IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/bracre/v56y2024i2s0890838923001361.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Stuck in traffic: Do auditors price traffic congestion?

Author

Listed:
  • Hao, Jie
  • Pham, Viet Tuan

Abstract

Although the detrimental impact of traffic congestion on firm operations and human health is widely acknowledged, it is unclear whether auditors perceive traffic congestion as a risk factor. We posit and find that the traffic congestion levels in audit clients' domicile cities are positively associated with audit fees. Using a structured equation model, we identify and illustrate several channels that explain the effect of traffic congestion on audit fees. We also find evidence of audit fee increases after events that expose clients to higher levels of traffic congestion. Finally, the effect of traffic congestion on audit fees is more pronounced when clients have higher operation concentration near their headquarters or when auditors' offices are located near clients’ headquarters. Collectively, our findings suggest that auditors view traffic congestion as a risk factor that is priced into audit fees.

Suggested Citation

  • Hao, Jie & Pham, Viet Tuan, 2024. "Stuck in traffic: Do auditors price traffic congestion?," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(2).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:bracre:v:56:y:2024:i:2:s0890838923001361
    DOI: 10.1016/j.bar.2023.101279
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890838923001361
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.bar.2023.101279?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Timothy B. Bell & Wayne R. Landsman & Douglas A. Shackelford, 2001. "Auditors' Perceived Business Risk and Audit Fees: Analysis and Evidence," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(1), pages 35-43, June.
    2. Joseph V. Carcello & Dana R. Hermanson & Terry L. Neal & Richard A. Riley, 2002. "Board Characteristics and Audit Fees," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(3), pages 365-384, September.
    3. Palmrose, Zv, 1986. "Audit Fees And Auditor Size - Further Evidence," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(1), pages 97-110.
    4. Lambert, Tamara A. & Jones, Keith L. & Brazel, Joseph F. & Showalter, D. Scott, 2017. "Audit time pressure and earnings quality: An examination of accelerated filings," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 50-66.
    5. Simunic, Da, 1980. "The Pricing Of Audit Services - Theory And Evidence," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(1), pages 161-190.
    6. Hainmueller, Jens, 2012. "Entropy Balancing for Causal Effects: A Multivariate Reweighting Method to Produce Balanced Samples in Observational Studies," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(1), pages 25-46, January.
    7. Alberto Abadie, 2005. "Semiparametric Difference-in-Differences Estimators," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 72(1), pages 1-19.
    8. Markus Widmann & Florian Follert & Matthias Wolz, 2021. "What is it going to cost? Empirical evidence from a systematic literature review of audit fee determinants," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 71(2), pages 455-489, April.
    9. Michael L. Anderson, 2014. "Subways, Strikes, and Slowdowns: The Impacts of Public Transit on Traffic Congestion," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(9), pages 2763-2796, September.
    10. Gee, Gilbert C. & Takeuchi, D.T.David T., 2004. "Traffic stress, vehicular burden and well-being: A multilevel analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 59(2), pages 405-414, July.
    11. Hymel, Kent, 2009. "Does traffic congestion reduce employment growth?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 127-135, March.
    12. DeAngelo, Linda Elizabeth, 1981. "Auditor size and audit quality," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 183-199, December.
    13. Singh, Harjinder & Sultana, Nigar & Islam, Ariful & Singh, Abhijeet, 2022. "Busy auditors, financial reporting timeliness and quality," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(3).
    14. Jeffrey M Wooldridge, 2010. "Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 2, volume 1, number 0262232588, April.
    15. John G. Fernald, 1999. "Roads to Prosperity? Assessing the Link between Public Capital and Productivity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(3), pages 619-638, June.
    16. Janet Currie & Reed Walker, 2011. "Traffic Congestion and Infant Health: Evidence from E-ZPass," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(1), pages 65-90, January.
    17. Ferdinand A. Gul & Anthony C. Ng, 2018. "Auditee Religiosity, External Monitoring, and the Pricing of Audit Services," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(2), pages 409-436, October.
    18. Schoenfeld, Jordan, 2017. "The effect of voluntary disclosure on stock liquidity: New evidence from index funds," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 51-74.
    19. Christensen, Brant E. & Newton, Nathan J. & Wilkins, Michael S., 2021. "How do team workloads and team staffing affect the audit? Archival evidence from U.S. audits," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    20. Seetharaman, Ananth & Gul, Ferdinand A. & Lynn, Stephen G., 2002. "Litigation risk and audit fees: evidence from UK firms cross-listed on US markets," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 91-115, February.
    21. Jie Hao & Viet Pham & Meng Guo, 2022. "The Gender Effects of Audit Partners on Audit Outcomes: Evidence of Rule 3211 Adoption," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 177(2), pages 275-304, May.
    22. García, Diego & Norli, Øyvind, 2012. "Geographic dispersion and stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(3), pages 547-565.
    23. Smith, Jared D., 2016. "US political corruption and firm financial policies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(2), pages 350-367.
    24. Jeff Rojek & Michael R. Smith, 2007. "Law Enforcement Lessons Learned from Hurricane Katrina," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 24(6), pages 589-608, November.
    25. Scott N. Bronson & Aloke (Al) Ghosh & Chris E. Hogan, 2017. "Audit Fee Differential, Audit Effort, and Litigation Risk: An Examination of ADR Firms," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 34(1), pages 83-117, March.
    26. Graham, Daniel J., 2007. "Variable returns to agglomeration and the effect of road traffic congestion," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 103-120, July.
    27. Timothy B. Bell & Rajib Doogar & Ira Solomon, 2008. "Audit Labor Usage and Fees under Business Risk Auditing," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(4), pages 729-760, September.
    28. Lennox, Clive & Li, Bing, 2014. "Accounting misstatements following lawsuits against auditors," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(1), pages 58-75.
    29. Ghafran, Chaudhry & O'Sullivan, Noel, 2017. "The impact of audit committee expertise on audit quality: Evidence from UK audit fees," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(6), pages 578-593.
    30. Kothari, S.P. & Leone, Andrew J. & Wasley, Charles E., 2005. "Performance matched discretionary accrual measures," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 163-197, February.
    31. Call, Andrew C. & Campbell, John L. & Dhaliwal, Dan S. & Moon, James R., 2017. "Employee quality and financial reporting outcomes," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 123-149.
    32. John D. Lyon & Michael W. Maher, 2005. "The Importance of Business Risk in Setting Audit Fees: Evidence from Cases of Client Misconduct," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(1), pages 133-151, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cao, June & Ee, Mong Shan & Hasan, Iftekhar & Huang, He, 2024. "Asymmetric reactions of abnormal audit fees jump to credit rating changes," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(2).
    2. Ahsan Habib & Mostafa Monzur Hasan & Ahmed Al-Hadi, 2018. "Money laundering and audit fees," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(4), pages 427-459, June.
    3. Chen, Huimin (Amy) & Francis, Bill B. & Shen, Yinjie (Victor) & Wu, Qiang, 2024. "The impact of hedge fund activism on audit pricing," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(2).
    4. Chang, Hsihui & Ho, L.C. Jennifer & Liu, Zenghui & Ouyang, Bo, 2021. "Income smoothing and audit fees," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    5. Wen, Fenghua & Chen, Meng & Zhang, Yun & Miao, Xiao, 2023. "Oil price uncertainty and audit fees: Evidence from the energy industry," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    6. Gu, Junjian, 2021. "FDI characteristics, industry homogeneity, and audit fees in Japanese multinationals," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    7. DeFond, Mark & Zhang, Jieying, 2014. "A review of archival auditing research," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 275-326.
    8. Smith, Deborah Drummond & Gleason, Kimberly C. & Kannan, Yezen H., 2021. "Auditor liability and excess cash holdings: Evidence from audit fees of foreign incorporated firms," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    9. Bhuiyan, Md. Borhan Uddin & Rahman, Asheq & Sultana, Nigar, 2020. "Female tainted directors, financial reporting quality and audit fees," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2).
    10. Bryan, David B. & Mason, Terry W., 2017. "Executive tournament incentives and audit fees," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 30-45.
    11. Rajib Doogar & Padmakumar Sivadasan & Ira Solomon, 2010. "The Regulation of Public Company Auditing: Evidence from the Transition to AS5," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(4), pages 795-814, September.
    12. Costa, Mabel D. & Habib, Ahsan, 2023. "Local creative culture and audit fees," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(2).
    13. David C. Hay & W. Robert Knechel & Norman Wong, 2006. "Audit Fees: A Meta†analysis of the Effect of Supply and Demand Attributes," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(1), pages 141-191, March.
    14. Stergios Leventis & Emmanouil Dedoulis & Omneya Abdelsalam, 2018. "The Impact of Religiosity on Audit Pricing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 148(1), pages 53-78, March.
    15. Kim, Oksana, 2021. "The impact of economic sanctions on audit pricing," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2).
    16. Li, Tianpei (Constance) & Walton, Stephanie, 2023. "Is there a dark side of competition? Product market competition and auditor-client contracting," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    17. Alhababsah, Salem & Yekini, Sina, 2021. "Audit committee and audit quality: An empirical analysis considering industry expertise, legal expertise and gender diversity," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).
    18. Krishnan, Gopal V. & Singer, Zvi & Zhang, Jing, 2023. "Audit partner ethnicity and salient audit phenomena," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    19. Xue, Bai & O'Sullivan, Noel, 2023. "The determinants of audit fees in the alternative investment market (Aim) in the UK: Evidence on the impact of risk, corporate governance and auditor size," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    20. Christensen, Brant & Schmardebeck, Roy & Seidel, Timothy, 2022. "Do auditors’ incentives affect materiality assessments of prior-period misstatements?," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Traffic congestion; Audit fees; Audit effort; Audit risk;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R41 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Transportation: Demand, Supply, and Congestion; Travel Time; Safety and Accidents; Transportation Noise
    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting
    • M42 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Auditing

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:bracre:v:56:y:2024:i:2:s0890838923001361. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/the-british-accounting-review .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.