Nonaudit Services and Earnings Management in the Pre-SOX and Post-SOX Eras
研究了萨班斯-奥克斯利法案前后，审计师提供的非审计服务对盈余管理的影响，发现法案前非审计服务与调低利润的盈余管理正相关，法案后该关联减弱。
SUMMARY Concerns about the impact of auditor-provided nonaudit services (NAS) on auditor independence arise because of (1) auditors' economic dependence on their clients, and (2) some specific types of NAS which the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) argues can harm auditor objectivity. The SEC's prohibition in 2003 of specific kinds of NAS led to a significant decline in NAS between 2000–2001 and 2004–2005. We argue that this decline in observed NAS fees can be used to identify firms that had a greater likelihood of impaired auditor independence in the pre-SOX period. Using discretionary accruals to proxy for earnings management, we find a positive association between discretionary accruals in the pre-SOX era and the subsequent reduction in NAS, but this was confined to income-decreasing accruals. Further, the association between downward earnings management and the decline in NAS was reduced in the post-SOX era.