IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jaecon/v70y2020i1s0165410120300161.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Auditors are known by the companies they keep

Author

Listed:
  • Cook, Jonathan
  • Kowaleski, Zachary T.
  • Minnis, Michael
  • Sutherland, Andrew
  • Zehms, Karla M.

Abstract

We study the role of reputation in auditor-client matching. Using 1.2 million employment records from US broker-dealers, we find that broker-dealer clients of the same auditor have similar financial adviser misconduct profiles. Our estimates indicate that variation in client misconduct behavior is nearly half as important as variation in client size in explaining matches. Auditors adjust their portfolios when presented with new information about client behavior, and those with the most significant reputation concerns are least likely to deal with high misconduct clients. Finally, we find that an auditor's reputation for accepting high misconduct clients predicts their new clients' future misconduct. Together, our results present new evidence on how reputation affects audit relationships, and the consequences of auditors' reputation concerns for client behavior. Our results also indicate an unintended consequence of audit mandates: non-discerning auditors emerge to serve clients with low endogenous demand for auditing.

Suggested Citation

  • Cook, Jonathan & Kowaleski, Zachary T. & Minnis, Michael & Sutherland, Andrew & Zehms, Karla M., 2020. "Auditors are known by the companies they keep," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jaecon:v:70:y:2020:i:1:s0165410120300161
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jacceco.2020.101314
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165410120300161
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jacceco.2020.101314?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. Timothy B. Bell & Wayne R. Landsman & Douglas A. Shackelford, 2001. "Auditors' Perceived Business Risk and Audit Fees: Analysis and Evidence," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(1), pages 35-43, June.
    2. Joseph Weber & Michael Willenborg & Jieying Zhang, 2008. "Does Auditor Reputation Matter? The Case of KPMG Germany and ComROAD AG," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(4), pages 941-972, September.
    3. Karla M. Johnstone & Jean C. Bedard & Michael L. Ettredge, 2004. "The Effect of Competitive Bidding on Engagement Planning and Pricing," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(1), pages 25-53, March.
    4. Atila Abdulkadiroğlu & Parag A. Pathak & Alvin E. Roth, 2005. "The New York City High School Match," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(2), pages 364-367, May.
    5. Kelvin K. F. Law & Lillian F. Mills, 2019. "Financial Gatekeepers and Investor Protection: Evidence from Criminal Background Checks," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(2), pages 491-543, May.
    6. Christopher A. Parsons & Johan Sulaeman & Sheridan Titman, 2018. "The Geography of Financial Misconduct," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 73(5), pages 2087-2137, October.
    7. Mark Egan & Gregor Matvos & Amit Seru, 2022. "When Harry Fired Sally: The Double Standard in Punishing Misconduct," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 130(5), pages 1184-1248.
    8. Pittman, Jeffrey A. & Fortin, Steve, 2004. "Auditor choice and the cost of debt capital for newly public firms," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 113-136, February.
    9. Sattar A. Mansi & William F. Maxwell & Darius P. Miller, 2004. "Does Auditor Quality and Tenure Matter to Investors? Evidence from the Bond Market," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(4), pages 755-793, September.
    10. Mark Egan & Gregor Matvos & Amit Seru, 2019. "The Market for Financial Adviser Misconduct," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(1), pages 233-295.
    11. Clive S. Lennox, 1999. "Audit Quality and Auditor Size: An Evaluation of Reputation and Deep Pockets Hypotheses," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(7&8), pages 779-805.
    12. Stephen V. Brown & W. Robert Knechel, 2016. "Auditor–Client Compatibility and Audit Firm Selection," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(3), pages 725-775, June.
    13. Atila Abdulkadiroglu & Parag A. Pathak & Alvin E. Roth, 2009. "Strategy-proofness versus Efficiency in Matching with Indifferences: Redesigning the New York City High School Match," NBER Working Papers 14864, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Zhan Shu, Susan, 2000. "Auditor resignations: clientele effects and legal liability," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 173-205, April.
    15. Willenborg, M, 1999. "Empirical analysis of the economic demand for auditing in the initial public offerings market," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(1), pages 225-238.
    16. 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.
    17. John C. Coffee, 2019. "Why do auditors fail? What might work? What won’t?," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(5), pages 540-561, July.
    18. Baiman, Stanley, 1990. "Agency research in managerial accounting: A second look," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 341-371.
    19. 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.
    20. Lennox, Clive & Li, Bing, 2014. "Accounting misstatements following lawsuits against auditors," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(1), pages 58-75.
    21. Glaeser, Stephen & Guay, Wayne R., 2017. "Identification and generalizability in accounting research: A discussion of Christensen, Floyd, Liu, and Maffett (2017)," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 305-312.
    22. Dimmock, Stephen G. & Gerken, William C., 2012. "Predicting fraud by investment managers," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(1), pages 153-173.
    23. Becker, Gary S, 1973. "A Theory of Marriage: Part I," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(4), pages 813-846, July-Aug..
    24. Klein, Benjamin & Leffler, Keith B, 1981. "The Role of Market Forces in Assuring Contractual Performance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 89(4), pages 615-641, August.
    25. John D. Lyon & Michael W. Maher, 2005. "The Importance of Business Risk in Setting Audit Fees: Evidence from Cases of Client Misconduct," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(1), pages 133-151, March.
    26. Feng Chen & Songlan Peng & Shuang Xue & Zhifeng Yang & Feiteng Ye, 2016. "Do Audit Clients Successfully Engage in Opinion Shopping? Partner‐Level Evidence," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 79-112, March.
    27. Focarelli, Dario & Panetta, Fabio & Salleo, Carmelo, 2002. "Why Do Banks Merge?," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 34(4), pages 1047-1066, November.
    28. Connie L. Becker & Mark L. Defond & James Jiambalvo & K.R. Subramanyam, 1998. "The Effect of Audit Quality on Earnings Management," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(1), pages 1-24, March.
    29. Johnson, W. Bruce & Lys, Thomas, 1990. "The market for audit services : Evidence from voluntary auditor changes," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1-3), pages 281-308, January.
    30. Darby, Michael R & Karni, Edi, 1973. "Free Competition and the Optimal Amount of Fraud," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 16(1), pages 67-88, April.
    31. Joseph Weber & Michael Willenborg, 2003. "Do Expert Informational Intermediaries Add Value? Evidence from Auditors in Microcap Initial Public Offerings," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(4), pages 681-720, September.
    32. DeAngelo, Linda Elizabeth, 1981. "Auditor size and audit quality," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 183-199, December.
    33. Qingmin Liu & George J. Mailath & Andrew Postlewaite & Larry Samuelson, 2014. "Stable Matching With Incomplete Information," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 82(2), pages 541-587, March.
    34. Karla M. Johnstone & Jean C. Bedard, 2004. "Audit Firm Portfolio Management Decisions," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(4), pages 659-690, September.
    35. Atila Abdulkadiroglu & Parag A. Pathak & Alvin E. Roth, 2009. "Strategy-Proofness versus Efficiency in Matching with Indifferences: Redesigning the NYC High School Match," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(5), pages 1954-1978, December.
    36. Lennox, Clive, 2000. "Do companies successfully engage in opinion-shopping? Evidence from the UK," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 321-337, June.
    37. Ben Charoenwong & Alan Kwan & Tarik Umar, 2019. "Does Regulatory Jurisdiction Affect the Quality of Investment-Adviser Regulation?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(10), pages 3681-3712, October.
    38. Eduardo M. Azevedo & Jacob D. Leshno, 2016. "A Supply and Demand Framework for Two-Sided Matching Markets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 124(5), pages 1235-1268.
    39. Dye, Ronald A, 1993. "Auditing Standards, Legal Liability, and Auditor Wealth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(5), pages 887-914, October.
    40. Stephen G. Dimmock & William C. Gerken & Nathaniel P. Graham, 2018. "Is Fraud Contagious? Coworker Influence on Misconduct by Financial Advisors," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 73(3), pages 1417-1450, June.
    41. Clive S. Lennox, 1999. "Audit Quality and Auditor Size: An Evaluation of Reputation and Deep Pockets Hypotheses," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(7‐8), pages 779-805, September.
    42. DeFond, Mark & Zhang, Jieying, 2014. "A review of archival auditing research," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 275-326.
    43. Berger, Philip G. & Minnis, Michael & Sutherland, Andrew, 2017. "Commercial lending concentration and bank expertise: Evidence from borrower financial statements," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 253-277.
    44. Logan, John Allen & Hoff, Peter D. & Newton, Michael A., 2008. "Two-Sided Estimation of Mate Preferences for Similarities in Age, Education, and Religion," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 103, pages 559-569, June.
    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. Breuer, Matthias & Le, Anthony & Vetter, Felix, 2023. "Audit mandates, audit firms, and auditors," Working Papers 333, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State.
    2. De Massis, Alfredo & Muñoz-Bullón, Fernando & Sanchez-Bueno, Maria J. & Velasco, Pilar & Vismara, Silvio, 2024. "Executive gender and firm leverage decisions: The role of firm ownership and governance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    3. Pan, Yue & Shroff, Nemit & Zhang, Pengdong, 2023. "The dark side of audit market competition," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(1).
    4. Kowaleski, Zachary T. & Sutherland, Andrew G. & Vetter, Felix W., 2020. "Can ethics be taught? Evidence from securities exams and investment adviser misconduct," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(1), pages 159-175.
    5. Charoenwong, Ben & Kowaleski, Zachary T. & Kwan, Alan & Sutherland, Andrew G., 2024. "RegTech: Technology-driven compliance and its effects on profitability, operations, and market structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    6. Stefano Cascino & Ane Tamayo & Felix Vetter, 2021. "Labor Market Effects of Spatial Licensing Requirements: Evidence from CPA Mobility," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(1), pages 111-161, March.
    7. Honigsberg, Colleen & Jacob, Matthew, 2021. "Deleting misconduct: The expungement of BrokerCheck records," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(3), pages 800-831.
    8. Stephen J. Smulowitz & Didier Cossin & Alfredo De Massis & Hongze (Abraham) Lu, 2023. "Wrongdoing in Publicly Listed Family- and Nonfamily-Owned Firms: A Behavioral Perspective," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 47(4), pages 1233-1264, July.

    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. Friedrich, Christian & Quick, Reiner, 2024. "Do non-audit service failures impair auditor reputation? An analysis of KPMG advisory service scandals in Germany," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    3. Lin, Z. Jun & Liu, Ming, 2009. "The impact of corporate governance on auditor choice: Evidence from China," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 44-59.
    4. Omrane Guedhami & Jeffrey A. Pittman & Walid Saffar, 2014. "Auditor Choice in Politically Connected Firms," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(1), pages 107-162, March.
    5. El Ghoul, Sadok & Guedhami, Omrane & Pittman, Jeffrey, 2016. "Cross-country evidence on the importance of Big Four auditors to equity pricing: The mediating role of legal institutions," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 60-81.
    6. Dang, Man & Puwanenthiren, Premkanth & Truong, Cameron & Henry, Darren & Vo, Xuan Vinh, 2022. "Audit quality and seasoned equity offerings methods," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    7. Steve Fortin & Jeffrey A. Pittman, 2007. "The Role of Auditor Choice in Debt Pricing in Private Firms," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(3), pages 859-896, September.
    8. Pan, Yue & Shroff, Nemit & Zhang, Pengdong, 2023. "The dark side of audit market competition," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(1).
    9. Sattar A. Mansi & William F. Maxwell & Darius P. Miller, 2004. "Does Auditor Quality and Tenure Matter to Investors? Evidence from the Bond Market," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(4), pages 755-793, September.
    10. Tharindra Ranasinghe & Lin Yi & Ling Zhou, 2023. "Do auditors charge a client business risk premium? Evidence from audit fees and derivative hedging in the U.S. oil and gas industry," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 28(2), pages 1107-1139, June.
    11. Chang, Xin & Dasgupta, Sudipto & Hilary, Gilles, 2005. "The Effect of Auditor Choice on Financing Decisions," CEI Working Paper Series 2005-10, Center for Economic Institutions, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    12. Le, Ha Thi Thu & Tran, Ha Giang & Vo, Xuan Vinh, 2021. "Audit quality, accruals quality and the cost of equity in an emerging market: Evidence from Vietnam," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    13. Incardona, John & Kannan, Yezen & Premuroso, Ronald & Higgs, Julia L. & Huang, Ivy, 2014. "Taxing audit markets and reputation: An examination of the U.S. tax shelter controversy," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 18-31.
    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. Guangming Gong & Liang Xiao & Si Xu & Xun Gong, 2019. "Do Bond Investors Care About Engagement Auditors’ Negative Experiences? Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(3), pages 779-806, September.
    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. Balasingham Balachandran & Robert Faff & Lily H. G. Nguyen & Premkanth Puwanenthiren, 2020. "The impact of audit quality in rights offerings," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(3), pages 2007-2037, September.
    18. Ju Ryum Chung & Eun Jung Cho & Ho-Young Lee & Myungsoo Son, 2017. "The impact of labour unions on external auditor selection and audit scope: evidence from the Korean market," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(48), pages 4833-4850, October.
    19. Numata, Shingo & Takeda, Fumiko, 2010. "Stock market reactions to audit failure in Japan: The case of Kanebo and ChuoAoyama," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 175-199, June.
    20. Christine Gimbar & Molly Mercer, 2021. "Do Auditors Accurately Predict Litigation and Reputation Consequences of Inaccurate Accounting Estimates?," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(1), pages 276-301, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Auditing; Audit market structure; Broker-dealers; Financial advisers; Financial intermediation; Financial misconduct; Matching; Reputation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M21 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Economics - - - Business Economics
    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting
    • M42 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Auditing
    • G24 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Investment Banking; Venture Capital; Brokerage
    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • D18 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Protection

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:70:y:2020:i:1:s0165410120300161. 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.