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Auditors’ Joint Engagements and Audit Quality: Evidence from Italian Private Companies
Author(s) -
Bianchi Pietro A.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
contemporary accounting research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.769
H-Index - 99
eISSN - 1911-3846
pISSN - 0823-9150
DOI - 10.1111/1911-3846.12327
Subject(s) - audit , business , accounting , quality audit , joint audit , sample (material) , quality (philosophy) , joint (building) , internal audit , engineering , architectural engineering , philosophy , epistemology , chemistry , chromatography
This study examines the effect of auditors’ collaboration in joint audit engagements on knowledge transfer, auditor expertise, and audit outcomes. I employ a unique sample of Italian private companies whose financial statements are jointly audited by three individual auditors and use measures from the network literature to capture the intensity of interactions between these auditors. I find a positive association between several audit quality proxies and auditors’ collaboration in multiple joint engagements. My results suggest that auditors develop knowledge and contacts through collaboration which potentially leads to higher audit quality. Overall, my findings suggest that joint engagements facilitate knowledge transfer and increase auditor expertise.