Papers by Christopher Agoglia
Social Science Research Network, 2017
Annual Editor Report
Auditing-a Journal of Practice & Theory, Nov 1, 2020
The Accounting Review, Jun 28, 2023
During the interactive process of issue resolution, client managers may develop expectations abou... more During the interactive process of issue resolution, client managers may develop expectations about the auditor's position. We examine the effect that negative expectancy violations have on managers' pre-negotiation positions and how relational familiarity can moderate this effect. Through a series of experiments, we find that, when the partner's proposed adjustment is within the client's original expectations, managers offer greater concessions to a more familiar partner than to a less familiar partner. However, depending on relational familiarity, client managers react to expectancy violations very differently. Managers react more severely when a more familiar partner violates expectations, offering lower negotiation concessions than when no violation occurs. In contrast, managers tend to ignore violations committed by a less familiar partner, offering similar negotiation concessions whether or not a violation has occurred. Furthermore, we find support for a practical intervention to repair damage from expectancy violations committed by more familiar partners.
Social Science Research Network, 2006
Auditors face the challenging tasks of attesting that the financial statements are free from mate... more Auditors face the challenging tasks of attesting that the financial statements are free from material misstatement while simultaneously fostering a functional working relationship with the client. As the financial statements may be considered, in part, a product of negotiations between the auditor and client management (Antle and Nalebuff 1991), the negotiation strategy employed by the auditor may be useful in effectively fulfilling both tasks. To investigate the effect of auditor strategy on the resolution of proposed audit adjustments in a post Sarbanes-Oxley environment, we examine the client side of the negotiation. We investigate a strategy that draws upon the societal rule of reciprocation we label "full-disclosure," which makes the waiving of inconsequential audit differences transparent. Specifically, with the full-disclosure approach, the auditor brings to the attention of the client all the audit differences (both significant and inconsequential) discovered during the audit and, subsequently, waives the inconsequential items. In contrast, a strategy of "non-disclosure" of inconsequential items (in which the auditor discloses to the client only the significant audit differences which must be booked) renders the client unaware of the waived inconsequential differences. Results indicate that, relative to a nondisclosure approach, participants representing client management (controllers/CFOs) are more willing to post significant income-decreasing adjustments when exposed to a full-disclosure approach in the course of negotiating the final contents of the audited financial statements. Fulldisclosure also results in greater client satisfaction and retention. Consistent with these findings, additional experimentation suggests that auditors also perceive that altering their approach toward greater disclosure of inconsequential audit differences can improve client satisfaction and retention.
for their helpful comments. We appreciate the assistance of the partners, administrative staff, a... more for their helpful comments. We appreciate the assistance of the partners, administrative staff, and audit professionals of the firms that participated in our study. Data is available upon request.
The Accounting Review, Sep 1, 2019
While current audit standards explicitly outline engagement partner tenure requirements, firms ha... more While current audit standards explicitly outline engagement partner tenure requirements, firms have a great degree of flexibility in managing the rotation process. To examine the partner rotation process, we conduct semi-structured interviews with 20 U.S. audit firm partners. These interviewees share their experiences on topics such as how they identify appropriate candidate partners (e.g., relationship partner preliminary discussions with the client to gauge their expectations) and what efforts they undertake to manage the auditor-client relationship in the post-rotation period. Further, we consider firms' motivation to manage the auditor-client relationship through the lens of Social Exchange Theory (SET). Our study helps inform regulators and researchers about the process by which engagement partners are selected for rotation onto clients, an understudied area that has potential implications for auditor independence and audit quality, and one in which investors and regulators continue to express interest.
The effect of team member proximity and assignment length on audit staff reliance on a supervisor's preferences
Accounting Organizations and Society, Feb 1, 2023
Journal of Accounting, Auditing & Finance, Jul 21, 2022
, and workshop participants at the University of Delaware for their helpful comments.
Social Science Research Network, Jun 22, 2007
and especially Laureen Maines (associate editor) and two anonymous referees for their helpful com... more and especially Laureen Maines (associate editor) and two anonymous referees for their helpful comments. We also thank Martin Haley and Cathy Beaudoin for assistance with coding participant data. We appreciate the support of the partners, administrative staff, and audit professionals who participated in this study.
Annual Editor Report
AUDITING: A Journal of Practice & Theory, 2018
Do Investors Prefer Female CEOs in Activist-Targeted Firms? The Role of CEO Gender, Shareholder Activism Type, and Earnings Guidance Disclosure
SSRN Electronic Journal
This work is dedicated to my mother, Diane Fiori, who missed all the good that became of her chil... more This work is dedicated to my mother, Diane Fiori, who missed all the good that became of her children. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are many people that have contributed to my ability to complete my dissertation, and more generally, the Ph.D. program. First and foremost are my dissertation co-chairs, Christopher Agoglia and George Tsakumis. They were incredibly generous with their time and exercised great patience as I developed the skills needed to conduct and present my research. In addition, I would like to thank my other dissertation committee members, Nandini Chandar, Anthony Curatola, John Schaubroeck, and Brad Tuttle for their support of my work. I also have many friends who provide a great support system. I'd especially like to acknowledge my long-time, hometown friends, John and Marlene. We have all come very far from the days of working at Denny's and The Pumpernickel Pub. I'd also like to acknowledge John and Anne, who provided a great sounding board for some of my research ideas and made several trips from Connecticut to Philadelphia at the end of which I was always smiling again. To my Columbia study group buddies, Scot, Tom, Chris, and James, thanks for the unending encouragement. I truly admire all of you. To my MetLife and WebMD buddies, Barbara, Bob, and Suzanne, I'm glad our friendship has endured. And finally, I must acknowledge my deep gratitude to David Parsons, my old boss from MetLife and the only actuary I've ever known who could do accounting better than the accountants. Without Dave's help, I would have never survived my first year at Drexel. When it became obvious that my visual limitations were impacting my ability to learn the requisite statistics and economics, he spent endless hours helping me until I became proficient with the material. His dedication to my success speaks to his character. I thank you all.
Making Sense of Seven Quandaries: Developing a Framework for Custom Contrast Analysis
Making Sense of Custom Contrast Analysis: Seven Takeaways and a New Approach
SSRN Electronic Journal
Custom Contrast Testing: Current Trends and a New Approach
The Accounting Review
Contrast analysis has become prevalent in experimental accounting research since Buckless and Rav... more Contrast analysis has become prevalent in experimental accounting research since Buckless and Ravenscroft (1990) introduced it to the accounting literature over 25 years ago. Since its initial introduction, the scope of contrast testing has expanded, yet guidance as to the most appropriate methods of specifying, conducting, interpreting, and exhibiting these tests has not. We survey the use of contrast analysis in the recent literature and propose a three-part testing approach that provides a more comprehensive picture of contrast results. Our approach considers three pieces of complementary evidence: the visual evaluation of fit, traditional significance testing, and quantitative evaluation of the contrast variance residual. Our measure of the contrast variance residual, q2, is proposed for the first time in this work. After proposing our approach, we walk through six common contrast testing scenarios where current practices may fall short and our approach may guide researchers. We...
Research Forum on COVID-19: Implications for Audits and the Audit Profession
AUDITING: A Journal of Practice & Theory, 2022
Making Sense of Seven Quandaries: Developing a Framework for Custom Contrast Analysis
Annual Editor Report
AUDITING: A Journal of Practice & Theory, 2019
Making Sense of Custom Contrast Analysis: Seven Takeaways and a New Approach
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2017
Even though custom contrast weight testing is a common method used to test for the presence of or... more Even though custom contrast weight testing is a common method used to test for the presence of ordinal interactions, the most appropriate methods of specifying, conducting, interpreting, and exhibiting these tests are not always clear. Drawing from our own experiences, we identify seven quandaries that researchers may encounter when working with custom contrasts, concluding our discussion of each with key takeaways. In these quandaries, we explore the role of residual between-cells variance testing, the use of zero weights in contrast coding schemes, custom contrast robustness testing using sensitivity analyses, how correlations between contrast coding weightings can impact inference, the role of effect size metrics in contrast analysis, and other topics. We then propose a new approach to custom contrast weight testing and offer a software application to ease in its implementation. We hope that by discussing these common, yet complex, scenarios and by using the takeaways from these discussions to suggest a multidimensional testing approach, we can provide a resource for authors and their readers to reference as they evaluate custom contrast hypotheses.
The Effect of Audit Review Format on the Quality of Workpaper Documentation and Reviewer Judgments
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2005
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Papers by Christopher Agoglia