Auditors are expected to identify and resolve material misstatements (MMs) in management's financial statements. However, beyond the audit opinion, the audit process is opaque. To address this, we independently survey 462 audit partners and interview 24 audit partners, CFOs, and audit committee members on how partners assess and address MM risk, resolve MMs, and the consequences of MMs. Partners identify MMs in approximately 9% (15%) of public (private) engagements and use qualitative factors to waive apparent MMs. Loan covenant and going-concern issues increase MM risk more than earnings benchmark issues. Partners point to a variety of both auditor and client factors as threats to audit effectiveness. Partners often rely on rapport with management and involve the national office and audit committee in resolving MMs. Partner incentives around restatements are context specific. Our results provide new insights into the auditor's role in financial reporting that are relevant to academics, practitioners, and regulators.

中文翻译：

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审计合作伙伴在重大错报解决中的作用：调查和访谈证据

审计师应识别并解决管理层财务报表中的重大错报 (MM)。然而，除了审计意见之外，审计过程也是不透明的。为了解决这个问题，我们独立调查了 462 名审计合伙人，并采访了 24 名审计合伙人、首席财务官和审计委员会成员，了解合作伙伴如何评估和解决 MM 风险、解决 MM 以及 MM 的后果。合作伙伴在大约 9% (15%) 的公共（私人）活动中识别出 MM，并使用定性因素来放弃明显的 MM。贷款契约和持续经营问题比盈利基准问题更能增加MM风险。合作伙伴指出审计师和客户的各种因素对审计有效性构成威胁。合作伙伴通常依赖与管理层的融洽关系，并让国家办事处和审计委员会参与解决 MM 问题。围绕重述的合作伙伴激励措施是根据具体情况而定的。我们的研究结果为审计师在财务报告中的作用提供了新的见解，与学术界、从业者和监管机构相关。