Costs and Benefits of Requiring an Engagement Partner Signature: Recent Experience in the United Kingdom
研究了英国要求审计报告由项目合伙人签字对审计质量和审计费用的影响，发现签字要求实施后异常应计利润下降、审计意见更严格、盈余信息含量提高，但审计费用也显著上升。
ABSTRACT: This paper investigates the effects on audit quality and audit fees of requiring the engagement partner to sign the audit report in the United Kingdom (U.K.). The effect of requiring the engagement partner to sign the audit report is timely since the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) is considering mandating a similar requirement in the United States (U.S.). In the first year after the introduction of the signature requirement, we find a significant decline in abnormal accruals and the propensity to meet an earnings threshold, and we find a significant increase in the incidence of qualified audit reports and in earnings informativeness. In addition, audit fees are significantly higher in the post-signature period than in the pre-signature period. Moreover, we compare U.K. firms with a matched sample of U.S. firms and firms in other European countries in periods both before and after the U.K. adopted a signature requirement. Our results are generally consistent with the argument of improved audit quality in U.K. firms after the signature requirement is adopted. Data Availability: Data are available from public sources identified in the text.