Tax-Related Financial Statement Restatements and Auditor-Provided Tax Services

Abstract

In this study, the authors investigate the association between auditor-provided nonaudit tax services (NATS) and financial reporting quality for public companies in a post-Sarbanes-Oxley environment. They measure the quality of financial reporting by means of appropriately screened financial statement restatements. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) restricts the scope of auditor-provided tax services and simultaneously bans other major nonaudit services by the auditor. The authors argue that the restriction limits the potential financial reporting quality benefits of NATS, while the ban simultaneously makes those services a relatively more important source of revenue to the auditor, exacerbating the potential for impairment of independence. Consequently, pre-Sarbanes-Oxley results may not hold in a post-Sarbanes-Oxley environment. On examination, they find no significant association between auditor-provided NATS and general financial statement restatements. However, they find a significant negative association between such services and tax-related financial statement restatements. Thus, in a post-Sarbanes-Oxley environment, the benefits of auditor-provided NATS seem to manifest themselves in higher quality tax-related financial statement management assertions.