Can Auditors Restrain Firms from Earnings Management?

This paper focuses on Taiwanese companies that applied for Gre Tai Securities Market / Taiwan Stock Exchange (GTSM-TWSE) transfer through simplified batch-reviews between 2000 and 2011. Since the listing-transfer companies were likely be motivated by earnings management, this study, which consists of 444 observations, examines whether audit firm sizes (measured by Big5) and audit industry specialization are associated with lower earnings management during the year before and the year of GTSM-TWSE transfer. The empirical results show: (1) that Big5 and SPEC generally cannot constrain listing-transfer firms' discretions over earnings any more than non-Big5 can; and (2) that listing-transfer firms audited by industry specialist auditors do engage less in income increasing--accruals than listing-transfer firms audited by non-industry specialist auditors in the year prior to transfer year. In sum, the results show that the simplified batch-review procedures seem to be over-confident of the abilities of CPAs to restrain earnings management engaged in by GTSM-TWSE transfer firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]