An Empirical Evaluation of Auditors' 'Subject-To' Opinions.

Recently, the informational value of the auditor's subject-to opinion has been seriously questioned. This paper employed a capital markets research design which compared the residual security returns of a group of firms which received an uncertainty qualification to the abnormal security returns of a portfolio of companies which were issued an unqualified opinion. This study examined the period surrounding the annual report date for the years 1968-1975.The test results suggest that the subject-to opinion does not contain informational value. The same conclusion was derived when tests were performed on various categories of subject-to opinions. However, the empirical evidence also suggests that the underlying economic events which were responsible for the subject-to audit opinion contained information value which was anticipated and impounded by the market for a considerable length of time before the issuance of the audit report.