IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/coacre/v36y2019i1p198-229.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do Investors Respond to Explanatory Language Included in Unqualified Audit Reports?

Author

Listed:
  • Keith Czerney
  • Jaime J. Schmidt
  • Anne M. Thompson

Abstract

This article investigates whether investors respond to explanatory language (EL) added to unqualified audit reports. Although prior research finds an association between auditor EL and lower financial reporting quality, surveys suggest that many investors limit their attention to the unqualified nature of the opinion. We use three‐day abnormal returns and abnormal trading volume to measure investor response to EL in unqualified audit reports issued from 2000 to 2014. We find little evidence to indicate that investors respond to auditor EL at the audit report release date. In further analyses, we find that the lack of investor response is attributable both to incomplete investor reactions (55 percent of EL occurrences) and previous incorporation of EL (40 percent of EL occurrences). Overall, the results support policymakers’ initiatives to improve the usefulness of unqualified audit reports. Les investisseurs réagissent‐ils au texte explicatif des rapports d'audit sans réserve ? Les auteurs se demandent si les investisseurs réagissent au texte explicatif ajouté dans les rapports d'audit sans réserve. Bien qu'un lien entre le texte explicatif de l'auditeur et la qualité inférieure de l'information financière ait été observé dans de précédentes études, les sondages semblent indiquer que seule l'absence de réserve dans le rapport d'audit retient l'attention de bon nombre d'investisseurs. Les auteurs utilisent les rendements anormaux et les volumes d’échange anormaux notés sur une période de trois jours pour évaluer la réaction des investisseurs au texte explicatif que contiennent les rapports d'audit sans réserve publiés entre 2000 et 2014. Ils relèvent peu d'indications susceptibles de confirmer que les investisseurs réagissent au texte explicatif de l'auditeur à la date de publication du rapport d'audit. En poussant plus loin leurs analyses, les auteurs constatent que l'absence de réaction des investisseurs est attribuable à la fois à l'incomplétude de leur réaction (55 pour cent des occurrences de texte explicatif) et à l'intégration antérieure du texte explicatif (40 pour cent des occurrences de texte explicatif). Dans l'ensemble, les résultats justifient les efforts des normalisateurs pour améliorer l'utilité des rapports d'audit sans réserve.

Suggested Citation

  • Keith Czerney & Jaime J. Schmidt & Anne M. Thompson, 2019. "Do Investors Respond to Explanatory Language Included in Unqualified Audit Reports?," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 36(1), pages 198-229, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:coacre:v:36:y:2019:i:1:p:198-229
    DOI: 10.1111/1911-3846.12425
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1911-3846.12425
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1911-3846.12425?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Beaver, Wh, 1968. "Information Content Of Annual Earnings Announcements," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6, pages 67-92.
    2. Orie E. Barron & Richard A. Schneible & Douglas E. Stevens, 2018. "The Changing Behavior of Trading Volume Reactions to Earnings Announcements: Evidence of the Increasing Use of Accounting Earnings News by Investors," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 35(4), pages 1651-1674, December.
    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. Kang, Yoon Ju, 2019. "Are Audit Committees more challenging given a specific investor base? Does the answer change in the presence of prospective critical audit matter disclosures?," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 1-1.
    2. Salman Arif & John D. Kepler & Joseph Schroeder & Daniel Taylor, 2022. "Audit process, private information, and insider trading," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 27(3), pages 1125-1156, September.
    3. Sandro Brunelli & Chiara Carlino & Rosella Castellano & Alessandro Giosi, 2021. "Going concern modifications and related disclosures in the Italian stock market: do regulatory improvements help investors in capturing financial distress?," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 25(2), pages 433-473, June.
    4. Hyun Ah Kim & Nam Chul Jung, 2020. "The Effect of Corporate Social Performance on Audit Hours: Moderating Role of the Emphasis of Matter Paragraphs in Audit Report," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-17, January.
    5. Marcus M. Doxey & James G. Lawson & Thomas J. Lopez & Quinn T. Swanquist, 2021. "Do Investors Care Who Did the Audit? Evidence from Form AP," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(5), pages 1741-1782, December.
    6. Sandro Brunelli & Francesco Venuti & Thomas Niederkofler & Camilla Falivena, 2024. "Financial distress, auditors’ going concern modification (GCM) and investors’ reaction in a concentrated ownership environment: new evidence from the Italian stock market," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(2), pages 313-339, June.

    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. Edward A. E. Jones & Anthony K. Kyiu & Hao Li, 2021. "Earnings informativeness and trading frequency: Evidence from African markets," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(1), pages 1064-1086, January.
    2. Beaver, William H. & McNichols, Maureen F. & Wang, Zach Z., 2020. "Increased market response to earnings announcements in the 21st century: An Empirical Investigation," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(1).
    3. Monica Martinez-Blasco & Vanessa Serrano & Francesc Prior & Jordi Cuadros, 2023. "Analysis of an event study using the Fama–French five-factor model: teaching approaches including spreadsheets and the R programming language," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 9(1), pages 1-34, December.
    4. J. David Cummins & Christopher M. Lewis, 2002. "Catastrophic Events, Parameter Uncertainty and the Breakdown of Implicit Long-term Contracting in the Insurance Market: The Case of Terrorism Insurance," Center for Financial Institutions Working Papers 02-40, Wharton School Center for Financial Institutions, University of Pennsylvania.
    5. Seida, Jim A. & Wempe, William F., 2000. "Do capital gain tax rate increases affect individual investors' trading decisions?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 33-57, August.
    6. DuCharme, Larry L. & Malatesta, Paul H. & Sefcik, Stephan E., 2004. "Earnings management, stock issues, and shareholder lawsuits," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 27-49, January.
    7. Huang, Meng & Marsden, Alastair & Poskitt, Russell, 2009. "The impact of disclosure reform on the NZX's financial information environment," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 460-478, September.
    8. Rolf Uwe Fülbier & Thorsten Sellhorn, 2023. "Understanding and improving the language of business: How accounting and corporate reporting research can better serve business and society," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 93(6), pages 1089-1124, August.
    9. Bartholdy, Jan & Feng, Tiyi, 2013. "The quality of securities firms' earnings forecasts and stock recommendations: Do informational advantages, reputation and experience matter in China?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 66-88.
    10. Alex Dontoh & Gordon Richardson, 1988. "On interim information and the information content of firm earnings: A state variable approach," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 4(2), pages 450-469, March.
    11. Ole-Kristian Hope & Danqi Hu & Hai Lu, 2016. "The benefits of specific risk-factor disclosures," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 1005-1045, December.
    12. Constant Djama, 2008. "Fraude A L'Information Comptable Et Financiere : Le Role Des Autorites De Regulation," Post-Print halshs-00522510, HAL.
    13. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/7l10qorvrv8tuafch6e0ert238 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Lof, Matthijs & van Bommel, Jos, 2023. "Asymmetric information and the distribution of trading volume," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    15. Christopher Groening & Vamsi K. Kanuri, 2018. "Investor Reactions to Concurrent Positive and Negative Stakeholder News," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(4), pages 833-856, June.
    16. Choi, Jong-Seo & Choe, Chongwoo, 1998. "Explanatory factors for trading volume responses to annual earnings announcements: Evidence from the Korean stock market," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 6(1-2), pages 193-212, May.
    17. Kajüter, Peter & Klassmann, Florian & Nienhaus, Martin, 2016. "Do Reviews by External Auditors Improve the Information Content of Interim Financial Statements?," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 23-50.
    18. Francois Lantin & Pierre Roy, 2007. "L'impact de la notation financière sur les stratégies de croissance externe," Post-Print halshs-00692570, HAL.
    19. Tae Choi & Jinchul Jung, 2008. "Ethical Commitment, Financial Performance, and Valuation: An Empirical Investigation of Korean Companies," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 81(2), pages 447-463, August.
    20. Hanauer, Matthias X. & Lesnevski, Pavel & Smajlbegovic, Esad, 2023. "Surprise in short interest," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    21. Stephen Taylor & Alex Tong, 2020. "How efficient is the market for Australian firms’ earnings information?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(4), pages 4225-4255, December.

    More about this item

    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:wly:coacre:v:36:y:2019:i:1:p:198-229. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1911-3846 .

    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.