This paper identifies widespread noncompliance with SEC regulations requiring prompt disclosure of auditor changes and investigates whether late filers and their auditors simply lack SEC expertise or have other reasons to delay reporting the auditor change. Some direct evidence in support of a...

This paper examines audit report lags and earnings announcement lags for a sample of firms that switched auditors. We investigate whether audit report and earnings announcement lags are associated with the timing of auditor changes in relation to firms' fiscal year-ends. It is hypothesized that...

The 2010 Horizontal Merger Guidelines and their incorporation of upward pricing pressure (“UPP”), as discussed in Carl Shapiro’s article, The 2010 Horizontal Merger Guidelines: From Hedgehog to Fox in Forty Years, leave unanswered questions regarding whether the Guidelines are consistent...

This paper investigates whether client engagement risks lengthen the client acceptance phase for audit firms and result in a longer auditor search period for their clients. Using a sample of auditor resignations over the period 2003-2008, we document that the auditor search period is longer for...