IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/rqfnac/v52y2019i3d10.1007_s11156-018-0728-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Managerial overconfidence, ability, firm-governance and audit fees

Author

Listed:
  • Santanu Mitra

    (Wayne State University)

  • Bikki Jaggi

    (Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)

  • Talal Al-Hayale

    (University of Windsor)

Abstract

Prior studies document that managerial overconfidence potentially increases the risk of financial misstatements, and that overconfident managers purchase lower quality audits and pay lower audit fees. As a part of the research that evaluates the information value of managerial characteristics to auditors, our study examines how the relationship between managerial overconfidence and audit fees is impacted by managerial ability, and board and audit committee effectiveness in the post-Sarbanes–Oxley (post-SOX) environment. In general, we find a significantly positive relationship between managerial overconfidence and audit fees consistent with the supply-side risk based perspective of audit pricing. However, this relationship is significantly attenuated in higher managerial ability firms where overconfident managers are better able to make proper accounting estimates and judgements required for producing reliable financial statements, and synthesize firm-specific information into appropriate forward looking projections. We find that on an average, the overconfident firms with higher managerial ability pay 6.3% lower audit fees than the overconfident firms with lower managerial ability. Our analyses further show that board characteristics positively impact the relationship between managerial overconfidence and audit fees, suggesting that stronger board monitoring increases the demand for higher quality audits to mitigate the reporting risk of the overconfident firms. On an average, the firms with managerial overconfidence pay additional 9.3% higher audit fees when they are subject to stronger and more effective board oversight. However, we find weaker evidence on the effect of audit committee characteristics on audit fees of the overconfident firms. Our primary results hold for a battery of supplemental tests including the tests using propensity-score matched sample. The study contributes to audit fee and corporate governance literature, and has useful implications for regulators, accounting practitioners, and auditors.

Suggested Citation

  • Santanu Mitra & Bikki Jaggi & Talal Al-Hayale, 2019. "Managerial overconfidence, ability, firm-governance and audit fees," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 52(3), pages 841-870, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:rqfnac:v:52:y:2019:i:3:d:10.1007_s11156-018-0728-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s11156-018-0728-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11156-018-0728-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11156-018-0728-3?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. Anwer S. Ahmed & Scott Duellman, 2013. "Managerial Overconfidence and Accounting Conservatism," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(1), pages 1-30, March.
    2. Chris E. Hogan & Michael S. Wilkins, 2008. "Evidence on the Audit Risk Model: Do Auditors Increase Audit Fees in the Presence of Internal Control Deficiencies?," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(1), pages 219-242, March.
    3. 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.
    4. Malmendier, Ulrike & Tate, Geoffrey, 2008. "Who makes acquisitions? CEO overconfidence and the market's reaction," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 20-43, July.
    5. Biddle, Gary C. & Hilary, Gilles & Verdi, Rodrigo S., 2009. "How does financial reporting quality relate to investment efficiency?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(2-3), pages 112-131, December.
    6. Feng, Mei & Ge, Weili & Luo, Shuqing & Shevlin, Terry, 2011. "Why do CFOs become involved in material accounting manipulations?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 21-36.
    7. Simunic, Da, 1980. "The Pricing Of Audit Services - Theory And Evidence," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(1), pages 161-190.
    8. Ulrike Malmendier & Geoffrey Tate, 2005. "CEO Overconfidence and Corporate Investment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(6), pages 2661-2700, December.
    9. Duellman, Scott & Hurwitz, Helen & Sun, Yan, 2015. "Managerial overconfidence and audit fees," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 148-165.
    10. Scott Whisenant & Srinivasan Sankaraguruswamy & K. Raghunandan, 2003. "Evidence on the Joint Determination of Audit and Non‐Audit Fees," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(4), pages 721-744, September.
    11. Libby, Robert & Luft, Joan, 1993. "Determinants of judgment performance in accounting settings: Ability, knowledge, motivation, and environment," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 425-450, July.
    12. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 1997. "Industry costs of equity," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 153-193, February.
    13. Craswell, Allen T. & Francis, Jere R. & Taylor, Stephen L., 1995. "Auditor brand name reputations and industry specializations," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 297-322, December.
    14. Bernard, Vl, 1987. "Cross-Sectional Dependence And Problems In Inference In Market-Based Accounting Research," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 1-48.
    15. Ali, Ashiq & Zhang, Weining, 2015. "CEO tenure and earnings management," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 60-79.
    16. Tien-Shih Hsieh & Jean C. Bedard & Karla M. Johnstone, 2014. "CEO Overconfidence and Earnings Management During Shifting Regulatory Regimes," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(9-10), pages 1243-1268, November.
    17. Lev, B & Thiagarajan, Sr, 1993. "Fundamental Information Analysis," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(2), pages 190-215.
    18. Patricia M. Dechow & Richard G. Sloan & Amy P. Sweeney, 1996. "Causes and Consequences of Earnings Manipulation: An Analysis of Firms Subject to Enforcement Actions by the SEC," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(1), pages 1-36, March.
    19. Paul Hribar & Holly Yang, 2016. "CEO Overconfidence and Management Forecasting," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 33(1), pages 204-227, March.
    20. MARK L. DeFOND & JAMES JIAMBALVO, 1993. "Factors Related to Auditor†Client Disagreements over Income†Increasing Accounting Methods," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 9(2), pages 415-431, March.
    21. 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.
    22. Craswell, Allen & Stokes, Donald J. & Laughton, Janet, 2002. "Auditor independence and fee dependence," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 253-275, June.
    23. Klein, April, 2002. "Audit committee, board of director characteristics, and earnings management," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 375-400, August.
    24. Nikos Vafeas & James Waegelein, 2007. "The association between audit committees, compensation incentives, and corporate audit fees," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 241-255, April.
    25. Peter Demerjian & Baruch Lev & Sarah McVay, 2012. "Quantifying Managerial Ability: A New Measure and Validity Tests," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(7), pages 1229-1248, July.
    26. Xie, Biao & Davidson, Wallace III & DaDalt, Peter J., 2003. "Earnings management and corporate governance: the role of the board and the audit committee," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 295-316, June.
    27. Santanu Mitra & Mahmud Hossain & Donald Deis, 2007. "The empirical relationship between ownership characteristics and audit fees," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 257-285, April.
    28. Huang, Xuerong (Sharon) & Sun, Li, 2017. "Managerial ability and real earnings management," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 91-104.
    29. Jeffrey Cohen & Ganesh Krishnamoorthy & Arnold M. Wright, 2002. "Corporate Governance and the Audit Process," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(4), pages 573-594, December.
    30. Schrand, Catherine M. & Zechman, Sarah L.C., 2012. "Executive overconfidence and the slippery slope to financial misreporting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 311-329.
    31. Presley, Theresa J. & Abbott, Lawrence J., 2013. "AIA submission: CEO overconfidence and the incidence of financial restatement," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 74-84.
    32. Ulrike Malmendier & Geoffrey Tate & Jon Yan, 2011. "Overconfidence and Early‐Life Experiences: The Effect of Managerial Traits on Corporate Financial Policies," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(5), pages 1687-1733, October.
    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. Sanyaolu Wasiu Abiodun & Tonade Abiola Mukaila & Adejumo Babatunde Titus, 2021. "Corporate Board of Directors’ Attributes and Audit Fees," Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 9(1), pages 156-172, September.
    2. Yang, Xin & Wei, Luohan & Deng, Rantian & Cao, Jie & Huang, Chuangxia, 2023. "Can climate-related risks increase audit fees?–Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    3. Sudip Datta & Anand Jha & Manoj Kulchania, 2020. "On accounting’s twenty-first century challenge: evidence on the relation between intangible assets and audit fees," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 55(1), pages 123-162, July.
    4. Kusharyanti Kusharyanti & Indra Wijaya Kusuma, 2020. "Overconfident Management and the Audit Fee Demand-Side Perspective," Asian Economic and Financial Review, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 10(10), pages 1131-1146, October.
    5. Eulaiwi, Baban & Al-Hadi, Ahmed & Taylor, Grantley & Dutta, Saurav & Duong, Lien & Richardson, Grant, 2021. "Tax haven Use, the pricing of audit and Non-audit Services, suspicious matters reporting obligations and whistle blower hotline Facilities: Evidence from Australian financial corporations," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2).
    6. Shu-Fen Chuah & Swee-Sim Foong, 2019. "Managerial Ability and Firm Performance in Malaysia: Do Familiness and Foreignness of the CEOs Matter?," Review of Pacific Basin Financial Markets and Policies (RPBFMP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 22(03), pages 1-31, September.
    7. Eulaiwi, Baban & Khalaf, Nihad Shareef & Al-Hadi, Ahmed & Duong, Lien & Taylor, Grantley, 2024. "Money laundering governance and income shifting: Evidence from Australian financial institutions," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    8. 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).
    9. Iman Harymawan & Aditya Aji Prabhawa & Mohammad Nasih & Fajar Kristanto Gautama Putra, 2021. "Risk Management Committee, Auditor Choice and Audit Fees," Risks, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-16, August.
    10. Liu, Xinghe & Xu, Huifeng & Lu, Meiting, 2021. "Do auditors respond to stringent environmental regulation? Evidence from China’s new environmental protection law," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 54-67.
    11. Hidaya Lawati & Khaled Hussainey & Roza Sagitova, 2021. "Disclosure quality vis-à-vis disclosure quantity: Does audit committee matter in Omani financial institutions?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 557-594, August.
    12. Baban Eulaiwi & Ahmed Al‐Hadi & Lien Duong & Keira Clark & Grantley Taylor & Brian Perrin, 2022. "Audit pricing and corporate whistleblower governance: evidence from Australian financial firms," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(2), pages 2339-2384, June.
    13. Marwa Elnahass & Kamil Omoteso & Aly Salama & Vu Quang Trinh, 2020. "Differential market valuations of board busyness across alternative banking models," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 55(1), pages 201-238, July.
    14. Xing-Xing He & De-Cong Xie & Ze-Min Hu & Xing-Li Bao & Lin Li, 2020. "Impact of managerial overconfidence on abnormal audit fee: From the perspective of balance mechanism of shareholders," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(9), pages 1-13, September.
    15. Luminita Enache & Antonio Parbonetti & Anup Srivastava, 2020. "Are all outside directors created equal with respect to firm disclosure policy?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 541-577, August.
    16. Puspita Ghaniy Anggraini & Mahfud Sholihin, 2023. "What do we know about managerial ability? A systematic literature review," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 73(1), pages 1-30, February.
    17. Santanu Mitra & Hakjoon Song & Sang Mook Lee & Shin Hyoung Kwon, 2020. "CEO tenure and audit pricing," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 427-459, August.
    18. Sanjukta Brahma & Agyenim Boateng & Sardar Ahmad, 2023. "Board overconfidence and M&A performance: evidence from the UK," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 60(4), pages 1363-1391, May.
    19. Jennifer Kunz & Lara Sonnenholzner, 2023. "Managerial overconfidence: promoter of or obstacle to organizational resilience?," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 67-128, January.
    20. Jieqi Guan & Brian M. Lam & Ching Chi Lam & Ming Liu, 2022. "CEO overconfidence and the level of short-selling activity," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 685-708, February.

    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. Duellman, Scott & Hurwitz, Helen & Sun, Yan, 2015. "Managerial overconfidence and audit fees," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 148-165.
    2. DeFond, Mark & Zhang, Jieying, 2014. "A review of archival auditing research," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 275-326.
    3. Kim, Mindy (Hyo Jung), 2021. "Effects of managerial overconfidence and ability on going-concern decisions and auditor turnover," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    4. Kusharyanti Kusharyanti & Indra Wijaya Kusuma, 2020. "Overconfident Management and the Audit Fee Demand-Side Perspective," Asian Economic and Financial Review, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 10(10), pages 1131-1146, October.
    5. Sanaz Aghazadeh & Lili Sun & Qian Wang & Rong Yang, 2018. "Investors’ perception of CEO overconfidence: evidence from the cost of equity capital," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 1129-1150, November.
    6. Jennifer Kunz & Lara Sonnenholzner, 2023. "Managerial overconfidence: promoter of or obstacle to organizational resilience?," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 67-128, January.
    7. Rustam, Sehrish & Rashid, Kashif & Zaman, Khalid, 2013. "The relationship between audit committees, compensation incentives and corporate audit fees in Pakistan," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 697-716.
    8. Karel Hrazdil & Jiri Novak & Rafael Rogo & Christine Wiedman & Ray Zhang, 2020. "Measuring executive personality using machine‐learning algorithms: A new approach and audit fee‐based validation tests," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(3-4), pages 519-544, March.
    9. Tri Tri Nguyen & Chau Minh Duong & Sunitha Narendran, 2021. "CEO profile and earnings quality," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 987-1025, April.
    10. Theophilus Lartey & Albert Danso, 2022. "CEO overconfidence and debt covenant violations," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 45(1), pages 162-199, March.
    11. Plöckinger, Martin & Aschauer, Ewald & Hiebl, Martin R.W. & Rohatschek, Roman, 2016. "The influence of individual executives on corporate financial reporting: A review and outlook from the perspective of upper echelons theory," Journal of Accounting Literature, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 55-75.
    12. Juwon Jang & Eunju Lee, 2024. "CEO confidence matters: the real effects of short sale constraints revisited," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 62(2), pages 603-636, February.
    13. Sumiyana Sumiyana & Ainun Na’im & Albertus H. L. Nugroho & Firdaus Kurniawan, 2023. "Multiple measurements of CEOs’ overconfidence and future earnings management: evidence from Asia-Pacific developing countries," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-11, December.
    14. Kouaib, Amel & Jarboui, Anis, 2017. "The mediating effect of REM on the relationship between CEO overconfidence and subsequent firm performance moderated by IFRS adoption: A moderated-mediation analysis," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 338-352.
    15. Cai, Ye & Kim, Yongtae & Li, Siqi & Pan, Carrie, 2019. "Tone at the top: CEOs’ religious beliefs and earnings management," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 195-213.
    16. Athanasakou, Vasiliki & Ferreira, Daniel & Goh, Lisa, 2022. "Changes in CEO stock option grants: a look at the numbers," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 115609, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    17. Athanasakou, Vasiliki & Ferreira, Daniel & Goh, Lisa, 2022. "Changes in CEO stock option grants: A look at the numbers," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    18. David B. Bryan & Terry W. Mason, 2020. "Independent director reputation incentives, accruals quality and audit fees," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(7-8), pages 982-1011, July.
    19. Bai, Min & Li, Shihe & Xu, Limin & Yu, Chia-Feng (Jeffrey), 2022. "How do overconfident CEOs respond to regulation fair disclosure? Evidence from financial report readability," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    20. Lin, Chih-Yung & Chen, Yehning & Ho, Po-Hsin & Yen, Ju-Fang, 2020. "CEO overconfidence and bank loan contracting," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Audit fees; Audit risk; Board and audit committee characteristics; Managerial ability; Managerial overconfidence;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M40 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - General
    • 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:kap:rqfnac:v:52:y:2019:i:3:d:10.1007_s11156-018-0728-3. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://springer.com .

    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.