We analyze the impact of cross-audits between companies and mutual funds on auditors' reporting decisions. We document that companies are more likely to receive favorable audit opinions when they appoint the same auditor as their mutual fund blockholders. In cross-sectional evidence consistent...

We analyze whether information asymmetry affects three major aspects of the audit process using an instrumental variables research design that exploits exogenous increases in information asymmetry stemming from brokerage house mergers and closures. Consistent with our predictions, we find that a...

Extant evidence implies that managers rely on a variety of non-income-increasing techniques to manipulate earnings. However, prior research finds that the auditor is more likely to discipline firms against practicing income-increasing (II) earnings management due to its higher litigation and...

We examine which of two opposing financial reporting incentives that group-affiliated firms experience shapes their accounting transparency evident in auditor choice. In one direction, complex group structure and intra-group transactions enable controlling shareholders to pursue diversionary...

We extend prior research by exploring the importance of social ties among auditors' clients to audit quality. On one hand, social ties foster communication among clients concerning how to deal with an auditor, helping clients negotiate against proposed audit adjustments. On the other hand,...

Capitalizing on a unique setting in China where auditors disclose their prosocial activities, we examine the role that auditor social responsibility (ASR) plays in shaping their performance. In one direction, the behavior consistency theory implies that individual auditors exhibiting more social...

This study shows that auditors are more likely to charge higher audit fees, issue false-positive going concern opinions (i.e., Type I error), and resign from high asset redeployability (AR) firms. In supplemental tests, we use path analysis to show that the significant associations between AR...

We examine the importance of analysts covering firms with common audit partners to analyst earnings forecast performance (hereafter, we term the analyst, auditor, and the firm as being “common”). We find that analysts issue more accurate and less optimistically biased earnings forecasts for...

The increase in disclosure about the persons conducting audits has led to a steep rise in research examining the role that individual audit partners play in audit outcomes. Although recent evidence suggests that individual audit partners explain a substantial portion of the variation in audit...