An analysis of audit effort/hour demand based on shareholder ownership power

PurposeAudit hour reporting is rare internationally. Thus, to what extent shareholders have the power to influence audit effort/hour demand is a question left unanswered. This study aims to use unique South Korean data to determine whether the increasing power of the largest foreign/domestic shareho...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAsian review of accounting Vol. 31; no. 4; pp. 583 - 611
Main Authors Mali, Dafydd, Lim, Hyoungjoo
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Bingley Emerald Publishing Limited 20.10.2023
Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Subjects
Accounting firms
Audit fees
Audit quality
Audit risk
Hypotheses
Legitimacy
Ownership
Power
Risk premiums
Stockholders
South Korea
Agency/legitimacy theory
South Korea
Firm ownership
Audit demand theory
Blockholders/domestic/foreign shareholders
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Summary:PurposeAudit hour reporting is rare internationally. Thus, to what extent shareholders have the power to influence audit effort/hour demand is a question left unanswered. This study aims to use unique South Korean data to determine whether the increasing power of the largest foreign/domestic shareholders and blockholders can influence audit hour demand.Design/methodology/approachIn this study ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis is conducted using a sample of Korean listed firms over the 2004–2018 sample period.FindingsThe results show: as the percentage equity holding of the largest foreign shareholder and blockholder (>5%) increases, audit hour demand increases. As the shareholding of the largest domestic shareholder increases, audit hour demanded decreases. The association between audit fees/hours is not qualitatively indifferent, after controlling for the audit fee premium effect. Furthermore, the largest foreign shareholder is shown to demand increasingly higher levels of audit hours from Big4 auditors, relative to NonBig4. All results are consistent with audit demand theory.Originality/valueWhilst previous studies offer audit fee/risk interpretations, this study extends the literature by developing a framework to explain why audit hour demands differ for specific groups. Because audit hour information is rare internationally, the study has important policy implications.
ISSN:1321-7348
1758-8863
DOI:10.1108/ARA-10-2022-0248