Audit fees up for debate
Distressed companies with high audit fees are more likely to receive a going concern audit option according to international accounting expert, Dr Illias Basioudis.
Dr Ilias Basioudis from Aston University in Birmingham recently presented a research seminar in the Department of Accounting and Finance in Business and Economics.
During his research seminar, Dr Basioudis spoke on the topic of non-audit fees, auditor tenure and auditor independence - topical issues in the accounting industry given the global financial crisis.
Dr Basioudis’ presentation was based on a paper co-authored by Professor Ferdinand Gul from Monash University's Sunway campus and Anthony Ng from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
According to Dr Basioudis distressed companies with high audit fees are more likely to receive a going concern audit option whereas non-audit fees are not associated with the issuance of going concern audit opinions.
Dr Basioudis and his co-authors found a non-linear relationship between non-audit fees and auditors’ propensity to issue going concern audit options when auditor tenure is long.
Dr Basioudis is a senior lecturer of Financial Accounting and Auditing in the Finance and Accounting Group at Aston Business School, Chairman of the Auditing Special Interest Group of the British Accounting Association and adjunct senior lecturer of the University of South Australia. He is also Fellow of the UK Academy of Higher Education.
Dr Basioudis is a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Auditing and an ad-hoc reviewer of various academic journals and international conferences. He teaches financial accounting and auditing at graduate and undergraduate levels.
His research interests lie primarily within the area of empirical auditing and corporate governance and include the market for audit services in the private and public sectors, earnings management and audit quality, audit committees, the regulation of accounting, the accounting profession and in the accounting education.
Dr Basioudis's work has been published in Auditing: a Journal of Practice and Theory, Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Abacus, Advances in Accounting, Journal of Business Finance and Accounting, Accounting Education an International Journal, among others.
He has recently published his first textbook, Financial Accounting: a Practical Introduction, by Pearson.