We examine whether audit partners with prior non-public accounting industry experience conduct higher quality and more efficient audits. We further analyze whether the sequencing and nature of this experience matters by splitting audit partners with prior industry experience into those who...

We examine the importance of audit partners’ prior non-public accounting experience (hereafter, “industry experience”) to audit outcomes. We conducted 20 (nine) semi-structured interviews of audit partners with (without) industry experience. These interviews shed light on...

We examine whether greater gender and ethnic diversity of an office’s audit partners influences the retention of the office’s audit professionals and the quality of the audits conducted by the office. Using hand-collected data on audit partners, we find that greater diversity in audit office...

This study investigates the association between the line of service (audit, tax, advisory) of Big Four office managing partners (OMPs) and both non-audit service fees and audit quality. Given that audit quality has been shown to vary across offices and because changes in office-level leadership...

We investigate the incremental market reaction to first-time going concern audit reports (GCARs) relative to similarly distressed non-GCAR firms. We utilize a matched-sample research design to show that first-time GCARs are associated with incremental negative abnormal returns and increases in...

Recently, the SEC approved a new rule which requires audit firms to disclose the name of the engagement partners (EPs) responsible for audits, thus allowing stakeholders, for the first time to associate not just audit firms, but also specific audit partners, with past audit failures. Plaintiffs...

Regulatory economics suggests that one benefit of public enforcement is the deterrence of improper conduct. Using a difference-in-differences design, we investigate whether a deterrence effect follows the revelation of PCAOB enforcement. We find that large audit firm offices improve audit...