We examine the heterogeneity of experts in a credence goods setting. In our analytical model, clients are ex ante uncertain about how much effort experts need to provide to solve their problem, which is either simple or difficult. Experts have varying degrees of expertise. Less qualified experts...

In this paper we investigate why auditors fail to report material weaknesses in internal controls (ICMWs) in advance of misstated audited financial statements. To address this question, we analyze Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) proprietary data on audit clients' internal...

Using proprietary data, we analyze how a variety of audit composition and team characteristics are associated with audit effectiveness and efficiency. We find that more time allocated prior to the final phase of the audit is associated with more effective audits. We also decompose the time...

This study investigates the impact on auditors' and clients' activities of Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) inspections of individual engagements. I find that both auditors and clients react to a Part I Finding, which identifies audit deficiencies on their inspected engagements....

Extensive debate exists among policy makers and economists about the employment of highly skilled immigrants in the U.S. It remains unclear whether these immigrants perform complementary tasks in addition to their substitutive role relative to native graduates. Empirical studies examining these...

We examine whether auditor regulatory oversight affects the value of financial statement audits. Using the PCAOB international inspection program as a setting to generate within country variation in regulatory oversight, we find that non-U.S. auditors inspected by the PCAOB gain 4 to 6% market...

This study investigates the degree of concordance between fifteen measures of audit quality used in academia and two measures of audit process quality determined either by audit firms' internal inspections or by Public Company Accounting Oversight Board inspections of individual engagements....

This study seeks to determine the role of audit firms' quality control (QC) system deficiencies, as measured by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) inspection program, on audit quality and profitability. Using a unique dataset of firm-wide QC deficiencies identified by the...

The originate-to-distribute (OTD) model, in which the originators of mortgages sell or securitize the mortgages to third parties, likely contributed to the 2008 financial crisis. Auditors were blamed for permitting clients to understate the risks of the model in their financial reports,...

The financial instability stemming from large volumes of simultaneous selling in the corporate bond market has been a topic of concern in recent years. Investors in this market care primarily about the downside risk of a firm given their concave payoff function, and this is precisely the...