In the past six years, the average number of industries (2-digit SIC) serviced by audit offices in the United States has grown by 20% and the number of industries where the office has specialization has fallen by 40% (Data Source: Audit Analytics). This suggests a trend away from specialization...

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the market for audit services for publicly traded companies operating in the US for-profit (FP) healthcare sector. Complex national and local healthcare laws and regulations suggest the importance of assessing fee effects of joint national-level and city...

This study contributes to the audit reporting literature by examining how disclosure of critical audit matters (CAMs) in the audit report varies with perceived litigation risk and financial reporting quality. Consistent with the litigation hypothesis (Skinner, 1994), I find a positive...

After a lengthy and protracted debate, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) adopted Rule 3211 (commonly referred to as “Form AP”) and related amendments to its auditing standards regarding the identification of audit engagement partner and other accounting firms who take...

This paper examines the demand and supply side factors associated with audit partner selection and assignment in the United States. First, we examine whether audit partner gender and experience are associated with board and management gender and experience. Second, we investigate whether...

Increased audit regulation, coupled with practitioner reports of “hyper-acquisitive” behavior among smaller firms, creates a dynamic environment in which to assess changes in the U.S. audit market. Against this backdrop, we examine the consequences of small audit firm mergers on audit...

We propose a novel measure to discern a U.S. audit partner’s individual effect on audit quality: their houses. We argue that higher house value signals the partners with better performance and more incentives to provide high-quality audits. Using a hand-collected sample of all real estate...

We propose that audit quality is likely to increase in the earlier years due to a Learning Effect and in later years it decreases due to a Bonding Effect. Adopting a quadratic model, we find that the average turning point is between 12 to 16 years for a large sample of U.S. firms. With an...

Using a matched sample of 1,806 firm-year observations from Germany and the United States over the sample period of 2005 to 2010, this paper examines audit practice differences between both countries. Our empirical results show qualitative similar results with regard to audit tenure effects on...

We examine audit fees and returns to auditor reputation for Israeli entrepreneurs making initial public offerings (IPOs) of equity in U.S. capital markets. We find that the cost of audit quality in terms of audit fees is higher, and the benefit of audit quality in terms of IPO proceeds is lower...