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Journal of Accounting and Economics Vol. 12 No. 1-3 1990

The market for audit services

W. Bruce Johnson; Thomas Lys

Northwestern University

Abstract

This paper argues that audit firms achieve competitive advantages through specialization, and that clients purchase audit services from the least cost supplier. Client-auditor realignments thus represent efficient responses to changes in client operations and activities over time. Results obtained from analyzing the financial characteristics and share price performance of corporations that changed auditors between 1973 and 1982 support the view that realignments can generally be attributed to cross-temporal changes in client characteristics and differences in audit firm cost structures.

DOI
10.1016/0165-4101(90)90051-5
Volume
12
Issue
1-3
Pages
281-308
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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