Auditor's report, auditor's size and value relevance of accounting information

Abstract

Purpose

The present study sets out to examine the effect of auditor's report and audit firm size on the value relevance of accounting information of the companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange during the years 2008–2017.

Design/methodology/approach

The study includes a sample of 1,530 firm-year observations drawn from the listed companies, and the research hypotheses were analyzed using multivariate regression model based on panel data.

Findings

The findings reveal that auditor's report and audit firm size are positively and significantly correlated with two indicators of the value relevance of accounting information including value relevance of earnings and book value per share. Also our results exhibit robustness to the alternative measure of auditor's attributes.

Research limitations/implications

As far as we know, this is the first study to analyze the association between auditor's attributes and value relevance of accounting information in emerging capital markets, thereby generating certain implications for investors, managers, capital market policy makers and audit profession regulators in general and those in emerging markets in particular.

Practical implications

Our findings have implications for policy makers, regulators, managers and investors. Our evidence on the positive association between auditor's size and value relevance of accounting information should help policy makers and regulators which they improve value relevance of accounting information and financial reporting by integrating small audit firms and setting up larger audit firms.

Originality/value

A rise in the value relevance of accounting information deserves further attention while drawing investment, selling the stocks of existing firms and increasing investor's decision-making ability. The way how auditor's attributes can promote the value relevance of accounting information is still open to new research.

Citation

Abdollahi, A., Rezaei Pitenoei, Y. and Safari Gerayli, M. (2020), "Auditor's report, auditor's size and value relevance of accounting information", Journal of Applied Accounting Research, Vol. 21 No. 4, pp. 721-739. https://doi.org/10.1108/JAAR-11-2019-0153