Newsletter March/April 2022
5 April 2022
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In this newsletter:
- Recent publication
- International FAR Conference on 20 and 21 June 2022 - open for registration
- Online FAR Masterclass by Alain Schatt and Jean Bédard on 'The economic consequences of joint audits'
- FARview #20 with Tjibbe Bosman on 'Bankruptcy and Auditor's Reporting in the Netherlands'
- Final report NBA Working Group on Continuity
- Vacancy at FAR
- MAB edition 'Explaining the audit: data analysis in audit'
- Brown Bag Seminar on 10 June 2022
- Upcoming events – save the dates!
Recent publication
A new FAR Working Paper is available by the team of Anna Gold (VU Amsterdam), Joseph Brazel, Justin Leiby and Tammie Schaefer. The title of this Working Paper is 'How do audit committees support audit engagement teams and encourage professional skepticism? A survey and experimental evidence'.
The team explored how audit committees (ACs) support audit engagement teams and whether AC support can improve auditors’ professional skepticism.
First they surveyed audit practitioners and found out that AC support is multidimensional, varies between engagements, and often is not communicated to the entire engagement team. Then it was experimentally investigated whether the explicit communication of AC support to the entire engagement team (by the partner vs. the AC chair) impacts the skepticism of auditors. The findings of the team highlight the importance of AC support for audit teams, and the lack of AC support (or communication thereof) that exists on many audit engagements.
International FAR Conference on 20 and 21 June 2022 - open for registration
On Monday 20 and Tuesday 21 June 2022 FAR is going live again in Breukelen with its International FAR Conference!
The preliminary program is now available on our website and you can now subscribe for the event.
Click here to register for the Conference
Check our website for the full program: Program International FAR Conference
Online FAR Masterclass by Alain Schatt and Jean Bédard on 'The economic consequences of joint audits'
On March 11 2022, Jean Bédard (Laval University, Canada) and Alain Schatt (University of Lausanne, Switzerland) presented their Masterclass 'The Economic Consequences of Joint Audits', based on their research on joint audits in France.
During the Masterclass, two research questions were discussed:
1. Does the French joint audits system lead to a lower market concentration and, ultimately, to greater consumer well‐being (i.e., price and quality of audit services)?; and
2. Why does the French regulator maintain this system which was adopted 55 years ago?
From the analyses, it can be concluded that the French regulator has other motivations than increasing consumers’ well‐being. The regulators’ position seems to be largely driven by protectionism. So, the survival of joint audits in France is politically motivated. The presenters stress that these results might differ in other institutional contexts (for example, when non-audit services are not banned).
Please click one of the buttons below to see (a summary of) the Masterclass.
15 min Summary of the Masterclass
You can find more information on the project by Bédard and Schatt here.
FARview #20 with Tjibbe Bosman on 'Bankruptcy and Auditor's Reporting in the Netherlands'
In this FARview podcast, UvA PhD student Tjibbe Bosman talks about the FAR research 'Bankruptcy and Auditor's Reporting in the Netherlands'. Bosman, together with Merel van der Kuip and Wim Janssen, researched a number of Dutch auditable companies that went bankrupt in the years 2012-2020.
They analyzed whether these bankrupt companies filed annual reports in the years prior to the bankruptcy, whether these annual reports were accompanied by an audit report and, last but not least, what the content of the audit reports was.
Bosman has since presented the study to the NBA and the European Commission. The results show, among other things, that in the years preceding a bankruptcy, annual reports are filed and audit reports are issued less and less frequently. In the vast majority of cases, these audit reports do not contain any material uncertainty about the continuity of the business.
Final report NBA Working Group on Continuity
At the end of March, the NBA published the Working Group's report on the role of the auditor in business continuity.
One of the main conclusions of the Working Group's report is that 88% of bankrupt organizations did not file annual accounts or an exemption statement for the last financial year within the statutory period.
The research was structured along three lines:
1. Data research on bankruptcies in the Netherlands from 2012 through 2020. This part was carried out by the Foundation for Auditing Research.
2. Combining the knowledge from available (international) scientific articles in the field of continuity.
3. Conducting interviews with various stakeholders.
Via the button below the article can be read on the site of the NBA, where you will also find links to the report, the summary and the infographic.
Vacancy at FAR
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Are you looking for a new job opportunity? We currently have an open vacancy at FAR for a Research Data Manager, so if you ever wondered what it would be like to work with both academics and practitioners? Then don't hesitate to have a look at the vacancy and get in touch with us!
MAB edition 'The audit explained: data analysis in audit"
The Monthly Journal of Accountancy and Business Economics (MAB) published the theme issue "The audit explained: data analysis in audit" on March 21. This edition is entirely devoted to research and reflections on data analysis.
Via the button below this special issue of MAB can be downloaded and read.
FAR Brown Bag Seminar 10 June 2022
On Friday, 10 June 2022, from 3:30 - 4:30 p.m., FAR will organize another Brown Bag seminar for Young Academics and Young profs. This time Christian Friedrich (Technische Universität Darmstadt) will present a paper about 'Audit Firm Technology and Financial Statement Audits'. The presentation will be followed by a discussion by Ulrike Thuerheimer (UvA, University of Amsterdam). Afterwards the participants can ask questions.
Are you part of the target group and would you like to participate? Please send an email to info@foundationforauditingresearch.org
Upcoming events – save the dates!
International FAR Conference
We would like to let you know that the preliminary program for our annual International Conference for 2022 on Monday, June 20 and Tuesday, June 21 is now available and the event is open for registration.
You can read more about it in this newsletter.
FAR Young Auditing Academic Brown Bag Seminars
On Friday 10 June, from 3:30 - 4:30 p.m. CET, FAR will be hosting its next Brown Bag Seminar for Young Academics and Young Profs.
Are you part of the target group and would you like to attend as well? Please send an email to info@foundationforauditingresearch.org
Do you have suggestions on how to improve our newsletter or news you would like to share with us? Please let us know by sending an email to info@foundationforauditingresearch.org
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