The art of conversation: the expanded audit report
研究了新一代扩展审计报告在不同司法管辖区的实施情况、监管动机及实际效果，探讨其是否增加了审计意见的信息含量并促进了审计师与财务报告使用者之间的对话。
The new generation of expanded audit reports includes disclosures about significant matters in a company’s financial reporting and its audit. These disclosures are a landmark change in auditors’ responsibility to provide information to the public. I examine expanded reports in various jurisdictions, why they became mandatory, what the evidence from their implementation is, and whether they have fulfilled the expectations of regulators and other stakeholders. Expanded reports are intended to increase the information content and usefulness of audit opinions, to increase external monitoring of auditors and management, and to foster a more open conversation between auditors and users of financial reporting. However, existing regulatory requirements, conflicting auditors’ incentives to provide new information, and evidence from the expanded reports’ implementation call into question whether these objectives have been met. It is my hope that expanded reports are only a first step towards enhanced auditor reporting.