We examine the effects of the 1998 merger of Price Waterhouse (PW) and Coopers & Lybrand (CL) on the audit quality of …, and clients' accrual quality. At the firm-level, we find that the merger increased audit quality for PwC relative to the ….e., offices in cities where both PW and CL had separate offices prior to the merger. Further, our findings suggest that although …