AAA Spark Meeting of the Regions

Corporate Tax Avoidance and Fraud Risk

• In Event: Tax Avoidance

Abstract

There is mixed evidence on whether corporate tax avoidance (CTA) is positively or negatively related to aggressive financial reporting. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) requires that auditors assess fraud risks that are related to aggressive financial reporting. In this study I extend the research of CTA by examining the relationship between CTA and fraud risk. I use accrual quality related variables, performance variables, and non-financial measures (NFMs) to measure fraud risk. Drawing on agency theory and fraud risk triangle theory, I find that CTA is positively related to fraud risk. In addition, my results that fraud risk variables are associated with accounting frauds suggest that fraud risk can be used to predict accounting frauds.

Author

• Zhonghua Cao, Southeast Missouri State University