SUMMARY
Events leading up to the implementation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) increased the public's focus on corporate governance and increased regulatory scrutiny of corporate governance mechanisms. These events also contributed to a massive restructuring in the audit market that resulted in the transfer of a large number of clients from Big N to non-Big N audit firms. We extend prior research examining the determinants of auditor-client realignments by investigating the effect of corporate governance on downward (i.e., from Big N to non-Big N auditors) switching activity. We develop a corporate governance index comprised of governance characteristics that we expect auditors to find more desirable in their clients (specifically, board and audit committee independence, diligence, and expertise). The results suggest that Big N auditors consider client corporate governance mechanisms when making client portfolio decisions. Specifically, downward auditor-client realignments are more likely for clients that score lower on our corporate governance index. However, the influence of audit committee-related corporate governance components on downward auditor-client realignments decreased post-SOX. The reduced effect of audit committee-related corporate governance components is consistent with what would be expected if the audit committee-related rules imposed by SOX reduced the variation in audit committee quality across clients.
Data Availability: The data used are publicly available from the sources cited in the text.
Abstract:We examine changes in the association between auditor type (Big 4, Second-Tier, and Other non-Big 4) and perceived financial reporting credibility in the wake of events (e.g., Andersen's failure, the implementation of SOX, creation of the PCAOB, etc.) which led to significant growth in Second-Tier client portfolios and increased scrutiny of Second-Tier audit practices. Our results reveal that financial reporting credibility of Second-Tier clients was lower than that of Big 4 clients and was indistinguishable from that of Other non-Big 4 clients preAndersen. However, post-Andersen, we find that financial reporting credibility of Second-Tier clients is higher than that of Other non-Big 4 clients and is indistinguishable from that of Big 4 clients. We expect that our results will be of interest to regulators, both in the United States and in the European Union, who have expressed concerns about the current state of competition in the audit market, management and boards of directors that are contemplating switching to a Second-Tier audit firm, and academics investigating quality differences among audit firm types.
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