We investigate the relationship between audit fees and subsequent financial statement restatements in the years following the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX). After controlling for internal control quality, we find that abnormal audit fees are negatively associated with the likelihood that financial statements are subsequently restated. This result conflicts with prior work that finds that audit fees are positively associated with future restatements. Overall, our evidence is consistent with the notion that restatements reflect low audit effort or underestimated audit risk in the periods leading up to the restatement year.

SUMMARY: We investigate the relationship between future financial statement restatements and audit report lags. Audit report lags are defined as the number of days between the fiscal year-end and the date of the audit report. Ex ante, it is not clear whether there should be a relationship and, if there is, whether that relationship would be negative or positive. We first discuss the underlying conceptual rationale for both negative and positive associations, then we use a two-stage approach to empirically examine the relationship. We find that compared to non-restating firms, firms that eventually restate their financial statements have longer abnormal audit report lags. In subsequent testing, we consider a number of factors that may undermine additional audit effort and, thus, influence the association between audit report lag and subsequent restatements. Of the factors examined, we find that time pressure appears to be associated with increased probability of financial restatements.

This study examines topics currently addressed in the introductory Accounting Information Systems (AIS) course and makes comparisons to past studies. The study includes an examination of 12 current AIS textbooks, syllabi from current AIS instructors, and the results of a survey of AIS faculty and professionals. The divisions of topics in the books and on the syllabi suggest that introduction to systems, internal control, and transaction processing are the most important topics to be covered. After these topics, the rankings diverge. The results of this study suggest that the emphasis historically placed on system analysis and design, while still important, is somewhat less than in the past. This was also apparent from the results of the authors' surveys of AIS faculty and professionals who use technology in their jobs. Both faculty and professionals agree that greater importance should be placed on teaching internal control and transactions processing, while moderate importance should be placed on software and hardware issues. Professionals ranked ethics and Internet education of greater importance than did faculty, while faculty rated computer fraud (which may tie in with ethics) and database management systems of greater importance than did the professionals. Professionals also placed higher importance on teaching software applications (particularly spreadsheet applications) than did faculty.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to review the literature concerning supply chain management technology (SCMT) and financial performance, and to present a model for evaluating the financial performance benefits of investments in supply chain management technologies. The literature review and the associated model also lead to a discussion of opportunities for future research in the area.Design/methodology/approachTo develop the model, a comprehensive review of the literature investigating the financial performance benefits of SCMT and other closely‐related information technologies, such as inter‐organizational systems, was performed. Findings from the reviewed studies were assimilated and used as the basis for the proposed model and for recommended avenues of future research.FindingsThe literature reviewed suggested that financial performance improvements from SCMT investments are derived from improvements in knowledge‐intensive capabilities, which lead to improvements in operational capabilities, leading, in turn, to first‐ and second‐order benefits. The ability to realize benefits is also influenced by a firm's position within the supply chain and exogenous economic forces.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the knowledge of how financial gains are realized as the result of investments in SCMT, and provides context within which future research efforts can be placed. Future research opportunities are also discussed.

Supply chain management (SCM) software vendors, analysts, and others claim that firms implementing SCM software stand to benefit by being able to reduce inventory holdings and increase inventory turns. We theorize that full‐scale implementations lead to system‐wide inventory optimization, which in turn leads to cost improvement associated with inventory balances and turns. To examine the question, we develop an analytical model of inventory optimization, then analyze the effects of the model with a numerical experiment, and finally confirm the results with an empirical examination. We find that firm‐wide implementation is significant in explaining improvement in inventory metrics, relative to pre‐implementation metrics for our sample. Our empirical tests indicate that implementing SCM software across only a portion of the firm does not impact inventory metrics, but that the scale of implementation does. More precisely, we find that firms implementing SCM software across the entire company significantly improve both inventory turns and inventory as a percent of revenue relative to partially‐implementing firms and non‐implementers.