Abstract
This paper provides evidence that audit reports convey relevant evidence for inferring the existence of underlying, unrevealed, financial imbalances. Unlike previous works, which studied US listed-firms bankruptcy, our research deals with Spanish non-financial SMEs under financial stress. Our results indicate that the audit of distressed SMEs has several distinctive features: higher auditor rotation, more qualified reports, and non-compliance with deadlines to approve and file the annual financial statements. We use this evidence to build and test a parsimonious and reliable forecast model. Several implications for auditors’ independence, information quality, and failure forecast are discussed.© 2018, Facultad de Contaduría y Administración, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. All rights reserved. Publication of the article implies full assignment of property rights (copyright) in Journal of Contaduría y Administración. The publication mreserves the right to total or partial reproduction of the work in other print, electronic or any other alternative means, but always recognizing its responsibility.
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