Is the effect of industry expertise on audit pricing an office-level or a partner-level phenomenon?

Do school ties between auditors and client executives influence audit outcomes?

“…Second, our paper also contributes to the emerging literature that examines the variation in audit quality across individual auditors (e.g., Carcello and Li, 2013;Goodwin and Wu, 2014;Gul et al, 2013). There have been calls for researchers to push audit quality analysis from the audit firm or office level down to the individual auditor level (DeFond and Francis, 2005;DeFond and Zhang, 2014;Francis, 2011).…”

Audit partner industry specialization and audit quality: Evidence from Spain

“…Chin and Chi (2009) Finally, the evidence reported by Goodwin and Wu (2014) for the Australian audit market shows that a partner's industry specialization is highly significant and economically important. Chin and Chi (2009) Finally, the evidence reported by Goodwin and Wu (2014) for the Australian audit market shows that a partner's industry specialization is highly significant and economically important.…”

“…A quickly growing number of empirical studies have addressed the role of individual auditors as determinants of audit quality (e.g., Aobdia, Lin, & Petacchi, 2015;Carey & Simnett, 2006;Garcia-Blandon & Argiles, 2017;Gul et al, 2013;Knechel, Vanstraelen, & Zerni, 2015). While the industry specialization of audit firms has attracted a lot of attention (e.g., Balsam, Krishnan, & Yang, 2003;Carson, 2009;Casterella, Francis, Lewis, & Walker, 2004;Craswell, Francis, & Taylor, 1995; DeFond, Francis, & Wong, 2000;Dunn & Mayhew, 2004), few papers have investigated how the industry specialization of individual auditors impacts audit quality (Chi & Chin, 2011;Chin & Chi, 2009;Chin, Yao, & Liu, 2014;Goodwin & Wu, 2014;Zerni, 2012). These studies generally agree that industry specialization of both the audit firm and audit partners enhances audit quality.…”

“…While the industry specialization of audit firms has attracted a lot of attention (e.g., Balsam, Krishnan, & Yang, 2003;Carson, 2009;Casterella, Francis, Lewis, & Walker, 2004;Craswell, Francis, & Taylor, 1995; DeFond, Francis, & Wong, 2000;Dunn & Mayhew, 2004), few papers have investigated how the industry specialization of individual auditors impacts audit quality (Chi & Chin, 2011;Chin & Chi, 2009;Chin, Yao, & Liu, 2014;Goodwin & Wu, 2014;Zerni, 2012). Owing to the data availability, evidence at the individual auditor level is limited to just four countries: Taiwan (Chi & Chin, 2011;Chi, Myers, Omer, & Xie, 2017;Chin et al, 2014;Chin & Chi, 2009), Sweden (Zerni, 2012), Australia (Goodwin & Wu, 2014) and Owing to the data availability, evidence at the individual auditor level is limited to just four countries: Taiwan (Chi & Chin, 2011;Chi, Myers, Omer, & Xie, 2017;Chin et al, 2014;Chin & Chi, 2009), Sweden (Zerni, 2012), Australia (Goodwin & Wu, 2014) and…”

IQ and Audit Quality: Do Smarter Auditors Deliver Better Audits?

“…Zerni () finds that the auditor‐specific premium is associated with their industry specialization. Goodwin and Wu () find that the audit fee premium related to an auditor's industry expertise is mainly a partner‐level phenomenon. Finally, audit firms seem to reward their partners differently as there is significant variation in partner remuneration even within the same audit firm (Burrows and Black ; Knechel et al ).…”