KAMs in audit reports restrains the auditor's motivational reasoning behaviour by triggering rationality constraints and improves the auditor's professional scepticism, thus improving audit quality and significantly reducing the company's accrued earnings management level. (2) The influence of communicating KAMs on earnings management is more significant for sampled firms with high external financing dependence and low marketization, revealing its supplementary role in the existing corporate governance mechanism. The findings of this paper enrich existing research on KAMs and supplement important empirical evidence from the Chinese market for assessing the effects of audit reporting reforms worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarises survey study results identifying knowledge, skills, and attitudes (competencies) for entry‐level internal audit professionals that could be used to develop a curriculum for chartered professional accountant (CPA)‐bound students to pursue fulfilling careers in internal audit and related management positions under changing competency requirements. We built a survey based on the Institute of Internal Auditor's (IIA's) current Competency Framework, modified by insights from internal audit experts, including a suggestion to include a new information technology category. We then summarise responses from 641 internal audit professionals into a two‐dimensional visualisation highlighting the changes from currently identified competencies to expected changes in skill importance one decade in the future. The results highlight that future internal auditors will need to have a broader set of competencies than simply accounting and finance knowledge. Our future focus provides foundational insights related to the necessary and emerging competencies for academic programme planning, future research and practitioners' training and hiring strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regulation requires US public companies to disclose the pre‐approval status of their year‐end auditors in their annual proxy statements. Although auditor–client relationships remain at will, the disclosure mandate requires companies to publicly announce their intentions to retain their current auditors. In this paper, we provide initial evidence of the potential implications that these disclosures may have on financial reporting quality. We find that when the disclosures occur later relative to the release of interim reports, interim filings exhibit lower reporting quality. After performing robustness tests, we explore two possible mechanisms that could explain our findings. First, we consider the possibility that audit committee members compromise their independence. Second, we investigate whether auditors delay the performance of certain interim procedures while the disclosures are pending. With the use of audit committee equity compensation to measure audit committee independence impairment and audit fees to measure auditor effort, we find evidence consistent with both explanations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates a firm's stock return asynchronicity through the auditor's perspective to distinguish whether this asynchronicity can proxy for the company's firm‐specific information or the quality of its information environment. We find a significant and positive association between asynchronicity and audit fees after controlling for auditor quality and other factors that affect audit fees, suggesting that stock return asynchronicity is more likely to capture a company's firm‐specific information than its information environment. We also find that asynchronous firms are more likely to receive adverse opinions on their internal controls over financial reporting, but are associated with lower costs of capital and auditor litigation, providing further evidence in support of the firm‐specific information argument. Asynchronicity's positive association with audit fees is driven by firms with higher accounting reporting complexity, suggesting stock return asynchronicity captures a firm's complexity, resulting in more significant efforts by the auditor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of a content analysis of the comment letters submitted in response to the SEC concept release on the enhancements of audit committee disclosures. The comment letters were drafted by investors and a cross‐section of various governance actors or practitioners, such as audit committees, management, legal advisers, and auditors. Hence, the letters provide insights as to how these different groups interpret the proposed revisions and try to adapt them according to their needs and context. The comment letters are analyzed through the framework of the behavioral theory of boards and corporate governance, which arguably better explains the analysis results over the traditional agency theory framework. The theory examines governance actors' interactions and behavioral processes and asserts that the corporation is a nexus of stakeholders' coalitions, who render decisions primarily through engaging in political bargaining rather than through evaluating investor needs. Results show that, while investors are urging enhanced disclosures, audit committee respondents are against the suggested improvements. These results are consistent with the behavioral theory of boards and corporate governance but inconsistent with an agency theory perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the influence of a firm's accounting reporting complexity (ARC) on financial statement audit quality. We predict and find that there is a non‐linear relationship between a firm's ARC and audit quality. Specifically, a more complex accounting environment—measured by ARC—leads to higher quality audits, but this effect diminishes when ARC continues to increase. Further analyses reveal that the effect is more salient among client firms that do not purchase non‐audit services (NAS). We also examine whether ARC affects audit quality in the circumstance of mandatory audit partner rotation. Empirical results show a moderating effect of ARC on the negative influence of audit partner rotation on audit quality. Our study extends the literature by illustrating how a firm's ARC influences audit quality in a special manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper empirically investigates the association between the size of accounting firm offices and corporate tax aggressiveness. We find that clients audited by large offices have lower levels of corporate tax aggressiveness. We also find that such a negative relation is less pronounced when an accounting firm office provides tax services or when the office possesses tax‐specific industry expertise, and it is more pronounced when a client is financially important. The study contributes to the literature by documenting the role of accounting firm offices in influencing tax aggressiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the paper was to outline the possibility of utilising information from online job postings and text‐mining analyses to identify mismatches and gaps between learning outcomes prepared by universities, and the knowledge and skills that employers need. The study uses job advertisement contents and learning outcomes documents from universities. We analysed both data sets using word importance classification, cluster analysis and hierarchical clustering. Word importance classification presented the mismatches in a quantitative and diagram format. Cluster analysis and hierarchical clustering provided information on how to correct the detected gaps and mismatches. The study empirically corroborates that the method we put forward for analysing both sources (LOs and job ads) helps identify and assess the significance of gaps and mismatches in the approaches to knowledge and skills adopted by universities and employers. Consequently, the method can be helpful during the auditing process and while implementing market‐oriented curriculum changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper demonstrates how tax administrations can evaluate future compliance gains from risk‐based tax enforcement that audits all taxpayers above a risk threshold. Expanding tax enforcement in this setting means reducing the audit threshold. The compliance gains from such an expansion consist of a mechanical audit correction effect and a behavioural effect that reflects changes in self‐reporting in the subsequent years. We estimate this behavioural effect in a regression discontinuity analysis with the risk score as the forcing variable. We find that taxpayers at the margin had a significant reduction in self‐reported deductions in the next years' tax filing. The behavioural effect over a three‐year post‐audit period is estimated to be of a magnitude similar to that of the direct adjustment of the audit. This compliance effect does not change when we include the reporting of the spouse. We find that the risk score threshold that maximizes net public revenue from the audits is considerably below current practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microfinance institutions (MFIs) are hybrid organisations that strive to balance business and social goals. This paper examines the determinants of the internal audit (IA) function in MFIs, with particular emphasis on the business goals, specifically efficiency, productivity, regulation and the gross portfolio yield. We also investigate whether the establishment of an IA function is associated with MFI's focus on their social objectives relating to outreach, and women director appointments. Multivariate regression results from 1025 MFIs across 63 countries show that MFIs' focus on their social objectives is related to their propensity to establish an IA function. Thus, outreach and women director appointments are positively related to the establishment of an IA function. Similarly, in terms of the performance emphasis, the gross portfolio yield (inefficiency) increases (decreases) the likelihood of establishing an IA, but productivity and regulation have no effect. The findings suggest that MFIs' dual focus on social and business objectives impacts the establishment of internal audits. The results are robust to various measurements and estimations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of firm financial misconduct on its director‐interlocked firms from the perspective of auditors. We argue that when a firm engages in financial misconduct, auditors tend to perceive its director‐interlocked firms as having higher audit risks. This is because accounting policies, procedures and corporate governance can propagate via common directors. Using a sample of listed US firms from 1999 to 2018, we find that auditors charge higher fees for firms whose director‐interlocked firms engage in financial misconduct. Further analyses show that this spillover effect is stronger when focal firms are riskier (when they are financially distressed or have worse earnings quality) or they have weaker alternative monitoring mechanisms (as evidenced by lower institutional shareholding). The effect is also more prominent when the tainted directors hold important positions or the financial misconduct is more severe. We also find that the higher auditor fees arise from not only risk premium but also greater audit effort. Our results are still valid after conducting a series of robustness tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article, published in the Australian Accounting Review, focuses on the topics of risk and sustainability in the international accounting profession. The four research papers included in the issue cover various aspects of these topics. One paper examines the impact of motivation and work-life balance on auditor turnover, highlighting the importance of employee motivation in reducing turnover intentions. Another paper explores how share ownership can moderate the association between audit committee busyness and financial restatements. The third paper addresses the integration of ESG goals and financial sustainability in sustainability reporting, specifically in state-owned enterprises. The final paper discusses the effects of bad news hoarding and classification shifting in reporting, emphasizing the negative reaction of investors to such practices. Overall, the articles provide valuable insights and recommendations for employers, managers, directors, and investors. [Extracted from the article]

We investigated nurses' experiences of hospital‐acquired pressure injury (PI) prevention in acute care services to better understand how PI prevention may be optimised. We used the Theoretical Domains Framework to systematically identify barriers and enablers to evidence‐based preventive practices as required by the International Guideline. This study was one element of a complex capacity building project on PI surveillance and prevention within the acute health service partners of Monash Partners Academic Health Science Centre, an accredited academic health partnership located in Melbourne, Australia. We adopted a qualitative descriptive design. We interviewed 32 nurses that provided care in intensive care units, general wards and COVID wards of four acute care services. Nurses were recruited from four large acute care services (three public, one private) located in Melbourne. Most of them worked with patients who were at high risk of hospital‐acquired PI on a daily basis. Interview transcripts were coded and analysed using thematic analysis guided by the Theoretical Domains Framework. The domains referred to most frequently by all participants included: Knowledge, Skills, Social/Professional Role and Identity, Beliefs about Capabilities, and Environmental Context and Resources. The key barriers discussed by nurses included gaps in nurses' knowledge and skills related to identification and staging of PI, heavy nursing workload and inadequate staffing levels, stigma and self‐blame related to PI identification, and exacerbating impacts of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Main facilitators discussed were training programmes, nursing audits and feedback, and teamwork. Participants suggested improvements including accessible and tailored training, visual reminders, and addressing heavy workloads and emotional barriers nurses face. Investing in tailored training initiatives to improve nurses' knowledge and organisational changes to address low level staffing and heavy workloads are urgently needed to support nurses in delivering optimal care and preventing hospital‐acquired PI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) introduced a Quality Management Audits in Nuclear Medicine (QUANUM) programme, to improve nuclear medicine practice standards aligned with international standards through self‐assessments. The absence of quality management audits in nuclear medicine departments could potentially result in a compromise in the safety and quality of patient care. To date, there is no evidence that quality audits have been conducted in nuclear medicine departments of this middle‐income country. This quality audit, therefore, assessed conformance to the IAEA QUANUM programme in four nuclear medicine departments. Methods: The study adopted a quantitative methodological exploratory approach. The IAEA QUANUM programme was used to audit nuclear medicine services' overall activity such as clinical practice, management, radiopharmacy, general and radiation safety, quality assurance, operations and services. The data was collected via document analysis in four nuclear medicine department identified as Sites A–D. Results: Overall results showed that Site A conformed with 247 out of 370 (67%) counts and non‐conformed with 123 out of 370 (33%) counts whilst Site B conformed with 205 out of 342 (60%) counts and non‐conformed with 137 out of 342 counts (40%). Site C conformed with 259 out of 345 (75%) counts and non‐conformed with 86 out of 345 (25%) counts. Site D conformed with 166 out of 349 (48%) counts and non‐conformed with 183 out of 349 (52%) counts. The study yielded 125 overall recommendations. Conclusions: All the sites demonstrated good compliance to international standards in radionuclide therapy. Site A complied poorly in strategies and policies, whilst Site B complied poorly in quality control of equipment. Site C showed poor compliance to human resource development and Site D showed aspects pertaining to administration and management as well as evaluation of quality systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]