Financial Restatements, Auditor Dismissals and Resignations: Auditor-related Characteristics and Economic Consequences

This paper discusses the auditor switching decisions by post-restatement firms and their incumbent auditors. Furthermore, the study simultaneously examines whether post-restatement firms are more likely to dismiss auditors to respond to their financial credibility crisis and whether auditors are also more likely to resign from post-restatement firms. The empirical results confirm these arguments. We also examine which auditor-related characteristics affect the decision of dismissal and resignation for post-restatement firms and their auditors. We further find the decisions of auditor dismissals and resignations depend on auditor characteristics such as auditor tenure, auditor size and auditor opinion. We find that post-restatement firms dismiss their incumbent auditor (have its incumbent auditor resign) earlier than non-restating matching firms. We also find that post-restatement firms incurring an auditor dismissal following restatement announcements are more likely to have higher short-term and long-term stock performance surrounding and after auditor dismissals.

關鍵字

financial restatements ； auditor dismissal ； auditor resignation ； economic consequences

並列摘要

本文探討財務報表重編後之公司與現任會計師的會計師更換決策。我們檢視財務報表重編後的公司是否更可能主動更換會計師以挽回投資大眾的信任，本文亦同時檢視會計師本身是否也更可能的主動請辭。我們的實證結果與前述的預期一致。我們亦發現會計師更換決策與會計師的相關特性有關，如:會計師任期、會計師事務所規模與會計師意見。我們進一步發現財務報表重編後之公司在重編宣告過後會比沒有宣告重編的配對公司更快宣布主動更換會計師以及會計師主動請辭。我們亦進一步發現主動更換會計師的重編公司會在宣布更換會計師時有更高的短期股票異常報酬，且在更換會計師之後也會有更高的長期股票異常報酬。

並列關鍵字

財務報表重編；客戶更換會計師；會計師請辭；經濟後果

參考文獻

Anderson, K. L., and T. L. Yohn. 2002. “The effect of 10K restatements on firm value, information asymmetries, and investors' reliance on earnings.” Working paper. Georgetown University.

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