John Christian Langli

Accounting and Business Research 49(1) s. 28-67 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/00014788.2018.1442707

We examine small firms’ compliance with tax and accounting regulations before and after a change in the threshold for mandatory auditing. Prior to 2011, all Norwegian firms were required to be audited. In 2011, a law change allowed small Norwegian firms to choose not to be audited. After this change, the Norwegian Directorate of Taxes conducted on- and off-site inspections of a representative sample of 2117 Norwegian firms, with a focus on compliance with specific requirements in tax and accounting regulation. We use the results from these inspections to construct a compliance quality score (CQS). We find that the firms that chose to opt out of auditing have lower CQS than do firms that chose to continue to be audited; that the CQS of firms that chose not to be audited declined after opting out; and that some of the opt-out firms fully mitigated the decline in CQS by engaging external accountants or auditors to prepare their annual financial statements. The results should be of interest to regulators considering increasing the thresholds for mandatory auditing, as our results show that (i) firms that choose not to be audited can experience a decline in CQS after opting out and (ii) CQS can be maintained at the same level as before if opt-out firms engage external consultants that assist in preparing the annual accounts.

At the Forefront, Looking Ahead: Research-Based Answers to Contemporary Uncertainties of Management s. 159-176 Doi: https://doi.org/10.18261/9788215031583-2018-11

Finance in Society: An Anthology in Honour of Thore Johnsen s. 252-287

Auditing: A journal of Practice and Theory (AJPT) 37(3) s. 91-115 Doi: https://doi.org/10.2308/ajpt-51896

This paper examines how audit effort, measured by the estimated number of audit hours used to perform the clients' audits, is associated with engagement partners' formal education, continuing professional education (CPE), and professional experience. Although the literature provides considerable evidence for the determinants of audit fees, our understanding of how audit effort is related to these partner characteristics is limited. The aim of this paper is to shed light on partner specific factors that may influence how much audit effort they and their team members exert. Using a sample of 1,738 unique partners and 178,770 client-year observations, we find evidence that auditors with a master's degree exert more effort than those with a bachelor's degree. We also find a positive relation between audit effort and CPE. The relation between audit effort and professional experience is non-linear: the least experienced auditors put in the least effort, moderately experienced auditors exert the most effort, while the effort level of the most experienced auditors is in between. We also document that the accuracy of going concern modified audit reports is higher for more knowledgeable auditors.

Praktisk Økonomi & Finans 32 [i.e. 33](2) s. 200-215 Doi: https://doi.org/10.18261/issn.1504-2871-2016-02-09

Hvis selskaper som velger bort revisor begynner å selge svart eller kreve fradrag for fiktive eller private utgifter etter fravalget av revisor, vil de ha en lavere vekst i omsetningen eller en svakere utvikling i driftsresultatet enn sammenliknbare selskaper som har beholdt revisor. Jeg tester om disse to effektene er observerbare hos AS som har valgt bort revisor i årene 2011–2014. Resultatene er entydige: Omsetningsveksten er minst like høy og utviklingen i driftsresultatet minst like god hos fravalgselskapene som hos sammenliknbare selskaper som har beholdt revisor, hvilket ikke er som forventet dersom fravalgselskapene begynner å unndra skatt etter fravalget. En rekke sensitivitetsanalyser, inklusiv analyser av selskaper etablert etter kravene til aksjekapital ble redusert med virkning fra 1.1.2012, rokker ikke ved konklusjonen.

Praktisk Økonomi & Finans 32 [i.e. 33](1) s. 111-125 Doi: https://doi.org/10.18261/issn.1504-2871-2016-01-12

En rekke aksjeselskaper (ASer) valgte bort revisor i 2011. Dersom fravalget av revisor påvirket bankenes eller kreditorenes risikovurdering, er det rimelig å forvente at selskapene som valgte bort revisor vil få høyere lånerente eller dårligere tilgang til kreditt etter fravalget. Vi undersøker utviklingen fra 2010 til 2012 for ASer som kvalifiserte for fravalg i 2011. Resultatene er entydige. Vi finner ingen tegn til negative finansieringseffekter for de som valgte bort revisor i 2011 sammenliknet med de som beholdt revisor.

Journal of Business Finance & Accounting 42(9) s. 1216-1250 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/jbfa.12170

Although a large proportion of firms are family owned and most family firms are private, our understanding of private family firms is limited. Using confidential information on family relationship between board members, CEOs, and shareholders, this is the first study that provides large-scale evidence on the association between governance structure and firm performance in family controlled private firms. Our sample is unique as it covers almost all private limited liability firms in Norway, spans 11 years, traces firm ownership to ultimate owners, and identifies family relationship using data on kinship, marriage, and adoption. The results show a U-shaped relationship between family ownership and firm performance. Higher ownership of the second largest owner, higher percentage of family members on the board, stronger family power, and smaller boards are associated with higher firm performance. In addition, the positive association between the ownership of the second largest owner and firm performance also occurs when the second largest owner is a member of the controlling family, but the association is stronger when the second largest owner is a non-family member. We further test the relative importance of these test variables and find that ownership structure is more associated with firm performance than board structure.

The Routledge Companion to Auditing s. 148-158

Accounting, Organizations and Society 37(7) s. 500-517 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aos.2012.06.002

We are interested in understanding how agency conflicts in private firms arise through ownership structures and family relationships. Specifically, we analyze auditors’ increase of effort and firms’ choice of auditors in situations with higher level of agency conflicts. For a large sample of private firms, we use unique and confidential data (obtained through special permission by the government) to measure direct and ultimate ownership for each shareholder as well as extended family relationships (based on marriage and blood lines, going back four generations and extending out to fourth cousin) among all shareholders, board members, and CEOs. We first find that audit fees, our proxy for audit effort, vary as hypothesized with firmlevel characteristics related to ownership structures and family relationships. Second, we find evidence that firms in higher agency cost settings respond by having their financial statements audited by a higher-quality auditor (i.e., a Big 4 firm). However, for CEO family-related settings (i.e., where the CEO is related to the major shareholder or as the number of board members related to the CEO increases), we find no evidence of a greater demand for a Big 4 auditor.

Praktisk Økonomi & Finans s. 67-92

Accounting Review 85(2) s. 573-605 Doi: https://doi.org/10.2308/accr.2010.85.2.573

Praktisk Økonomi & Finans 25(1) s. 104-119

Magma forskning og viten 10(6) s. 32-48

European Accounting Review 13(4) s. 713-742

Ekonomisk brottslighet och nationalstatens kontrollmakt/Leif Appelgren & Hans Sjögren (red.)

International Journal of Accounting 33(5)

Ninth European Auditing Research Network Symposium 2017

The 40th European Accounting Association (EAA) Annual Congress

6th Workshop on Audit Quality

39th European Accounting Association Annual Congress 2016

Workshop

NHH mini-conference

Research presentation

Research presentation at Umeå University

European Auditing Research Network Conference

Seminar

Overlevering av sluttrapport

Audit Workshop

Handelshøyskolen BI

EARNet 2015 Conference

Nordic Accounting Conference 2014

Annual meeting of the European Accounting Association

22nd Nordic Academy of Management Conference

European Accounting Association

American Accounting Association

Company Law and Empirical Studies Workshop

Vårkonferanse 2013

FIBE-konferansen

European Accounting Associations Annual Congress

EARNet 2011

Workshop on Audit Quality

Nordic Conference on Financial Reporting

European Accounting Associations Annual Congress

Handelshøyskolen BI

Handelshøyskolen BI

We compare earnings management priorities of private family and private non-family firms. Our study is made possible by the availability of a new and unique database on family relationships between CEOs, board members and owners of private Norwegian firms. We hypothesize and find that compared with private non-family firms, private family firms are likely to manage earnings downward. However, we also find that highly leveraged private family firms make more income increasing accounting choices than highly leveraged private non-family firms. Finally, we document that CEOs representing controlling families promote earnings management, and independent board members somewhat mitigate it. We note that research on the relationship between financial reporting quality and family governance is quite limited. We contribute to this emerging literature.

Praktisk Økonomi & Finans 25(4) s. 55-63

American Accounting Association's annual meeting

The 31st Annual Congress of the European Accounting Association

Praktisk Økonomi & Finans s. 49-62

Gyldendal Akademisk

Gyldendal Norsk Forlag A/S

Gyldendal Norsk Forlag A/S

Gyldendal Akademisk

Særtrykk - Handelshøyskolen BI

Særtrykk - Handelshøyskolen BI

Norges forskningsråd

Universitetsforlaget