Search results for "Lead auditor"
showing 3 items of 3 documents
What Dimensions of Lead Auditor Expertise Matter for Audit Quality and Audit Fees?
2015
This study investigates the effects of lead auditors’ technical and managerial knowledge on audit quality and audit fees. The German institutional environment enables us to track auditors over their careers and measure their various personal attributes. We find that lead auditors’ technical knowledge is more important for audit quality than their managerial knowledge; however, their managerial knowledge is a more influential driver of audit fees than their technical knowledge. The results of various identification strategies including firm-fixed effects models, propensity-score matching, and instrumental variables approaches suggest that the observed relations are treatment rather than sele…
Determinants and consequences of auditor dyad formation at the top level of audit teams
2021
Abstract This study investigates the determinants and consequences of forming dyads at the top level of audit teams, i.e., dyads between concurring and lead auditor. We apply the sociological theory of homophily, i.e., the implicit preference for similar others, to hierarchically structured auditor dyads. Our regression analyses reveal that sharing the same gender and the same ethnicity, measured by dialect, increases the likelihood of dyad formation beyond what one would expect based on the characteristics of the pool of available auditors. Further, we observe that forming auditor dyads sharing the same age is avoided, suggesting that the need to establish a legitimate hierarchical relatio…
Reviewing a Friend - The Role of Social Ties in Review Work in Auditing
2016
Hierarchically structured review work is a pervasive element in many professional work settings, including auditing. However, little is known about social factors underlying the pairing of reviewers and reviewees and their impact on quality. The German auditing setting provides a unique opportunity to empirically observe review work at the highest hierarchical level. We investigate the role of social ties in the pairing of concurring auditor (reviewer) and lead auditor (reviewee). We find that the presence of social ties between the concurring auditor and the lead auditor resulting from local affinity, i.e., having the same dialect and working in the same office, makes it more likely for th…