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Auditors’ identification with their clients: Effects on audit quality
Mid Sweden University, Department of Business, Economics and Law, Centre for Research on Economic Relations, Sundsvall, Sweden.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-4436-5920
Mid Sweden University, Department of Business, Economics and Law, Centre for Research on Economic Relations, Sundsvall, Sweden.
2015 (English)In: The British Accounting Review, ISSN 0890-8389, E-ISSN 1095-8347, Vol. 47, no 4, p. 395-408Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Although client familiarity is desirable from the auditor's perspective, identifying with clients threatens auditor objectivity. This study examines the extent to which non-Big 4 auditors identify with clients, the effect of auditor–client identification on auditors' client acquiescence to client-preferred treatment, and, finally, whether the harmful effects of auditor–client identification can be extended to a broader set of reduced audit quality acts. The responses of 141 practicing auditors at non-Big 4 firms in Sweden support our theoretical predictions. We find that auditors tend to identify with their clients, and that an auditor who identifies relatively more with a client is more likely to acquiesce to client-preferred treatment and to commit reduced audit quality acts. While previous research has considered only Big 4 firms, the current findings suggest that the problems with auditor identification with clients also hold for non-Big 4 auditors.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2015. Vol. 47, no 4, p. 395-408
Keywords [en]
Auditor objectivity, Client identification, Professional identification, Auditors' client acquiescence, Reduced audit quality acts, Non-Big 4 auditors, Sweden
National Category
Business Administration
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-23090DOI: 10.1016/j.bar.2014.08.003ISI: 000366445500004Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-84948068190OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hig-23090DiVA, id: diva2:1060129
Available from: 2015-12-17 Created: 2016-12-16 Last updated: 2022-09-16Bibliographically approved

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Svanberg, Jan

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CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • harvard-cite-them-right
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • sv-SE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • de-DE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf