Should Knowledge Spillovers Be Banned By Regulators?

By

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my lecturer who has always shown confidence in me. He has offered his patience, remarks, propositions and understanding. Here I would also like to mention my parents who have always believed in me for all my hard work. My family, including my parents, brother and sister have endlessly supported me during my life and academics. This has helped me in making positive decisions for my life. I would also mention my peers and co-workers and appreciate their collaboration and expert advice on every circumstance. I am also grateful towards my University and my Department, the administrators, faculty members and fellow students for their support throughout this study.

DECLARATION

I declare that the material stated in this dissertation/thesis is original and does not present work of any other scholar or research study conducted in the past. Material in this study is not partially or completely published elsewhere and collected only for the purpose of this study. I also acknowledge that I have complete understanding of the requirements, guidelines, regulations and procedures of the University with respect to the endowment of higher education degree and my research work. Here, I would also like to take the opportunity to declare that I have almost exclusively followed the requirements, guidelines, regulations and procedures of the University regarding this research study.

I certify that the work presented in the dissertation is my own unless referenced

Signature: ____________________

Date: ___________________

ABSTRACT

This research project examines the relationship between audit and non- audit knowledge spillover. It examines existing literature by considering agency theory, independence and investigate independence (allows auditor to examine any information he/she thinks is relevant to the engagement) and audit quality. The quality of audit is measured by audit fees and non-audit services fees (i.e. total fees) paid to incumbent auditor. High quality audit successfully fulfils its role as monitoring mechanism which purpose is to assure financial information quality. Audit quality is one of the most important issues in audit practice today. The quality of the financial information is dependant, among other things on audit quality. The purpose of this study is to examine the existing relationship between audit and non-audit spillover. The objectives of the study is analyse the impact of audit and non-audit spillover on the quality and reliability of the audited information.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTII

DECLARATIONIII

ABSTRACTIV

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION1

Background of the Study1

Research Objectives3

Rationale of the study3

Statement of the problem4

Structure of the thesis4

Chapter I: Introduction4

Chapter II: Literature Review5

Chapter III: Methodology5

Chapter IV: Analysis and Discussion6

Chapter V: Conclusion6

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW7

Auditor Independence7

Actual and Perceived Auditor Independence8

Knowledge Spillover9

Non-audit Services and Financial Reporting Quality10

Auditor- Provided Tax Services and Financial Reporting Quality12

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY15

Research Design15

Research Aims and Objectives16

Qualitative Research16

Research Method18

Additional Online searches18

Reliability18

Validity19

Ethical Concerns19

CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION21

Enron scandal21

Arthur Anderson25

Auditing Big Four26

Professional Guidance & Previous Research36

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION41

REFERENCES46

APPENDIX51

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this chapter is to provide the reader a brief overview about the research topic and provides the main purpose and aim behind this research study. It comprises of the background of the ...