“…Auditor independence is the cornerstone of the audit profession (Du, 2018;Franzel, 2012). Prior research suggests that accounting scandals trigger reforms and new regulations for the profession (Bhasin, 2013;Hilary & Lennox, 2005;Kozloski, Meckfessel, Moehrle, & Williams, 2016;Pai & Tolleson, 2015). In consequence, some have developed their ethical standards, whereas others have fully adopted the IFAC code of ethics (Branson, Chen, & Anderson, 2015).…”