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Contemporary Accounting Research Vol. 34 No. 3 2017

Board Gender Diversity, Auditor Fees, and Auditor Choice

Karen Lai1; Bin Srinidhi2; Ferdinand A. Gul1; Judy S. L. Tsui3

1 Deakin University, Burwood Campus · 2 University of Texas at Arlington · 3 Wuhan College

open access

Abstract

We examine whether the presence of female directors and female audit committee members affect audit quality in terms of audit effort and auditor choice by using observations from a sample of U.S. firms, spanning the years 2001–2011. We find, after controlling for endogeneity and other board, firm, and industry characteristics, that firms with gender‐diverse boards (audit committees) pay 6 percent (8 percent) higher audit fees and are 6 percent (7 percent) more likely to choose specialist auditors compared to all‐male boards (audit committees). Our findings suggest that boards (audit committees) with female directors (members) are likely to demand higher audit quality, ceteris paribus.

DOI
10.1111/1911-3846.12313
Volume
34
Issue
3
Pages
1681-1714
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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