FACULTY NEWS
Select Faculty Accomplishments Cheng, X. and S. Walton, Forthcoming. “Do Nonprofessional Investors Care About How and When Data Breaches Are Disclosed?” Journal of Information Systems. Church, B.K., J.G. Jenkins, J.D. Stanley. 2018. “Auditor Independence in the United States: Cornerstone of the Profession or Thorn in Our Side?” Accounting Horizons. Bierstaker, J., D. Janvrin, J.G. Jenkins, and D.J. Lowe. 2018. “Information Technology in an Audit Context: Have the Big 4 Lost Their Advantage?” Journal of Information Systems. Downes, J., M. Mathis, and L. Kutcher. Forthcoming. “Firm-Specific Currency Exposure, Repatriation, and the Market Value of Repatriation Taxes.” The Journal of the American Taxation Association. Gimbar, C., J.G. Jenkins, G. Saucedo, and N. Wright. 2018. “Shifting Styles: Do Auditor Performance Levels Influence the Review Process?” International Journal of Auditing. Inger, Kerry K., and B. Vansant. 2019. “Market Valuation Consequences of Avoiding Taxes While also Being Socially Responsible.” Journal of Management Accounting Research. DeZoort, T. Holt, Stanley. 2019. DeZoort, F.T., F.T., T. Holt, and and J.D. J.D. Stanley. Forthcoming. “A Comparative Analysis “A Comparative Analysis of Investor andof InvestorMateriality and AuditorJudgments.” Materiality Judgments.” Auditor Auditing: Auditing: A Journal of Practice & A Journal of Practice & Theory. Theory.
Jenkins, J.G., V. Popova, and M.S. Sheldon. 2018. “In Support of Public or Private Interests? An Examination of Sanctions Imposed under the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct.” Journal of Business Ethics. Jenkins, J.G., and J.D. Stanley. 2019. “A Current Evaluation of Independence as a Foundational Element of the Auditing Profession in the United States.” Current Issues in Auditing. Jenkins, Jenkins,J.G., J.G.,E.E.Negangard, Negangard,and andM.M.Oler. Oler. 2018. 2018.“Getting “GettingComfortable ComfortableononAudits Audits:Understanding UnderstandingFirms' Firms’Usage UsageofofForensic Forensic Specialists.”Contemporary ContemporaryAccounting Accounting Specialists.” Research. Research. Jones, J., J. Long, and J.D. Stanley. 2019. "Pane in the Glass: A Review of the Accounting Cycle." Issues in Accounting Education. Kim Key served as the American Taxation Association (ATA) president during the 2018-2019 academic year. The ATA is the tax specialty area of the American Accounting Association (AAA). The President represents the organization and serves as a liaison among its members, board of trustees, advisory board, and AAA staff. The role is largely one of timely communication and facilitating anything needed by twenty ATA committee heads.
RESEARCH RECAP: A Comparative Analysis of Investor and Auditor Materiality Judgments Materiality remains a challenging concept for auditors to implement in practice. The challenges underlying auditor materiality assessments are convoluted by the subjective “reasonable investor” perspective. To address the problem surrounding ambiguous investor materiality judgments and decision making, the authors compare sophisticated and unsophisticated investors’ materiality judgments to experienced auditors charged with assessing materiality from an investor perspective. The results indicate significant differences in judgments among the three participant groups. The overall results suggest the need for further consideration of ways to help auditors meet standards and expectations in this critical domain. Unsophisticated investors have a significantly lower materiality thresholds and levels of self-insight than sophisticated investors and auditors. 18 The SOA Connection Winter 2020
RESEARCH RECAP: Getting Comfortable on Audits: Understanding Firms’ Usage of Forensic Specialists
Increasing financial statement complexity, along with an intense focus on audit quality, has created challenges for today's auditors. As a result, CPA firms are increasingly relying on various specialists to help them perform their audits. To better understand why and how firms are using forensic specialists on their audits, the authors conducted an exploratory survey of experienced audit and forensic professionals. Their results suggest auditors are largely relying on forensic specialists to provide them with additional comfort beyond that obtained from traditional audit procedures. Furthermore, their results demonstrate that the usage of forensic specialists occurs primarily on riskier engagements, such as those involving restatements, initial public offerings, and investigations by regulators or law enforcement agencies. The authors reveal that the majority of auditor and forensic specialist participants believe the value of forensic involvement on audits outweighs the associated costs, even in the absence of such additional audit findings.