Auditor independence, auditor specialisation and earnings management: further evidence from Singapore

This study uses data from 298 Singapore publicly listed firms to examine the association between earnings management and two audit value attributes: auditor independence and auditor specialisation. We find firms engaging a specialist auditor had significantly lower levels of abnormal accruals than t...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Rusmin, Rusmin, Van Der Zahn, J-L., Tower, Greg, Brown, Alistair
Format: Journal Article
Published: Inderscience Enterprises 2006
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/37306
Description
Summary:This study uses data from 298 Singapore publicly listed firms to examine the association between earnings management and two audit value attributes: auditor independence and auditor specialisation. We find firms engaging a specialist auditor had significantly lower levels of abnormal accruals than those using non-specialists. This supports the view industry specialisation better enables an auditor to constrain a client's earnings management. Our findings indicate the lack of a universal association between audit value attributes and earnings management. Results imply recent action of Singapore policymakers to strengthen rules governing audit independence as related to non-audit services may have been premature.