This study investigates whether auditors' independence was compromised by client audit fee pressures during the … the recession, when audit risk increased, might also have been able to obtain more favorable audit opinions. We find that … independence for clients capable of exerting audit fee pressure, but this effect was restricted to 2008, the heart of the recession …

credibility) but the degree of anchoring to this target has gone down, implying an erosion of what we call anchoring credibility …. A decline in anchoring credibility can explain increased forecast variance independently of any changes in inflation …