This paper presents new evidence on the pricing of initial audit engagements by big 4 auditors relative to their next four largest mid-tier (‘mid 4') competitors, following voluntary auditor switches - with reference to the public and private corporate markets, and according to the type of...

The recent investigation of the UK audit market by the Competition Commission testifies to perennial regulatory concerns regarding increasing supplier concentration, big 4 dominance of large company audits and the capacity of mid-tier auditors to compete. Against this backdrop, this paper...

Mechanical correlation bias is inherent in audit pricing studies when independent variables (X) are derived from firm level audit fees (Y); a form of endogeneity which appears not to have been addressed fully in the extant literature. Such variables are endogenous by construction leading to...

This paper examines the extent to which the audit and corporate governance characteristics of UK private companies are associated with defective accounting information. Despite the economic importance of private firms, relatively little is known about their financial reporting and governance...