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The Accounting Review Vol. 79 No. 3 2004

Does Investor Selection of Auditors Enhance Auditor Independence?

Brian W. Mayhew1; Joel E. Pike2

1 a University of Wisconsin–Madison. · 2 b University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.

open access

Abstract

This paper reports the results of experiments designed to examine whether investor selection of auditors enhances auditor independence. The experimental design enables us to explore the effect on independence of different institutional rules as to who hires and fires auditors and to directly measure independence violations. The results suggest that transferring the power to hire and fire the auditor from managers to investors significantly decreases the proportion of independence violations. Additional analysis suggests that a reduction in independence violations increases the overall economic surplus generated in the markets examined.

DOI
10.2308/accr.2004.79.3.797
Volume
79
Issue
3
Pages
797-822
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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