Audit Partner Specialization and Audit Fees: Some Evidence from Sweden*
Year: 2011
Type: article
Abstract: Utilizing a dataset on the client portfolios of the Big 4 audit partners in Sweden, this study examines auditor specialization and pricing at the individual partner level. Consistent with the view that there are returns on investing in specialization, the analysis of audit fees indicates that both audit partner industry specialization, and specialization in large public companies, are recognized and valued by financial statement users and/or by corporate insiders, resulting in higher fees within these engagements. The highest fees are earned by engagement partners who are both industry and public firm specialists. Collectively, the findings of this study indicate that part of an auditor’s deep expertise is not transferable across audit partners within an audit firm but is instead inseparably tied to the individual audit partner’s private human capital.
Source: Contemporary Accounting Research
Author: Mikko Zerni
Institution: University of Vaasa
Language: English
Subfield: Accounting
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1770163812