BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO
ĐẠI HỌC KINH TẾ TP. HỒ CHÍ MINH
GIẢI THƯỞNG SINH VIÊN NGHIÊN CỨU KHOA HỌC
TRONG KẾ TOÁN – KIỂM TOÁN SRAA 2024
ĐỀ TÀI
THE POTENTIAL IMPACT OF AUDITOR GENDER
ON AUDIT QUALITY IN VIETNAM
ĐỀ CƯƠNG CHI TIẾT – MSĐT: 79
THÀNH VIÊN NHÓM: 1. Nguyễn Ngọc Yến Vi – Trưởng nhóm
2. Trần Ngọc Trâm
3. Nguyễn Nhật Linh
4. Lê Nguyễn Trúc Vy
TP. Hồ Chí Minh - 2024
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 1
CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF PREVIOUS RESEARCHES ................................. 2
1. OVERVIEW OF DOMESTIC STUDIES............................................................................. 2
2. OVERVIEW OF FOREIGN RESEARCH............................................................................ 3
3. RESEARCH GAPS AND PROPOSED RESEARCH DIRECTIONS FOR THIS TOPIC .................. 4
3.1. Overview of previous researches ......................................................................... 4
3.2. Identify research gaps ........................................................................................... 5
CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BASE AND RESEARCH MODEL ...................... 6
1. CONCEPTS AND TERMS ................................................................................................ 6
1.1. Gender ................................................................................................................... 6
1.2. Audit ...................................................................................................................... 6
1.3. Audit quality .......................................................................................................... 6
2. FOUNDATIONAL THEORIES .......................................................................................... 7
2.1. Empathy theory...................................................................................................... 7
2.2. Socialization of gender roles theory...................................................................... 7
2.3. Agency theory ........................................................................................................ 7
3. DEVELOP RESEARCH HYPOTHESES AND MODELS ........................................................ 7
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODS .................................................................... 8
CHAPTER 4: EXPECTED RESULTS ....................................................................... 8
CHAPTER 5: IMPLEMENTATION PLAN .............................................................. 8
REFERENCE............................................................................................................... 10
INTRODUCTION
Audit quality is central to the work of the International Auditing and Assurance
Standards Board as the global auditing standards setter. Besides, it is also a top concern
of auditing firms, financial report users and authorities. However, in recent years,
scandals have continuously occurred about the audit quality of independent auditing
companies in Vietnam and the world. This has made relevant agencies and investors
more concerned about the quality of auditing financial statements of auditing firms.
Auditing plays a fundamental role in corporate governance planning to ensure financial
reporting quality. High audit quality ensures higher quality financial statements. DeFond
and J. Francis (2005) point out that studies on audit quality need to be pushed down,
from the company level to the auditor level, because auditors may differ in terms of
quality. The two factors that determine quality are independence and audit capacity.
According to Mark Nelson and Hun Tong Tan (2005), auditors need to perform many
different tasks to be able to give an appropriate audit opinion. In particular, different
personal attributes of auditors, such as gender, skills and personality, affect audit results.
Individual auditors also play an important role in decision making during the audit
process. Personal attributes of auditors such as risk response, experience and motivation
can influence audit quality.
In Vietnam, research on auditors' personal characteristics affecting audit quality has only
stopped at research on the effects of characteristics such as independence,
professionalism, and skeptical attitude. professional doubt. Besides, characteristics such
as gender, living situation, and age have not been extensively researched. Therefore, this
research will have important implications for the choice of auditors of businesses using
auditing and performing auditing tasks. From there, it helps state management agencies,
professional associations, and auditing firms to have appropriate solutions combined
with the auditing firms themselves to improve audit quality.
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Chapter 1: OVERVIEW OF PREVIOUS RESEARCHES
1. Overview of Domestic Studies
Currently, the number of research studies on the impact of auditor gender on audit
quality in Vietnam is still limited due to the novelty of the topic and its relation to various
fields such as psychology, behavioral economics. Through researches, two prominent
studies can be mentioned, both of which provide valuable insights into the impact of
gender of auditors on audit quality:
The first research study was conducted by authors Tran Khanh Lam and Nguyen Thi
Ngoc Cam, titled "The Impact of Gender of Auditors on Audit Quality - A Study in
Vietnam," published in the Finance Journal in November 2019. This study discusses the
impact of gender of auditors on audit quality through using the quality of financial
reports of clients as a measure of audit quality. The research shows that female auditors
provide higher quality audit services than male auditors. The authors suggest that this is
because female auditors tend to be more empathetic and pay more attention to details.
They also recommend that audit firms should consider the gender of auditors when
assigning personnel and implement better ways to control audit quality.
Applying foundational theories such as Agency Theory, Empathy Theory, Socialization
of gender roles Theory, and Signaling Theory, the research conducted by author Nguyen
Thi Ngoc Cam on the topic "The Impact of Gender of Auditors on Audit Quality - An
Experimental Study in Listed Companies on the Vietnam Stock Market" (2022) has
presented new findings on the impact of gender of auditors on audit quality. The author
notes that studies on individual characteristics of auditors influencing audit quality have
only focused on investigating the influence of characteristics such as independence,
professional competence, professional skepticism, and tenure of auditors, without
conducting any experimental studies related to personal attributes of auditors such as
gender, age, and living conditions. The author plans to conduct her own research to
investigate the impact of gender of auditors on audit quality in Vietnam. The results of
the study indicate that female auditors provide higher quality audits than male auditors.
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2. Overview of Foreign Research
Research on the potential impact of gender of auditors on audit quality in Vietnam is
still relatively new, but on a global scale, it is a highly relevant issue that has been
discussed in many articles and studies. Some notable documents and research papers on
this topic include:
J. Garcia-Blandon and colleagues (2019) conducted a study on the topic "Is there a
gender effect on the quality of audit services?" published in the "Journal of Business
Research." The research was carried out using a sample of listed companies in Spain
from 2008 to 2015, with the quality of the clients' financial reports serving as a proxy
for audit service quality. The research results provide strong and consistent evidence on
the impact of gender on audit service quality in Spain. Specifically, it was found that
female auditors have a positive and significant relationship with higher-quality financial
reporting. Furthermore, this gender effect was observed in the first year of female
auditors being appointed to replace male auditors.
Shixin Yang, Yunguo Liu, and Qiongdan Mai collaborated and published a research
paper in the "China Journal of Accounting Research" in December 2018 titled "Is the
quality of female auditors really better? Evidence based on the Chinese A-share market."
In this study, the authors investigated whether female auditors bring better audit quality
and how they do so within the framework of Empathy theory and Socialization of gender
roles theory. The authors used a large research sample of 9,861 observations of audited
financial statements of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2011 to 2015. The
research results indicated that female auditors are more likely to compromise their audit
decisions due to higher levels of empathy. This leads to lower audit quality. However,
it is important to note that female auditors may also have better client relationships.
Furthermore, after controlling for auditors' age and position, the authors found that the
gender difference in auditors significantly decreases or even disappears when auditors
are over 45 years old and/or hold managerial positions.
The study "Board Characteristics and Audit Quality: The Moderating Role of Gender
Diversity" by Musa Saidu and Hope Osayantin Aifuwa, published in the "International
Journal of Business & Law Research" in 2020, focuses on the impact of gender diversity
on audit quality in manufacturing firms listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange from
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2010 to 2018. The results of the study showed that gender diversity has a positive and
significant influence on audit quality in the full sample. Therefore, the research
recommends that companies should strive to diversify their board of directors by gender
to align with the interests of female directors. This suggests that gender diversity in the
boardroom can play a significant role in enhancing audit quality in companies.
The study by Kris Hardies, Diane Breesch, and Joel Branson (2015) investigated
whether there exists a higher audit fee for female auditors. The authors analyzed 57,723
observations in Belgian companies audited by 93 female audit partners and 599 male
auditors between 2008-2011. The results showed that client companies paid higher audit
fees (about 7%) for female auditors. This fee differential may exist due to gender
differences in knowledge, skills, abilities, preferences, and behaviors, or supply-side
factors such as demand for diversity, gender perceptions of audit quality, or client
satisfaction.
Kris Hardies and colleagues (2014) conducted a study examining the relationship
between audit quality and the presence of male or female auditors through assessing
auditors' issuance of a going concern opinion for financially distressed clients. In this
study, the authors measured audit quality by examining auditors' ability to issue a going
concern opinion (GCO) for financially distressed clients and how auditors' issuance of
GCO varied based on clients' financial conditions, positively impacting auditor
independence and hence audit quality. The authors used a sample of 7,105 financially
distressed private Belgian companies for their analysis. The results of the study showed
that female auditors were more likely to issue GCOs for financially distressed
companies compared to male auditors. The results also indicated that audit quality was
higher for female auditors as they were less susceptible to independence threats and less
risk-averse. Additionally, female auditors had a lower Type I error rate, thus indicating
higher audit quality.
3. Research gaps and proposed research directions for this topic
3.1. Overview of previous researches
Taking a deep look at the studies on the personal characteristics of auditors that affect
audit quality, especially the studies on the gender of auditors, on a global scale, there
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are many research papers that have been conducted around this topic. In the period 1994-
2016 (25 years), 64 research papers were published (Khlif, H., & Achek, I, (2017)).
Studies are conducted using a variety of methods, both qualitative and quantitative, but
in general, the studies all have a similarity in the argument that women are often careful,
meticulous, risk-averse, behave and communicate skillfully, are soft, and have a high
ability to withstand pressure at work, so they are often able to organize well. Therefore,
the audit quality provided by female auditors is higher than that of male auditors.
However, a few recent studies have come to a completely opposite conclusion from
previous research papers, such as the study by Shixin Yang, Yunguo Liu, and Qiongdan
Mai (2018). These studies were conducted at different times and places, leading to
different results but all of them have certain scientific and practical significance.
3.2. Identify research gaps
Through studying the research on the influence of auditor gender on audit quality, it is
easy to see that, in the world, there are a lot of studies on this issue, however, in Vietnam,
the number of research papers related to this topic is still quite limited and not in-depth.
On the other hand, studies in Vietnam to assess audit quality at the level of individual
auditors are mainly audited and evaluated by primary data through questionnaires.
However, the collection of primary data through questionnaires also has many
limitations, especially the questionnaires used to learn about personal characteristics
such as personality. Moreover, the researcher will not be able to control the survey
results because the respondents may answer indifferently, not paying attention, leading
to research results that only have theoretical significance but not much practical
meaning.
At the same time, gender studies in Vietnam are mostly found in specialties such as
banking and finance with topics such as the influence of female gender or gender
diversity in the Board of Directors affecting the performance of companies. Therefore,
in order to contribute to the treasure trove of research on the influence of gender on audit
quality, the authors chose the topic: " The potential impact of auditor gender on audit
quality in Vietnam".
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Chapter 2: THEORETICAL BASE AND RESEARCH MODEL
1. Concepts and terms
1.1. Gender
Gender is a continuous category, a person can be more or less feminine or masculine.
Gender plays a role at different levels. It is part of a person's identity. Traditional ideas
about femininity and masculinity play a role when construing a person's self-image and
other people's image of that person. Furthermore, gender influences our social
organization. The feminine-masculine contrast is an important determinant in ordering
societies. Gender also plays a normative role. The existing perceptions about the roles
of women and men generate a self-fulfilling effect. Women are credited with feminine
attributes and men are credited with masculine attributes.
1.2. Audit
Auditing is the accumulation and evaluation of evidence about information to determine
and report on the degree of correspondence between the information and established
criteria. Auditing should be done by a competent, independent person.
Current types of audits:
- Governmental auditor
- Independent auditor
- Internal auditor
1.3. Audit quality
According to international and Vietnamese inspection standards No. 220 (ISA 220 &
VSA 220), quality inspection is understood as the degree of difficulty of customer
calculations and reliability of inspection opinions of test subjects. subjects using
inspection services, and at the same time have comments to improve the efficiency of
key financial management and accounting of the customer company with a
predetermined time and appropriate price. According to this perspective, to evaluate the
value of quality testing, it is necessary to assess the chronicity of the subjects using a
quality service testing algorithm. Users include: Audited units, private investors, banks,
customers, suppliers and state management agencies.
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2. Foundational theories
2.1. Empathy theory
2.2. Socialization of gender roles theory
2.3. Agency theory
3. Develop research hypotheses and models
The dependent variable in this research is audit quality, and is reflected in financial
reporting quality measured by discretionary accruals
Independent variable: Gender of auditor
Variable control:
+ Check out the experience
+ Learning problems
+ Enterprise size
+ Field of operation of the enterprise
Overview diagram of the relationship between personal characteristics,
characteristics of individual auditors, the assessment and decision-making
process of auditors and audit quality
(Source: Reference Hardies, K., et al., 2010)
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Chapter 3: RESEARCH METHODS
Quantitative method:
The data in research will be obtained by financial statements from companies listed on
the Vietnam stock exchange. At the same time, we obtain auditor information from audit
reports and information from the Ministry of Finance.
The topic of data collection to research factors affecting audit quality through specific
quantitative research methods:
+ Develop a questionnaire based on published research articles on factors affecting audit
quality
+ Survey of auditors from businesses
- Collect data through surveys, then select samples suitable for the research for synthesis
purposes. The team used the Likert scale tool to divide the data. Responses are coded
on a scale from 1 to 5, arranged in ascending order of degree of agreement: "Strongly
disagree", "Disagree", "Neutral", and "Agree". ", "Totally agree". The content of the
questionnaire includes personal information to ensure high accuracy.
- Analyze data through Excel and SPSS software.
Chapter 4: EXPECTED RESULTS
Female auditors provide higher audit quality than male auditors.
Chapter 5: IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
Human:
Teacher guides research
The group of students conducting scientific research at Ho Chi Minh City University of
Economics includes:
1. Nguyễn Ngọc Yến Vi - K48
2. Trần Ngọc Trâm - K48
3. Lê Nguyễn Trúc Vy - K48
4. Nguyễn Nhật Linh - K49
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Difficult planning
Difficulty in the topic
The research topic requires a deep understanding of the field of auditing, psychology
and social factors that affect human behavior, so when conducting research, you must
really research accurately. information. In addition, researching this topic also requires
skills in data collection, statistical analysis and accurate scientific report writing.
Difficulty finding documents
Due to the new nature and little interest in the topic, the number of scientific documents
researching this topic is relatively small, especially in the Vietnamese context. This
makes finding relevant information and data difficult. In addition, some available
documents may not be scientific, accurate and up-to-date, affecting the synthesis and
analysis of information.
Difficulties in collecting and processing data
Information about gender and audit quality may be sensitive information for some
businesses and individual auditors. Therefore, accessing and collecting data from
auditors faces many obstacles. Some businesses are concerned about information
security or affecting reputation, leading to difficulties for the team in collecting
information. Along with that, identifying a list of businesses and auditors related to the
research topic faces many difficulties, especially in the context of information and
database shortages.
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REFERENCE
1. Tran Khanh Lam, Nguyen Thi Ngoc Cam, 2019. Ảnh hưởng của giới tính kiểm toán
viên đến chất lượng kiểm toán – nghiên cứu tại Việt Nam.
2. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Cam, 2022. Ảnh Hưởng Của Giới Tính Kiểm Toán Viên Đến Chất
Lượng Kiểm Toán – Nghiên Cứu Thực Nghiệm Tại Các Công Ty Niêm Yết Trên Thị
Trường Chứng Khoán Việt Nam. (Master’s thesis, University of Economics Ho Chi
Minh city, Viet Nam).
3. J. Garcia-Blandon and colleagues, 2019. Is there a gender effect on the quality of audit
services? Journal of Business Research, 238-249.
4. Shixin Yang, Yunguo Liu and Qiongdan Mai, 2018. Is the quality of female auditors
really better? Evidence based on the Chinese A-share market. China Journal of
Accounting Research, 325-350.
5. Musa Saidu and Hope Osayantin Aifuwa, 2020. Board Characteristics and Audit
Quality: The Moderating Role of Gender Diversity, 8(1), 144-155.
6. Hardies, K. Diane Breesch and Joel Branson, 2014. Do (Fe)male Auditors impair audit
quality? Evidence from Going-concern opinions. European Accounting Review, DOI:
10.1080/09638180.2014.921445.
7. Hardies, K. and colleagues, 2015. The female audit fee premium. Auditing: A Journal of
Practice and Theory, 34(4), 171-195.
8. Hichem Khilif and Imen Achek, 2017. Gender in accounting research: a review.
Managerial Auditing Journal.
9. Hardies, K. and colleagues, 2010. Are Female Auditors Still Women? Analyzing the Sex
Differences Affecting Audit Quality (January 14, 2010). Available at SSRN:
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1409964
Giảng viên hướng dẫn
(Ký tên và ghi rõ họ tên)
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