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The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of ethnicity on auditor choice for Malaysian listed companies.

This study evaluates the effects of various independent variables on auditor choice behaviour, particularly ethnicity of auditor and ethnicity of management, using a logistic regression analysis approach for 300 companies listed on the Bursa Malaysia (formerly known as Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange‐KLSE) over an 18 year period.

Auditor choice is shown to be significantly influenced by client firm's characteristics, notably changes in management, complexity, and financial risk, lending support to the findings of previous survey studies. Ethnicity was found to be a significant factor influencing auditor choice only for auditor switches between non‐Big 4 and Big 4 firms.

A number of important variables such as corporate governance characteristics, audit fees, client size, and growth that might enhance an understanding of auditor choice behaviour in Malaysia were not incorporated in the regression models, and might be considered in future studies.

The results presented in the paper have important implications for both the auditing profession and regulators in Malaysia.

This study aims to examine the International Standards on Auditing (ISA) number 520 relating to analytical procedures (APs) and adapt relevant aspects of prior studies on APs to the Egyptian audit context. The study investigates the extent of use of APs in Egypt during the three main stages of an audit by size of firms and level of staff. It examines auditors' perceptions of the frequency and effectiveness of different types of APs in achieving a selected set of audit objectives. The study also identifies the types of assurance provided by APs and their influence on detailed testing as well as analyzing the role of auditing standards in the context of the use of APs.

The design and research method are empirical using a questionnaire survey to collect information on actual uses of APs from 14 audit firms in Egypt which audit the 100 actively traded companies on the Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX) as measured by the EGX 100 index. The survey was carried out between 2008 and 2009.

The results of the study showed relatively low use of APs by Egyptian auditors with wide variations in its use by Big 4 and other auditing firms. Auditors from Big 4 firms are found to use APs to a greater extent than auditors from non‐Big 4 firms. Also, the reliance on APs tends to differ by auditors rank and position. The majority of auditors consider APs useful in achieving audit objectives. Audit firms of all size continue to emphasize judgment‐based compared to quantitatively based procedures. The results also indicated a lack of confidence in the use of APs as substantive procedures. Finally, the study confirmed prior research findings in that auditing standards are regarded as most effective in codifying existing large firms practice. It was found that ISA 520 has been least effective in stimulating change in the Egyptian audit practice.

The different economic, political, educational, and culture environment in Egypt may restrict the generalisability of this study results.

In order to increase the use of APs by Egyptian auditors in the various stages of the audit engagement, auditors need to understand the requirements of the Egyptian Auditing Standards regarding their use. Auditors also need to be aware of the application of various APs techniques, especially those associated with statistics and mathematical models. Educational institutions and the Egyptian Association of Accountants and Auditors must play significant role in educating auditors about APs techniques and their use in planning, testing and final review of the financial statements.

This paper contributes to an understanding of the nature and uses of APs within the Egyptian culture and economic context. The study will stimulate further research in understanding the importance of the use of APs in audit engagements in different perspectives.

This paper aims to investigate the effect of auditor switching and lowballing on conditional conservatism, particularly how different types of auditor switching, namely, upward, downward and lateral switching to/from Big 4 and industry specialists, affect earnings quality in the following selected Asian countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea and Thailand.

Using conditional conservatism as a proxy for earnings quality, this study hypothesises that upward switching from non-Big 4 to Big 4 auditors, or from non-specialist to specialist auditors, would result in high conditional conservatism, while downward switching would lead to low conditional conservatism. The study further tests whether lowballing provides a viable explanation for reduced earnings conservatism in firms that switch from Big 4 to non-Big 4 auditors, or from specialist to non-specialist auditors.

The analysis, on a sample of 28,073 firm-year observations from 2007 to 2016, shows that the decision to downgrade auditors leads to lower conditional conservatism in the year of switching, compared with other firms and the pre-switching year. The evidence further shows that, when firms downgrade their auditors, lowballing contributes to a decrease in conditional conservatism in the first year of audit switching. Further, this research finds that switching to specialist auditors will result in increased conditional conservatism, while switching from specialist auditors to non-specialist auditors will result in reduced conditional conservatism.

The findings of this study are useful to investors who are looking to diversify their investment portfolio in developing markets, as evidence about auditor switching and quality of financial reporting may be an important factor in their investment decisions. Downward auditor switches and lowballing could act as red flags to investors in the sense that these events could signal a decrease in conditional conservatism and, hence, quality of earnings.

This research offers new evidence to support the view that management decisions to switch to lower-quality auditors will force newly appointed auditors to acquiesce to clients’ demands for reporting low-quality earnings.

This study examines the effects of institutional and government ownership on audit quality in Kuwait. Kuwait provides an interesting regulatory context as listed firms are legally required to appoint two external auditors from different auditing firms. This offers a unique opportunity to examine differentiation in demand for audit quality when there are three potential combinations of auditors: two non-Big 4, one Big 4 and one non-Big 4 and two Big 4.

The sample consists of all firms listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange in 2013. Multinomial logistic regression examines the influence of ownership structure on audit quality. Analyses are controlled for the effect of company characteristics. Control variables are: firm size, complexity, growth, leverage, profitability and industry category.

The results show that institutional ownership is positively related to the number of Big 4 auditing firms that audit a company’s financial statements. This reflects the powerful and influential role institutional investors play in discouraging management from choosing lower-quality providers. In contrast, government ownership has a negative impact on audit quality. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that audit quality is a function of, among other factors, the structure of equity ownership.

Given the importance of audits, knowledge of the determinants of audit quality is of particular interest to regulators, enforcement agencies and investors. The findings imply that different ownership structures have different effects on the demand for audit quality; some structures strengthen it, while others weaken it. The negative relation between government ownership and audit quality raises serious questions about the effectiveness of government in monitoring its investments.

This paper extends the literature by investigating the determinants of the choice of auditors in an emerging market where there is a joint audit requirement. It highlights the important role played by ownership structure in shaping demand for audit quality. A distinguishing feature in previous research is the classification of the audit quality proxy into two choices (Big 4 vs non-Big 4 auditors). However, the regulatory context in Kuwait means that there are three choices. Thus, unusually, a multinomial logistic regression is used for the analysis.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of audit quality on firms’ compliance with IFRS for goodwill impairment testing and disclosure. Differences in the compliance among the clients of Big-4 auditors and between the clients of Big-4 and non-Big-4 auditors are examined. This study also examines the effect of audit committee (AC) members’ accounting and finance backgrounds on firms’ compliance with IFRS for goodwill impairment testing and disclosure.

Different univariate tests, multivariate regressions and fixed effect panel regressions have been used to examine the hypotheses. The sample includes 911 firm-year observations for the period of 2006-2009.

A statistically significant difference in compliance levels has been found between the clients of Big-4 and non-Big-4 auditors. The compliance levels of the clients of Big-4 auditors have also been found to be significantly different. The findings also suggest that AC members’ accounting and finance backgrounds are positively associated with firms’ compliance with IFRS for goodwill impairment testing and disclosure.

The single country context and the single standard context limit the generalizability of the findings.

The findings of this study have important implications for researches in accounting, finance and corporate governance that usually consider Big-4 auditors vs non-Big-4 auditors as a proxy for audit quality. The results also reinforce the importance of developing institutional mechanisms such as high-quality auditing or corporate governance (AC members’ expertise) to encourage firms’ compliance with IFRS.

Firms’ compliance with IFRS for goodwill impairment testing is not essentially the same for the clients of all Big-4 auditors in Australia, suggesting that the quality of services provided by Big-4 auditors significantly differ from one another in enforcing their clients to compliance with IFRS. The lax enforcement on the part of auditors and the regulatory inaction in this regard may point to teething difficulties and systematic deficiencies in the move towards the impairment regime and fair value accounting. The findings also bear an important message for the move towards the harmonization of accounting practices.

We analyze the economic consequence of government intervention on the incidence of accounting fraud and audit fees of both Big 4 and local big auditors on Chinese audit market in the period 2006–2013. In 2009, Chinese government issued favorable polices to local big auditors and required certain Chinese companies to give priority to these auditors. We find that market share of Big 4 auditors is quite stable before and after government intervention, but market share of local big auditors increases at the cost of local small auditors after intervention. Although audit fee premiums of both local big and Big 4 auditors have increased after intervention, the positive effect of local big auditors on audit fee premiums has significantly decreased. Further, both Big 4 and local big auditors are not likely to reduce the incidence of accounting fraud in pre- and post-intervention period. Our results suggest that Chinese government support to local auditors does not significantly enhance these auditors’ competitiveness in terms of audit fee and audit quality.

The purpose of this study is to examine whether the corruption level of a country is associated with a firm’s decision to choose Big 4 versus non-Big 4 auditors. In addition, the authors examine whether firms that are cross-listed in a country with a corruption level different from that of the home country are more likely to appoint Big 4 auditors.

Based on a sample of 185,549 firm-year observations from 78 countries over 2003-2012, panel regression analysis is used to investigate the research questions.

The authors find a negative association between corruption and the propensity to hire Big 4 auditors and that cross-listed firms are more likely to hire Big 4 auditors than their domestic counterparts. Interestingly, the authors find that when firms cross-list in less corrupt countries relative to their home countries, firms are more likely to hire Big 4 auditors. However, this tendency disappears when firms cross-list in more corrupt countries.

The authors contribute to the audit choice literature by providing evidence that the political environment, as manifested in the corruption level of a country, plays a role in the decision to choose Big 4 versus non-Big 4 auditors. The study complements the prior auditor choice literature, which focuses mostly on single countries such as the USA, by expanding the scope to 78 countries. Furthermore, the authors enhance the understanding of how the absolute and relative performance of the political environment affects cross-listed firms’ choice of auditors.

This paper aims to examine various factors affecting the pricing of audit services and the selection of auditors in the Indian audit market. This paper also aims to investigate the impact of financial distress conditions on the audit pricing and auditor choice decisions of a firm, particularly in the context of a developing economy.

The sample comprises 22,644 firm-years for 1,366 Indian firms from 1990 to 2015. The authors adopt ordinary least squares regression technique to model audit fee, and logistic regression technique to model auditor choice as a function of various factors relating to firm attributes and auditor characteristics.

This paper finds that auditors tend to charge an audit fee premium when they are affiliated to a Big 4 auditor, have industry specialization or jointly provide auditing and non-auditing services. Additionally, firms with larger boards, higher proportion of independent board of directors and CEO–Chairman separation are more likely to choose a Big 4-affiliated auditor. The results also suggest that financially distressed firms tend to pay significantly lower audit fees and are more likely to choose non-Big 4 auditors.

This paper is among the few studies which investigate how financial distress impacts the audit pricing and auditor choice decisions of a firm in the context of emerging economies. The findings of this paper raises serious concerns about the credibility of the audited financial statements and corporate governance mechanisms of firms undergoing financial distress. The empirical results of this paper have strong implications for practitioners, regulators and investors.

This paper aims to examine whether knowledge about companies switching auditors from Big 4 firms to regional firms affects commercial lending decisions.

The approach used is an experiment where bank loan officers make judgments about risk and probabilities of granting a line of credit.

Neither risk assessments nor probabilities of granting credit differed for companies that switch auditors from Big 4 firms to regional firms as compared to companies that did not switch auditors. For companies that did switch auditors, providing a reason for the switch did not influence lending decisions.

Lenders were given questionnaires that do not contain all of the information they may have used in actual loan decision settings. Also, the hypothetical nature of the decisions and incentives may not produce the responses that would be given in actual lending scenarios.

When applying for bank loans, companies need not be concerned about having switched auditors from Big 4 to regional firms. Also, companies that switch from Big 4 firms to regional firms need not worry about whether or not to provide a reason for the audit firm switch.

This study adds to the auditor switching literature by investigating the effects of switches from Big 4 firms to regional firms on commercial lending decisions.

This study aims to examine the effects of audit quality on earnings management and cost of equity capital (COE) considering the impact of two owner types: government ownership and foreign ownership.

The study uses a panel data set of 236 Vietnamese firms covering the period 2007 to 2017. Because the two main dependent variables of the COE capital and the absolute value of discretionary accruals receive fractional values between zero and one, the paper uses the generalised linear model (GLM) with a logit link and the binomial family in regression analyses. The paper uses numerous audit quality measures, including hiring Big 4 auditors or the industry-leading Big 4 auditor, changing from non-Big 4 auditors to Big 4 auditors or the industry-leading Big 4 auditor, and the length of Big 4 auditor tenure. Big 4 companies include KPMG, Deloitte, EY and PwC, whereas the non-big 4 are the other audit companies.

The study finds a negative relationship between audit quality and both the COE capital and income-increasing discretionary accruals. The effects of audit quality on discretionary accruals and the COE capital depend on the ownership levels of two important shareholders: the government and foreign investors. Foreign ownership is negatively associated with discretionary accruals; however, the effect is more pronounced in the sub-sample of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), the firms where the government owns 50% or more equity, than in the sub-sample of Non-SOEs.

To the best of the knowledge, no prior similar study exists that used the GLM with a logit link and the binomial family regression. Global investors may be interested in understanding how unique institutional settings and capital markets of each country impact the financial reporting quality and cost of capital. Further, policymakers of developing markets may have incentives to improve the quality of financial reporting and reduce the cost of capital which should result in attracting more foreign investments.