000 01560nam a22001457a 4500
999 _c520281
_d520281
008 220906b ||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
100 _aYang, Lang (Kate)
_933864
245 _aAuditor or adviser? Auditor (in)dependence and its impact on financial management
260 _aPublic Administration Review
300 _a 81(3), May-Jun, 2021: p.475-487
520 _aFiscal transparency entails government financial reporting and independent audits. This study postulates and tests the dual functions of external auditors: an examiner who assesses government compliance with accounting rules and an adviser who supplements government financial management capacity. Computational text analyses show that localities, especially those with lower financial management capacity, are likely to adopt similar languages in summarizing the governments’ financial conditions if they share the same auditor, suggesting auditor input in government disclosure. The auditor advisory role intensifies with a longer tenure. Further analyses show that auditor tenure is positively associated with the timeliness of audited financial reports. On the other hand, a long tenure reduces the likelihood of auditors' identifying internal control deficiencies and thus points to accountability concerns. These findings highlight the importance of government capacity-building in fiscal transparency initiatives and the unique challenges to auditor independence in the public sector. – Reproduced
773 _aPublic Administration Review
906 _aAUDITING
942 _cAR