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The purposes of this research are to examine the effect of audit opinion, public accounting firm size, financial distress and audit committee on auditor switching. This research is qualified as a confirmation research. Auditor switching is a change of public accountant firms at a certain time as stipulated by Regulation of the Ministry of Finance No.

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Junius (2012) menguji pengaruh kualitas audit terhadap manajemen laba akrual dan manipulasi aktivitas riil. Penelitian ini menggunakan ukuran KAP, spesialisasi industri, audit capacity stress, dan pendidikan profesi lanjutan (PPL) sebagai proksi kualitas audit. Penelitian Junius (2012) mengilhami peneliti untuk menguji kembali pengaruh kualitas audit terhadap manajemen laba tetapi lebih difokuskan pada manajemen laba melalui manipulasi aktivitas riil sesuai dengan kecenderungan praktik yang ada saat ini. Proksi kualitas audit yang digunakan antara lain ukuran KAP, spesialisasi industri auditor, dan audit capacity stress. PPL tidak disertakan dalam penelitian ini karena terbukti tidak berpengaruh terhadap manajemen laba. Perbedaan lain adalah penambahan jumlah sampel dan operasionalisasi variabel ukuran KAP. Penelitian ini diharapkan mampu memberikan bukti empiris mengenai keberadaan manajemen laba melalui manipulasi aktivitas riil di perusahaan non-keuangan yang terdaftar di BEI. Selain itu, penelitian ini bertujuan untuk memberikan masukan kepada regulator untuk

This article describes the factors that influence the voluntary switching of public accounting firms, with modified auditor opinion as a mediating variable, in nine Southeast Asia and East Asian countries on the basis of explanatory research. The data for the period of 2014 to 2018 are obtained from the Osiris database, which provided a total sample of 27.740 manufacturing companies in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Japan, China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The data analysis technique used is stepwise logistic regression, and the modified Zmijewski model using discriminant analysis is applied to measure the financial distress variable. The results of the study indicate that companies experiencing financial distress, have large assets, and are audited by non-big four audit firms tend to make public accountant firm switching before the specified time. In companies that experience financial distress and tend to decide on voluntary public accountant firm switching, there is partial mediation of the auditor’s opinion apart from an unqualified opinion. This means that companies experiencing financial distress tend to get an auditor’s opinion apart from an unqualified opinion such that the company switches its public accountant firm before the mandated five years. Companies from the Philippines, Japan, and China are the most orderly in obeying the rules for voluntary public accountant firm switching, whereas those from Indonesia and China are the least orderly. This study is usefull for policy on auditor switching implemented by the ASEAN Certified Public Accountant and East Asia to maintain the independency of public accountant firms and auditors in Asia.