Regulatory sanction to an audit firm: An analysis of client stock market reaction

Kharisma Setiono, Ersa Tri Wahyuni, Prima Yusi Sari

Abstract


Regulatory compliance is a significant element of environmental security, the safeguarding of stable state revenues and the achievement of other key public objectives. Capital market effects of enforcement have received a lot of attention, but it has not been much reviewed and explored within the scope of Indonesian capital market. Specifically, this research aims to provide an in-depth review of the regulatory sanction imposed on a major audit firm in Indonesia and to analyze the impact of investor valuations by looking at the stock prices of each client company of the audit firm. We examine the stock market effects of the regulatory sanction imposed upon one of the Big Four auditors in Indonesia, namely KAP Tanubrata, Sutanto, Fahmi, Bambang & Rekan as a member of BDO International Limited for actions related to its audit of PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk (Garuda Indonesia). The shares of 37 BDO auditees and 37 non-BDO auditees are analyzed and their respective cumulative abnormal returns (CAR) are calculated in order to observe their reaction upon the event, i.e. the imposition of sanction by regulator towards BDO. Two event windows are examined in our analysis - April 26th, 2019 is the date on which the issue was informally reported by the media/press and June 28th, 2019 is the date on which the regulator officially imposes its sanction. Using the event study methodology, we calculated the CAR and obtained results that showed significant differences in the CAR figures for BDO and non-BDO clients. Our findings suggest that a significant difference in the CARs of BDO and non-BDO clients only exists over a brief period of time, indicating a lack of major concerns for the case. Therefore, we see that BDO has no reputational loss in relation to the Garuda Indonesia case, both on informal and formal dates.

Keywords: stock market reaction, regulatory sanction, audit firm, auditor reputation, audit quality


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DOI: https://doi.org/10.31326/.v2i1.773

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