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Article

Measuring Audit Quality

By: Shivaram Rajgopal, Suraj Srinivasan and Xin Zheng

In this paper, we document 45 specific allegations related to audit deficiencies based on GAAS, as detailed in 141 AAERs and 153 securities class action lawsuits over the violation years 1978–2016. Next, we use these allegations to validate existing popular proxies of... View Details

Keywords: Audit Quality; Audit Deficiency; AAER; Securities Class Action Lawsuits; Enforcement; Accounting Audits; Quality; Measurement and Metrics

Article

Audit Quality and Auditor Reputation: Evidence from Japan

By: Douglas Skinner and Suraj Srinivasan

We study events surrounding ChuoAoyama's failed audit of Kanebo, a large Japanese cosmetics company whose management engaged in a massive accounting fraud. ChuoAoyama was PwC's Japanese affiliate and one of Japan's largest audit firms. In May 2006, the Japanese... View Details

Keywords: Audit Quality; Auditor Reputation; Japan; Accounting Audits; Crime and Corruption; Reputation; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Japan

2025
Working Paper

Managing Remote Work Quality: Evidence from Auditing Management Systems Standards

By: Ashley Palmarozzo, Michael W. Toffel and Melissa Ouellet

Remote work has become more common, providing operational flexibility and productivity benefits, but questions remain about whether and how it affects work quality. We investigate the quality effects of remote work in a context in which remote work separates workers... View Details

Keywords: Audit; Auditing; Remote Work; Compliance; Assessment; Environment; Management Systems; Quality Management; Quality Management System; Quality; Operations; Supply Chain Management; Environmental Management; Safety

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February 2022
Article

Client Concerns about Information Spillovers from Sharing Audit Partners

By: Jung Koo Kang, Clive Lennox and Vivek Pandey

We hypothesize that companies in the same product market avoid sharing the same audit partner when they are concerned about possible information spillovers. Consistent with our hypothesis, we find that product market rivals are less likely to share the same partner... View Details

Keywords: Information Spillovers; Audit Partners; Proprietary Costs; Product Market Rivals; Audit Fee; Audit Quality; Information; Accounting Audits

22 Apr 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Audit Quality and Auditor Reputation: Evidence from Japan

Keywords: by Douglas J. Skinner & Suraj Srinivasan

2024
Working Paper

Second- versus Third-party Audit Quality: Evidence from Global Supply Chain Monitoring

By: Maria R. Ibanez, Ashley Palmarozzo, Jodi L. Short and Michael W. Toffel

Capitalizing on the superior credibility and flexibility and potential lower cost of external assessments, many global buyers are relying less on their own employee (“second-party”) auditors and more on third-party auditors to monitor and prevent environmental and... View Details

Keywords: Auditing; Audit Quality; Working Conditions; Sustainability; Empirical Operations; Empirical Service Operations; Sustainability Management; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Supply Chain Management

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June 2018 (Revised July 2018)
Case

PCAOB Efforts to Improve Audit Quality (A)

By: Aiyesha Dey and Paul Healy

Educators

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March 1991
Article

The Role of Audits and Audit Quality in Valuing New Issues

By: S. Datar, G. A. Feltham and J. S. Hughes

Keywords: Accounting Audits; Quality; Value

04 Jan 2018
News

The Changing Landscape of Auditor Litigation and Its Implication for Audit Quality

15 Aug 2017
News

5 Reasons Why Quality Audits Need To Become Routine In Manufacturing

March 2019
Teaching Note

PCAOB Efforts to Improve Audit Quality (A) and (B)

By: Aiyesha Dey and Paul Healy

Teaching Note for HBS Nos. 118-108 and 118-109. View Details

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13 May 2019
Working Paper Summaries

The Changing Landscape of Auditor Litigation and Its Implications for Audit Quality

Keywords: by Colleen Honigsberg, Shivaram Rajgopal, and Suraj Srinivasan; Accounting; Legal Services

June 2018
Supplement

PCAOB Efforts to Improve Audit Quality (B): Excerpts of Public Comment Letters

By: Aiyesha Dey and Paul Healy

Purchase

2023
Working Paper

Much Ado About Nothing? Overreaction to Random Regulatory Audits

By: Samuel Antill and Joseph Kalmenovitz

Regulators often audit firms to detect non-compliance. Exploiting a natural experiment in the lobbying industry, we show that firms overreact to audits and this response distorts prices and reduces welfare. Each year, federal regulators audit a random sample of... View Details

Keywords: Governance Compliance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Price

Research Summary

Overview

Downstream businesses that utilize global suppliers frequently use auditing programs to monitor their suppliers’ working conditions and are often deployed to address reputational concerns associated with procuring from unregulated suppliers. Despite their widespread... View Details

Keywords: Audit Quality; Remote Work; Outsourcing; Econometric Analysis; Switching Costs; Service Operations; Performance Effectiveness; Retail Industry; Service Industry

Article

Manage the Suppliers That Could Harm Your Brand: Know When to Avoid, Engage, or Drop Them

By: Jodi L Short and Michael W. Toffel

The pandemic has placed a new spotlight on working conditions in factories that supply global companies. To avert problems, firms often impose codes of conduct on their suppliers and perform audits to assess compliance. Do these measures help identify unethical... View Details