Consequences of Justifications of Assessments in French Expanded Audit Reports

Abstract

Since 2003, French auditors must disclose justifications of assessments (JOAs) in expanded audit reports. Like critical audit matters recently introduced in the US and key audit matters introduced by international standard setters, the purpose of JOAs is to enhance the informative value of audit reports. Based on French audit reports issued from 2002 to 2011, we analyze the impact of first-time implementation of JOAs, and the impact of new JOAs in subsequent years, on investors (measured by abnormal returns and abnormal trading volume) and on the audit (measured by audit report lag, abnormal accruals, and audit fees). For both first-time implementation of JOAs and new JOAs in subsequent years we find no significant market reaction to their disclosure and no significant effect on audit report lag, audit quality and audit fees. Overall, our results suggest that the French expanded audit report did not have the expected consequences on investors and the audit.