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Market Response to Earnings Surprises Conditional on Reasons for an Auditor Change

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  • Karl E. Hackenbrack
  • Chris E. Hogan

Abstract

Our interest in this study is the relative informativeness of earnings announcements reported before and after Form 8†K disclosures of the reason for an auditor change. We appeal to several models that predict that the market's response to an earnings surprise is positively related to the perceived precision of the earnings report. We predict that the Form 8†K reason disclosures aid investors in updating their expectations of earnings precision by providing useful information about the financial reporting process that produces the earnings report. For 802 auditor changes from late 1991 through late 1997, the average price response per unit of earnings surprise is lower subsequent to an auditor change for companies that switched for disagreement†related or fee†related reasons and higher for those that switched for service†related reasons. This paper provides further evidence on the effects of differential earnings quality on differences in the returns†earnings relation across companies and over time as well as the efficacy of Form 8†K disclosures of reasons for auditor changes.

Suggested Citation

  • Karl E. Hackenbrack & Chris E. Hogan, 2002. "Market Response to Earnings Surprises Conditional on Reasons for an Auditor Change," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(2), pages 195-223, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:coacre:v:19:y:2002:i:2:p:195-223
    DOI: 10.1506/5XW7-9CY6-LLJY-BA2F
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    Cited by:

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    2. Wouter Dutillieux & Donald Stokes & Marleen Willekens & Gary Monroe, 2013. "Strategic pricing by Big 4 audit firms in private client segments," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 53(4), pages 961-994, December.
    3. Thomas G. Calderon, 2008. "Determinants of client-initiated and auditor-initiated auditor changes," Managerial Auditing Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 23(1), pages 4-25, January.
    4. Hanwen Chen & Wang Dong & Hongling Han & Nan Zhou, 2017. "A comprehensive and quantitative internal control index: construction, validation, and impact," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 49(2), pages 337-377, August.
    5. DeFond, Mark & Zhang, Jieying, 2014. "A review of archival auditing research," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 275-326.
    6. Jeffery W. Gunther & Robert R. Moore, 2002. "Auditing the auditors: oversight or overkill?," Economic and Financial Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, vol. 1(5).
    7. Lee, Cheol & Park, Myung S., 2013. "Subjectivity in fair-value estimates, audit quality, and informativeness of other comprehensive income," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 218-231.
    8. Mande, Vivek & Son, Myungsoo & Song, Hakjoon, 2017. "Auditor search periods as signals of engagement risk: Effects on auditor choice and audit pricing," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 15-29.
    9. Peecher, Mark E. & Solomon, Ira & Trotman, Ken T., 2013. "An accountability framework for financial statement auditors and related research questions," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 596-620.
    10. Schneider, Arnold, 2015. "Does information about auditor switches affect investing decisions?," Research in Accounting Regulation, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 39-44.
    11. Xiao, Gang, 2015. "Trading and earnings management: Evidence from China's non-tradable share reform," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 67-90.
    12. 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.
    13. Dong, Bei & Robinson, Dahlia & Robinson, Michael, 2015. "The market's response to earnings surprises after first-time going-concern modifications," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 21-32.
    14. Eric Lohwasser & Yaou Zhou, 2024. "Earnings Management, Auditor Changes and Ethics: Evidence from Companies Missing Earnings Expectations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 191(3), pages 551-570, May.
    15. Rani Hoitash & Udi Hoitash, 2009. "The role of audit committees in managing relationships with external auditors after SOX: Evidence from the USA," Managerial Auditing Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 24(4), pages 368-397, April.
    16. Brandon Gipper & Christian Leuz & Mark Maffett, 2015. "Public Audit Oversight and Reporting Credibility: Evidence from the PCAOB Inspection Regime," NBER Working Papers 21530, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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