Classical agency theory argues that economic incentives can have a strong impact on opportunistic reporting behavior. On the other hand, behavioral literature suggests that agents also adhere to descriptive norms established by peers. Most studies examine these effects in isolation, ignoring the...

Prior research contends that financial misreporting has a spillover effect on the outcomes of peer firms within the same industry through investment decisions, information risk, and shareholder wealth. We predict and confirm a higher level of audit fees for peer firms when serious misreporting...

Drawing on herding behavior theory, prior studies regarding the use of peers for investment decisions and compensation practices and the recent reports which suggest that firms use peer information for audit pricing, we examine the effect of peer groups on the audit pricing process of a sample...