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The Association between External Monitoring and Earnings Management in the Property‐Casualty Insurance Industry

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  • Jennifer J. Gaver
  • Jeffrey S. Paterson

Abstract

This paper examines the association between external monitoring and earnings management by property‐casualty insurers. We extend previous work by Petroni and Beasley (1996) by expanding the set of external monitors to include both auditors and actuaries. We investigate whether certain auditor‐actuary pairs are associated with less understatement of the loss reserve account by financially struggling insurers. Our data consist of loss adjustments reported by 465 property‐casualty insurers for reserves established in 1993. The results indicate that under‐reserving by weak insurers is essentially eliminated when the firm uses auditors and actuaries that are both from Big Six accounting firms. In contrast, non‐Big Six actuaries have less impact on under‐reserving by weak insurers. Our results suggest that the quality usually associated with Big Six auditors falls when the audit firm relies on third party actuaries to evaluate the loss reserve estimates of struggling insurance clients. We conjecture that Big Six actuaries insist on more conservative loss reserve levels because, compared to actuarial consulting firms, they are more attuned to the liability exposure of the auditor.

Suggested Citation

  • Jennifer J. Gaver & Jeffrey S. Paterson, 2001. "The Association between External Monitoring and Earnings Management in the Property‐Casualty Insurance Industry," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(2), pages 269-282, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:joares:v:39:y:2001:i:2:p:269-282
    DOI: 10.1111/1475-679X.00012
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    Cited by:

    1. Jiang Cheng & Travis Chow & Tzu‐Ting Lin & Jeffrey Ng, 2022. "The effect of accounting for income tax uncertainty on tax‐deductible loss accruals for private insurers," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 89(2), pages 505-544, June.
    2. Stephen G. Fier & Andre P. Liebenberg, 2014. "The Market for Directors’ and Officers’ Insurance," Risk Management and Insurance Review, American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 17(2), pages 215-239, September.
    3. Anis Ben Amar & Mohamed Chabchoub, 2016. "Audit Quality and Earnings Management to Avoid Losses and Earnings Decreases: The French Case," International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, vol. 6(4), pages 20-27, October.
    4. Dechow, Patricia & Ge, Weili & Schrand, Catherine, 2010. "Understanding earnings quality: A review of the proxies, their determinants and their consequences," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 344-401, December.
    5. Ho, Po-Hsin & Huang, Chia-Wei & Lin, Chih-Yung & Yen, Ju-Fang, 2024. "Risk culture in corporate innovation," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    6. Shan Ge, 2022. "How Do Financial Constraints Affect Product Pricing? Evidence from Weather and Life Insurance Premiums," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 77(1), pages 449-503, February.
    7. Gaver, Jennifer J. & Paterson, Jeffrey S., 2007. "The influence of large clients on office-level auditor oversight: Evidence from the property-casualty insurance industry," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2-3), pages 299-320, July.
    8. Jill Bisco & Kathleen McCullough & Hugo Moises Montesinos Yufa & Eleanor Tice Sirmans, 2023. "The impact of monitor choice on insurer loss reserves," Risk Management and Insurance Review, American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 26(1), pages 83-105, March.
    9. Tom Van Caneghem, 2004. "The impact of audit quality on earnings rounding-up behaviour: some UK evidence," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(4), pages 771-786.
    10. Yu-Luen Ma & Nat Pope, 2020. "The impact of Sarbanes–Oxley on property-casualty insurer loss reserve estimates," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 45(2), pages 313-334, April.
    11. Han, Sangyong & Lai, Gene C. & Ho, Chia-Ling, 2018. "Corporate transparency and reserve management: Evidence from US property-liability insurance companies," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 379-392.
    12. Ahmad Hussein Juma’h, 2014. "The Materiality Concept: Implications for Managers and Investors," Revista Finanzas y Politica Economica, Universidad Católica de Colombia, vol. 6(1), pages 159-168, April.
    13. Divya Anantharaman, 2017. "The role of specialists in financial reporting: Evidence from pension accounting," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 1261-1306, September.
    14. Stefano Azzali & Tatiana Mazza, 2017. "The Association between Big4 and Cost of Debt in Private Firms," FINANCIAL REPORTING, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2017(1), pages 63-82.
    15. Sebastiano Mazzù & Stefano Monferrà & Maria Grazia Starita, 2015. "Does Corporate Governance Affect Earnings Management? Evidence from the US P&C Insurance Industry," Journal of Financial Management, Markets and Institutions, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 2, pages 203-224, December.
    16. Li‐Ying Huang & Gene C. Lai & Erin Lu & Michael McNamara, 2020. "Auditor quality, audit fees, organizational structure, and risk taking in the US life insurance industry," Risk Management and Insurance Review, American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 23(2), pages 151-182, June.
    17. Michael D. Pfarrer & Ken G. Smith & Kathryn M. Bartol & Dmitry M. Khanin & Xiaomeng Zhang, 2008. "Coming Forward: The Effects of Social and Regulatory Forces on the Voluntary Restatement of Earnings Subsequent to Wrongdoing," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 19(3), pages 386-403, June.
    18. Ege, Matthew S. & Stuber, Sarah B., 2022. "Are auditors rewarded for low audit quality? The case of auditor lenience in the insurance industry," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(1).

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