Recent studies indicate dividends are associated with higher quality earnings. Our study extends the literature by examining whether dividends' information is associated with auditors' assessment of their clients' earnings quality. Our results show that auditors charge lower fees to...

Regulators and economists are often concerned with mergers and acquisitions (M&A) because of their potential to reduce competition by decreasing the number of suppliers and consolidating market share. However, Stigler (1955) points out that in certain situations, mergers may increase competition...

Prior research finds that women receive lower salaries than men. Similarly, we show that female audit partners in Belgium receive significantly lower compensation than male partners. However, there are alternative explanations for the pay gap other than gender discrimination. For example, the...

Prior research finds that women receive lower salaries than men. Similarly, we show that female audit partners in Belgium receive significantly lower compensation than male partners. However, there are alternative explanations for the pay gap other than gender discrimination. For example, the...

We investigate the audit fee response to CEO behavioral integrity (BI). BI refers to the perceived congruence between an individual's words and deeds (Simons 2002). Because low word-deed congruence should result in more explanations when communicating, we use variation in explanations beyond...

The purpose of this paper is to integrate research on audit markets, fees and production. We present a model of the components that determine audit fees and production [hours]. We observe that, overall, knowledge is concentrated on certain aspects of the model and it is not well-integrated. In...

Auditors' incentives to be conservative are likely to vary both cross-sectionally and over time based on their legal liability exposure. We predict that Big Eight (Six/Five) auditors are likely to be more conservative than non-Big Eight Auditors. We show that the earnings reported by Big Eight...

While the use of internal, external, and both types of environmental audits are becoming more pervasive in society, little is known about the stakeholder influences associated with their use, in large part because previous research has viewed them as a uniform type of management practice. This...

This study investigates the relationship between environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scores and dividend policies, considering the moderating role of audit quality. Based on data for Western European listed companies (leaders in ESG revolution) over the period 2010-2019, panel regression...

Using proprietary data, we analyze how a variety of audit composition and team characteristics are associated with audit effectiveness and efficiency. We find that more time allocated prior to the final phase of the audit is associated with more effective audits. We also decompose the time...