One's Name Represents Oneself : Auditor's Given Names and Earnings Management

Using a sample of Chinese listed companies from 2007 to 2020, we analyze whether the ethical motivation generated by auditors’ given names induces their independence in the audit process and thereby restrains earnings management. We find auditors with an ethical given name significantly restrain earnings management, a result robust to a series of tests. This restraining mechanism arises from auditors’ recognition of the ethical character of their name and maintenance of their reputation based on it. Our research provides a new observable auditor individual characteristic, namely, the auditor’s given name, further improving the study of auditors’ individual characteristics