IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jiaata/v19y2010i1p66-78.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Auditor liability to third parties after Sarbanes-Oxley: An international comparison of regulatory and legal reforms

Author

Listed:
  • Chung, Janne
  • Farrar, Jonathan
  • Puri, Poonam
  • Thorne, Linda

Abstract

This study compares the status of auditors’ legal liability to third parties in seven countries. It analyzes recent legislation, regulation, and case law as well as pronouncements from national accounting and auditing bodies. With the increasing internationalization of capital markets and audit firms, an understanding of auditor liability on a global basis is important. Our findings show that common law countries (the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand) have enacted legislative reforms that directly or indirectly increased auditors’ liability. In contrast, civil law countries (Germany and France) did not mandate legislative or regulatory reforms.

Suggested Citation

  • Chung, Janne & Farrar, Jonathan & Puri, Poonam & Thorne, Linda, 2010. "Auditor liability to third parties after Sarbanes-Oxley: An international comparison of regulatory and legal reforms," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 66-78.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jiaata:v:19:y:2010:i:1:p:66-78
    DOI: 10.1016/j.intaccaudtax.2009.12.005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1061951809000317
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.intaccaudtax.2009.12.005?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. Reiner Quick, 1996. "The legal liability of auditors in Germany," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(3), pages 507-521.
    2. La Porta, Rafael & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1997. "Legal Determinants of External Finance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(3), pages 1131-1150, July.
    3. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1998. "Law and Finance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(6), pages 1113-1155, December.
    4. C. Richard Baker & Alain Mikol & Reiner Quick, 2001. "Regulation of the statutory auditor in the European Union: a comparative survey of the United Kingdom, France and Germany," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(4), pages 763-786.
    5. Tim Bush & Shyam Sunder & Stella Fearnley, 2007. "Auditor Liability Reforms in the UK and the US: A Comparative Review," Yale School of Management Working Papers amz2575, Yale School of Management.
    6. Quick, Reiner & Baker, R. & Mikol, A., 2001. "Regulation of the Statutory Auditor in the European Union: A Comparative Survey of the United Kingdom, France and Germany," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 67744, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    7. Quick, Reiner & Köhler, A. & Marten, K.-U. & Ruhnke, K., 2008. "Audit regulation in Germany: improvements driven by internationalization," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 35710, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    8. Gietzmann, M. B. & Quick, R., 1998. "Capping auditor liability: The German experience," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 81-103, January.
    9. Eric Nowak, 2001. "Recent Developments In German Capital Markets And Corporate Governance," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 14(3), pages 35-48, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Charles E. Jordan & Stanley J. Clark & Marilyn A. Waldron, 2014. "Cosmetic Earnings Management before and after Corporate Governance Legislation in Canada," Accounting and Finance Research, Sciedu Press, vol. 3(4), pages 105-105, August.
    2. Flasher, Renee & Schenck, Kristy, 2019. "Exploring PCAOB inspection results for audit firms headquartered outside of the US," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    3. Pei-Cheng Liao & Suresh Radhakrishnan, 2020. "Auditors’ Liability to Lenders and Auditor Conservatism," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(8), pages 3788-3798, August.
    4. Al-Hadi, Ahmed & Taylor, Grantley & Monzur Hasan, Mostafa & Eulaiwi, Baban, 2023. "Third-party auditor liability and financial restatements," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(2).
    5. Anna Samsonova-Taddei & Javed Siddiqui, 2016. "Regulation and the Promotion of Audit Ethics: Analysis of the Content of the EU’s Policy," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 139(1), pages 183-195, November.
    6. Samsonova-Taddei, Anna & Humphrey, Christopher, 2015. "Risk and the construction of a European audit policy agenda: The case of auditor liability," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 55-72.
    7. Dykxhoorn, Hans J. & Sinning, Kathleen E., 2010. "A review and analysis of international accounting research in JIAAT: 2002–2010," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 137-153.
    8. Seyed Mahmoud Hosseinniakani & Helena Inacio & Rui Mota, 2014. "A Review on Audit Quality Factors," 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. 4(2), pages 243-254, April.

    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. Beatriz García Osma & Ana Gisbert & Elena Heras Cristóbal, 2017. "Public oversight systems for statutory auditors in the European Union," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 517-552, December.
    2. Joseph Weber & Michael Willenborg & Jieying Zhang, 2008. "Does Auditor Reputation Matter? The Case of KPMG Germany and ComROAD AG," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(4), pages 941-972, September.
    3. Daniela Hohenfels & Reiner Quick, 2020. "Non-audit services and audit quality: evidence from Germany," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 14(5), pages 959-1007, October.
    4. Fülbier, Rolf Uwe & Klein, Malte, 2013. "Financial accounting and reporting in Germany: A case study on German accounting tradition and experiences with the IFRS adoption," Bayreuth Working Papers on Finance, Accounting and Taxation (FAcT-Papers) 2013-01, University of Bayreuth, Chair of Finance and Banking.
    5. Philip Brown & John Preiato & Ann Tarca, 2014. "Measuring Country Differences in Enforcement of Accounting Standards: An Audit and Enforcement Proxy," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(1-2), pages 1-52, January.
    6. Reiner Quick & Niklas Schenk & Florian Schmidt & Thilo Towara, 2018. "The impact of corporate governance on auditor choice: evidence from Germany," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 22(2), pages 251-283, June.
    7. Meuwissen, Roger & Quick, Reiner, 2019. "The effects of non-audit services on auditor independence: An experimental investigation of supervisory board members’ perceptions," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 1-1.
    8. M. Lüpold & Gerhard Schnyder, 2009. "Horse, Cow, Sheep, or 'Thing-In-Itself'? The Cognitive Origins of Corporate Governance in Switzerland, Germany, and the US, 1910s-1930s," Working Papers wp383, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    9. Cédric Lesage & Sabine Ratzinger & Jaana Kettunen, 2012. "Struggle over joint audit: on behalf of public interest?," Post-Print hal-00935004, HAL.
    10. Cooray, Arusha, 2011. "The role of the government in financial sector development," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 928-938, May.
    11. William T. Allen & Han Shen, 2011. "Assessing China's Top-Down Securities Markets," NBER Working Papers 16713, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Haichao Fan & Xiang Gao, 2017. "Domestic Creditor Rights and External Private Debt," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 127(606), pages 2410-2440, November.
    13. Blazy, Régis & Chopard, Bertrand & Nigam, Nirjhar, 2013. "Building legal indexes to explain recovery rates: An analysis of the French and English bankruptcy codes," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 1936-1959.
    14. Katharina Pistor & Martin Raiser & Stanislaw Gelfer, 2000. "Law and Finance in Transition Economies," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 8(2), pages 325-368, July.
    15. Knack, Steve & Xu, Lixin Colin, 2017. "Unbundling institutions for external finance: Worldwide firm-level evidence," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 215-232.
    16. Astudillo, Alfonso & Braun, Matías & Castañeda, Pablo, 2011. "The going public decision and the structure of equity markets," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(7), pages 1451-1470.
    17. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silane & Cristian Pop-Eleches & Andrei Shleifer, 2002. "The Guarantees of Freedom," NBER Working Papers 8759, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Miguel García-Posada & Juan Mora-Sanguinetti, 2015. "Entrepreneurship and enforcement institutions: disaggregated evidence for Spain," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 49-74, August.
    19. Massimiliano Affinito, 2011. "Convergence clubs, the euro-area rank and the relationship between banking and real convergence," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 809, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    20. Schertler, Andrea & Tykvová, Tereza, 2011. "Venture capital and internationalization," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 423-439, August.

    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:jiaata:v:19:y:2010:i:1:p:66-78. 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/journal-of-international-accounting-auditing-and-taxation .

    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.