Using the most recent observations (2005-2011) from a sample of UK listed companies, this study investigates whether Big 4 audit firms exhibit a ‘fee premium' and, if this is the case, whether the premium is related to the delivery of a better audit service.Univariate tests, multivariate...

UK listed firms are used to investigate if auditor attributes (fixed effects for audit firms, audit offices, and audit partners) add incrementally to baseline models with client controls in explaining audit outcomes (earnings quality and going concern reports). We document that accounting firm...