时间：2026年06月11日（星期四）下午 13:30

地点：会计学院 207 室

主题：A survey of the archival audit literature

摘要：External audits enhance the credibility of financial statements and are a cornerstone of capital market integrity. However, the growing and complex auditing literature poses challenges for researchers. This survey synthesizes and critically evaluates archival audit research published in top accounting journals from 1995 to 2025, organizing over 600 studies into three core areas: the audit market, audit quality, and audit personnel and processes. We offer new conceptual insights into the audit market, emphasizing that audit assurance is unobservable and that audit fee studies generally estimate reduced-form models, rather than separate demand and supply functions. On audit quality, we expand upon DeAngelo’s (1981a) definition to include the auditor’s responsibility to assess ex ante risk. We suggest an alternative three-dimensional definition of audit quality that is more closely aligned with professional standards. We also clarify common misconceptions arising from conflating audit quality with financial reporting quality. Finally, we review the growing literature on audit personnel and call for more research into underexplored roles of personnel in the early stages of the audit process. Our survey contributes by reframing key constructs, identifying limitations in common proxies, and suggesting future research directions to advance our understanding of how audits function and shape financial reporting outcomes.

主讲人：李婵 堪萨斯大学

Chan Li is C.A. Scupin Professor at School of Business at University of Kansas. Dr. Li obtained her PhD from University of Kansas. Prior to Join her alma mater, Dr. Li was a tenured professor at University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Li’s primary research interest is in archival auditing, particularly in economic consequences of auditing, effects of regulation on the audit environment, auditor judgement and audit quality. She has published over 30 articles in leading academic journals, including The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting Research, Journal of Accounting and Economics, Contemporary Accounting Research, Review of Accounting Studies, Accounting, Organizations, and Society, Management Science, MIS Quarterly, and Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory. Her work has been cited by the SEC, PCAOB, New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times. Dr. Li is currently the editor at Contemporary Accounting Research, and has been the editor at The Accounting Review and Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory.