We investigate the justifications provided by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) when sanctioning audit firms and individual auditors, as disclosed in the publicly released Settled Disciplinary Orders (SDOs). Employing responsive regulation theory, we seek to gain an understanding of violating behaviors by audit firms and individual auditors that attract regulatory responses ranging in nature from persuasive to punitive sanctions. Using 298 SDOs issued by the PCAOB from 2005 to 2020, we find that the frequency and severity of PCAOB sanctions at the firm level are positively associated with auditing standards violations, independence issues, and reckless behavior. At the individual auditor level, integrity violations and reckless behavior are positively associated with the frequency and severity of PCAOB sanctions. Our findings indicate that significantly higher financial penalties for individual auditors (audit firms) arise from manipulation of audit evidence (quality control criticisms). Further, the PCAOB financially penalizes Big 4-affiliated auditors and firms significantly more than their non-Big 4 counterparts. Other factors such as multiple individuals being implicated in an SDO and whether a firm and individual(s) are both implicated in the SDO are important considerations in sanction(s) imposed by the PCAOB. Overall, our findings suggest that the PCAOB adopts a responsive enforcement strategy when monitoring the auditors in their ethical and audit compliance efforts.

我们调查了上市公司会计监督委员会 (PCAOB) 在制裁审计公司和个人审计师时提供的理由，正如公开发布的和解纪律命令 (SDO) 中所披露的那样。运用响应性监管理论，我们试图了解审计公司和个人审计师的违规行为，这些违规行为吸引了从说服性到惩罚性制裁的各种监管回应。使用 PCAOB 从 2005 年到 2020 年发布的 298 份 SDO，我们发现公司层面 PCAOB 制裁的频率和严重程度与违反审计标准、独立性问题和鲁莽行为呈正相关。在个人审计师层面，违反诚信和鲁莽行为与 PCAOB 制裁的频率和严重程度呈正相关。我们的研究结果表明，对个别审计师（审计公司）的经济处罚明显更高，原因是操纵审计证据（质量控制批评）。此外，PCAOB 对四大附属审计师和公司的财务处罚明显高于其非四大同行。其他因素，例如多人参与 SDO，以及公司和个人是否都参与 SDO，是 PCAOB 实施制裁的重要考虑因素。总体而言，我们的调查结果表明，PCAOB 在监督审计师的道德和审计合规工作时采用了响应式执法策略。PCAOB 对四大附属审计师和公司的财务处罚明显高于其非四大同行。其他因素，例如多人参与 SDO，以及公司和个人是否都参与 SDO，是 PCAOB 实施制裁的重要考虑因素。总体而言，我们的调查结果表明，PCAOB 在监督审计师的道德和审计合规工作时采用了响应式执法策略。PCAOB 对四大附属审计师和公司的财务处罚明显高于其非四大同行。其他因素，例如多人参与 SDO，以及公司和个人是否都参与 SDO，是 PCAOB 实施制裁的重要考虑因素。总体而言，我们的调查结果表明，PCAOB 在监督审计师的道德和审计合规工作时采用了响应式执法策略。