IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jaecon/v65y2018i1p129-147.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Transaction costs and competition among audit firms in local markets

Author

Listed:
  • Chu, Ling
  • Simunic, Dan A.
  • Ye, Minlei
  • Zhang, Ping

Abstract

We develop a measure to capture an audit firm's competitive position in a local audit market based on the transaction costs of changing audit firms included in DeAngelo's (1981) multi-period audit pricing model. Our competition measure reflects the size difference between the largest audit firm in a market specified by client industry at the city level and the other audit firms operating in that market. We find that audit fees of a client decrease as this size difference increases. This result suggests that smaller audit firms charge lower audit fees because of their competitive disadvantage to the local largest firm.

Suggested Citation

  • Chu, Ling & Simunic, Dan A. & Ye, Minlei & Zhang, Ping, 2018. "Transaction costs and competition among audit firms in local markets," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 129-147.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:jaecon:v:65:y:2018:i:1:p:129-147
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jacceco.2017.11.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165410117300721
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jacceco.2017.11.004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tim Pearson & Greg Trompeter, 1994. "Competition in the Market for Audit Services: The Effect of Supplier Concentration on Audit Fees," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(1), pages 115-135, June.
    2. Simunic, Da, 1980. "The Pricing Of Audit Services - Theory And Evidence," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(1), pages 161-190.
    3. A. Colin Cameron & Jonah B. Gelbach & Douglas L. Miller, 2011. "Robust Inference With Multiway Clustering," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(2), pages 238-249, April.
    4. Craswell, Allen T. & Francis, Jere R. & Taylor, Stephen L., 1995. "Auditor brand name reputations and industry specializations," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 297-322, December.
    5. Mitchell A. Petersen, 2009. "Estimating Standard Errors in Finance Panel Data Sets: Comparing Approaches," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(1), pages 435-480, January.
    6. Joseph Gerakos & Chad Syverson, 2015. "Competition in the Audit Market: Policy Implications," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(4), pages 725-775, September.
    7. Sati P. Bandyopadhyay & Jennifer L. Kao, 2004. "Market Structure and Audit Fees: A Local Analysis," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(3), pages 529-562, September.
    8. Jamal, Karim & Sunder, Shyam, 2011. "Is mandated independence necessary for audit quality?," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 284-292.
    9. Okeefe, Tb & Simunic, Da & Stein, Mt, 1994. "The Production Of Audit Services - Evidence From A Major Public Accounting Firm," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 241-261.
    10. Kothari, S.P. & Leone, Andrew J. & Wasley, Charles E., 2005. "Performance matched discretionary accrual measures," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 163-197, February.
    11. Emilie Feldman, 2006. "A Basic Quantification of the Competitive Implications of the Demise of Arthur Andersen," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 29(3), pages 193-212, November.
    12. Fields, L. Paige & Fraser, Donald R. & Wilkins, Michael S., 2004. "An investigation of the pricing of audit services for financial institutions," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 53-77.
    13. Numan, Wieteke & Willekens, Marleen, 2012. "An empirical test of spatial competition in the audit market," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 450-465.
    14. Kenneth J. Reichelt & Dechun Wang, 2010. "National and Office‐Specific Measures of Auditor Industry Expertise and Effects on Audit Quality," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(3), pages 647-686, June.
    15. DeAngelo, Linda Elizabeth, 1981. "Auditor independence, `low balling', and disclosure regulation," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(2), pages 113-127, August.
    16. DeFond, Mark & Zhang, Jieying, 2014. "A review of archival auditing research," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 275-326.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Barua, Abhijit & Lennox, Clive & Raghunandan, Aneesh, 2020. "Are audit fees discounted in initial year audit engagements?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(2).
    2. Hsihui Chang & Charles Hsu & Zhiming Ma, 2022. "Does product similarity of audit clients influence audit efficiency and pricing decisions?," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(5-6), pages 807-840, May.
    3. Hallman, Nicholas J. & Kartapanis, Antonis & Schmidt, Jaime J., 2022. "How do auditors respond to competition? Evidence from the bidding process," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(2).
    4. Wang, Jiaxin & Zhao, Mu & Huang, Xiang & Song, Zilong & Sun, Di, 2024. "Supply chain diffusion mechanisms for AI applications: A perspective on audit pricing," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    5. Yang, Seunghee & Lee, Woo-Jong & Lim, Youngdeok & Yi, Cheong H., 2021. "Audit firm operating leverage and pricing strategy: Evidence from lowballing in audit industry," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2).
    6. Jeroen van Raak & Erik Peek & Roger Meuwissen & Caren Schelleman, 2020. "The effect of audit market structure on audit quality and audit pricing in the private‐client market," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(3-4), pages 456-488, March.
    7. Marisetty, Vijaya Bhaskar & Moturi, Sairam, 2023. "Boundaries of the firm and real earnings management," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    8. Simon Fung & Viet Tuan Pham & K. K. Raman, 2022. "Client corruption culture and audit quality: the conditioning effect of the competitive position of the incumbent auditor," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 59(3), pages 1133-1171, October.
    9. Prasad Siba Borah & Courage Simon Kofi Dogbe & Michael D. Dzandu & Wisdom Wise Kwabla Pomegbe, 2023. "Forging organizational resilience through green value co‐creation: The role of green technology, green operations, and green transaction capabilities," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(8), pages 5734-5747, December.
    10. Simon Dekeyser & Ann Gaeremynck & W. Robert Knechel & Marleen Willekens, 2021. "Multimarket Contact and Mutual Forbearance in Audit Markets," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(5), pages 1651-1688, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. DeFond, Mark & Zhang, Jieying, 2014. "A review of archival auditing research," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 275-326.
    2. Numan, Wieteke & Willekens, Marleen, 2012. "An empirical test of spatial competition in the audit market," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 450-465.
    3. Xingqiang Du, 2019. "Does CEO-Auditor Dialect Sharing Impair Pre-IPO Audit Quality? Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(3), pages 699-735, May.
    4. Wouter Dutillieux & Donald Stokes & Marleen Willekens & Gary Monroe, 2013. "Strategic pricing by Big 4 audit firms in private client segments," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 53(4), pages 961-994, December.
    5. Yang, Seunghee & Lee, Woo-Jong & Lim, Youngdeok & Yi, Cheong H., 2021. "Audit firm operating leverage and pricing strategy: Evidence from lowballing in audit industry," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2).
    6. Jeroen van Raak & Erik Peek & Roger Meuwissen & Caren Schelleman, 2020. "The effect of audit market structure on audit quality and audit pricing in the private‐client market," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(3-4), pages 456-488, March.
    7. Simon Dekeyser & Ann Gaeremynck & W. Robert Knechel & Marleen Willekens, 2021. "Multimarket Contact and Mutual Forbearance in Audit Markets," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(5), pages 1651-1688, December.
    8. Kitto, Andrew R., 2024. "The effects of non-Big 4 mergers on audit efficiency and audit market competition☆," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1).
    9. Habib, Ahsan, 2011. "Audit firm industry specialization and audit outcomes: Insights from academic literature," Research in Accounting Regulation, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 114-129.
    10. Pan, Yue & Shroff, Nemit & Zhang, Pengdong, 2023. "The dark side of audit market competition," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(1).
    11. Kharuddin, Khairul Ayuni Mohd & Basioudis, Ilias G & Farooque, Omar Al, 2021. "Effects of the Big 4 national and city-level industry expertise on audit quality in the United Kingdom," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    12. Knechel, W. Robert & Thomas, Edward & Driskill, Matthew, 2020. "Understanding financial auditing from a service perspective," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    13. Xinming Liu & Gerald J. Lobo & Hung‐Chao Yu, 2021. "Is Audit Committee Equity Compensation Related to Audit Fees?," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(1), pages 740-769, March.
    14. Daniel Aobdia & Luminita Enache & Anup Srivastava, 2021. "Changes in Big N auditors’ client selection and retention strategies over time," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 715-754, February.
    15. Stergios Leventis & Emmanouil Dedoulis & Omneya Abdelsalam, 2018. "The Impact of Religiosity on Audit Pricing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 148(1), pages 53-78, March.
    16. Nathan R. Berglund, 2020. "Do Client Bankruptcies Preceded by Clean Audit Opinions Damage Auditor Reputation?," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(3), pages 1914-1951, September.
    17. Jian Cao & Feng Chen & Julia L. Higgs, 2016. "Late for a very important date: financial reporting and audit implications of late 10-K filings," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 633-671, June.
    18. Brandon Gipper & Luzi Hail & Christian Leuz, 2017. "On the Economics of Audit Partner Tenure and Rotation: Evidence from PCAOB Data," NBER Working Papers 24018, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Yan Luo & Steven E. Salterio, 2021. "Toward an Archival Measure of the Likelihood of Auditor‐Client Management Negotiation: An Exploration of the Audit Lag Measures Conjecture†," Accounting Perspectives, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(1), pages 109-143, March.
    20. Hyun Ah Kim & Nam Chul Jung, 2020. "The Effect of Corporate Social Performance on Audit Hours: Moderating Role of the Emphasis of Matter Paragraphs in Audit Report," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-17, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jaecon:v:65:y:2018:i:1:p:129-147. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jae .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.