PCAOB Concludes 2016 Economic Conference on Auditing and Capital Markets

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board's Center for Economic Analysis concluded on Friday its third annual Economic Conference on Auditing and Capital Markets, an event that promotes academic research on the economic impact of auditing on the capital markets.

The two-day conference, held in conjunction with the Journal of Accounting Research, drew more than 120 researchers from around the world to Washington.

"The Center's economic conference is a unique opportunity for researchers and policymakers to think deeply about the role of the audit in today's capital markets," said PCAOB Chairman James R. Doty. "This year's papers provide important insights to advance evidence-based policy and audit regulation."

Six research papers were chosen for presentation at the conference out of 83 submitted following the Center's call for papers. The papers presented addressed:

• Expanded auditor reporting
• The impact of individual auditors on audit quality
• Internal control over financial reporting
• Auditor assignments, teamwork and audit quality
• Audits involving other auditors

The papers were selected for presentation following a review by a committee of leading academics assembled by the editorial board of the Journal of Accounting Research and Luigi Zingales, the Center's Founding Director and the Robert C. McCormack Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance and the David G. Booth Faculty Fellow at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Conference attendees also heard keynote addresses from Commissioner Michael Piwowar of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Harvard Business School Professor Eugene Soltes, the author of a recently published book on white-collar crime.

"It is very exciting to hear speakers with diverse backgrounds at our conference," said Professor Zingales. "We are starting to see a multidisciplinary interest in the topic of auditing because many others recognize the broad impact the audit has on capital markets."

The conference agenda and working papers presented will remain available on the PCAOB website through November 20, 2016. After this date, interested parties should contact the authors to obtain the most current versions of their papers.

The PCAOB's Center for Economic Analysis, which began operation in 2014, studies and advises the Board and PCAOB staff on the role of the audit in capital formation and investor protection and how economic theory and analysis can be used and further developed to enhance the effectiveness of regulatory programs.