Francis and Yu (2009) and Choi, Kim, Kim, and Zang (2010) report evidence that Big 4 audits are of higher quality when the engagement office is of larger size: specifically, client earnings quality is higher and auditors in larger offices are more likely to issue going concern audit reports. We...

Francis and Yu (2009) and Choi, Kim, Kim, and Zang (2010) report evidence that Big 4 audits are of higher quality when the engagement office is of larger size: specifically, client earnings quality is higher and auditors in larger offices are more likely to issue going concern audit reports. We...

This paper investigates why a firm would hire an auditor far away from its corporate headquarter. Using a sample from the Audit Analytics database, we show that 75% of the firms hire a Big 4 auditor less than 33 miles away from their headquarters, and the median distance is only 14 miles. For...

Audit reports in China record the names of two signing auditors. Through co-signed audit reports, we observe auditor groups within large Chinese accounting firms. We find that these auditor groups are very stable over time. They act like autonomous units within accounting firms. They control...