خبرگی حسابداری کمیته حسابرسی، قدرت مدیرعامل و قیمت گذاری حسابرسی Audit committee accounting expertise, CEO power, and audit pricing

1. Introduction Responding to the wake of accounting scandals (e.g. Enron, WorldCom, Tyco International), legislative and regulatory bodies imposed new regulations on audit committees to ensure their expertise and independence. Specifically, the Sarbanes–Oxley Act (SOX) and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), American Stock Exchange (AMEX), and National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation (NASDAQ) listing requirements oblige listed firms to establish a wholly independent audit committee with at least one financial expert.1,2 The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the presence of accounting experts on the audit committee and audit efforts. We further explore whether powerful CEOs subsume the effect of audit committee accounting expertise on audit fees. Regarding the requisite expertise, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) initially narrowly defined an audit committee member with experience in accounting as a financial expert. Thus, the definition included only audit committee members with accounting experience, such as the chief financial officer (CFO), chief accounting officer (CAO), controller, comptroller, certified public accountant (CPA), or auditor. However, there was a debate regarding whether the definition should include non-accounting financial experts who are expected to understand financial statements, based indirectly on their work experience (even if they have not had a career path or experience in accounting). Opponents of the narrow definition complained that it was too restrictive and that it was difficult to find and appoint accounting experts as audit committee members; they argued that non-accounting financial experts could perform these duties effectively and noted that neither Alan Greenspan nor Warren Buffet is an accounting expert according to the narrow definition (American Association of Bank Directors 2002). Eventually, the SEC compromised by adopting a broader definition of a financial expert as someone simply able to assess or understand financial statements. Thus, companies can now designate one of the following as their financial expert on the audit committee: chief executive officer (CEO), president, chairman, investment banker, venture capitalist, consultant, professor, financial analyst, or attorney.