The quality of the opinion provided by audit firms is an important determinant of their long-term survival, but audit quality is difficult to gauge, which makes it particularly sensitive to the behaviour of the individuals who carry on audit work. This paper seeks to identify the incidence of...

This study examines whether profit-sharing arrangements within accounting firms are associated with the riskiness of their client portfolios. Our results use unique data about the profit-sharing arrangements of the Big 8 firms during the period 1985 to 1994. We investigate whether there is a...

Big 6 market shares based on aggregate national data have been used in prior research to infer market leadership and industry expertise, and to differentiate Big 6 accounting firms from one another. In this study it is demonstrated that further differences exist with respect to city-specific...

Risk based audit (RBA) approaches represent a major trend in current audit methodology. The approach is based on risk analysis used to identify business strategy risk. The RBA has created a new set of research issues that need investigation. In particular, this approach has important...