Audit regulatory reform with a refined stakeholder model to enhance corporate governance: Hong Kong evidence

Recent corporate scandals have resulted in a greater focus on business ethics and governance. The purpose of this study is to examine whether the existing audit regulatory framework adequately serves the legitimate interests of stakeholders.

This study is the first to collect survey data on audit regulatory issues in the post‐Lehman Brothers environment. In total, 190 responses to a mail survey were collected from Big Four auditors and from 166 CEOs. Stakeholder theory is used to analyse these responses.

The results indicate that Big Four auditors and CEOs perceive the disclosure of post‐audit report event evidence to be important in discharging their ethical obligations. Both groups agreed that issuing timely audit reports is important, and that “introducing quarterly audit reporting” is a necessary step to enhance corporate governance. A risk‐based auditing approach necessitates the introduction of quarterly reporting. The findings support the notion underlying business risk auditing (BRA) models developed in public practice and the literature. CEOs are acutely aware of their corporate responsibilities to the company's stakeholders, and demonstrate that they understand the core insights of stakeholder theory by applying this theory in the corporations they manage. These results support the assertion that stakeholder theory has managerial implications and intrinsic value. CEOs comply with their audit disclosure obligations in several ways. Based on the results, a refined stakeholder model is proposed and immediate regulatory reform is recommended.

This study extends the literature on the theoretical development of the stakeholder model, which will facilitate standard setters and regulators in the Asia‐Pacific region and their counterparts in other regions to devise standard guidelines and improve corporate governance.