This study examines economic consequences of auditor choice in the Belgian nonprofit (NP) setting, where the identity of both the audit firm and the audit partner is required to be disclosed. Specifically, we examine the influence of auditor choice in favor of an auditor with industry expertise on future contributions (being the sum of donations and grants) received among a large sample of Belgian nonprofit organizations (NPOs). Consistent with a signaling perspective, our results indicate that NPOs benefit from engaging an audit partner with industry expertise, by positively influencing future contributions received by the NPO. However, we observe no significant effect of audit firm industry expertise on future contributions received. Our results therefore suggest that NPOs’ resource providers presume that industry expertise is situated at the signing partner level rather than at the audit firm level.

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Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the association between individual auditor characteristics (gender, experience and sector expertise) and audit opinions in Belgian non-profit organizations (NPOs). The purpose is to identify auditor characteristics that imply a better assurance of financial statement (FS) quality. FS quality is essential to enhance financial accountability toward the resource providers of NPOs and the public at large. Design/methodology/approach Multinomial regressions are conducted on a data set of Belgian NPOs. Propensity score matching is used to control for potential self-selection bias. Findings Auditors with sector expertise are found to provide better assurance than their non-sector-expert counterparts. The former are more likely to disclose FS errors and uncertainties in their audit report. Originality/value This study contributes to the auditing literature by focusing on an understudied audit market, namely, the non-profit audit market. The number of non-profit studies that investigate determinant of audit quality is very scarce, and none of them explores the determinants of audit opinions. Moreover, these studies ignore individual auditor characteristics as determinants of audit quality. The findings of this study provide meaningful information for several actors in the NP field and for audit firms.

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