An Assessment of the Relationship between Audit Tenure and Audit Quality using a Modified Jones Model

Abstract

This study uses the modified Jones Model to investigate the relationship between audit tenure and audit quality with special reference to Sierra Leone. To measure audit quality, discretionary accruals calculated by the Modified Jones model is used as a proxy, while audit tenure data is manually collected. In general, the results are consistent with the hypothesis that Audit quality does not change with the increasing audit firm tenure. On the whole, partner tenure is significantly and positively related to audit quality, indicating that longer audit partner tenure improves audit quality. The audit firm tenure is also positive with audit quality, though the evidence is not significant. Therefore, the results of this research do not support the proposal of audit firm rotation.