Auditor Opinion Shopping and the Audit Committee: An Analysis of Suspicious Auditor Switches

Abstract

This study examines whether audit committee effectiveness characteristics are related to suspicious auditor switching. Using the agency and audit committee literature, we hypothesize that audit committee existence, the proportion of independent directors, member experience in accounting, auditing, and finance, number of committee meetings, and number of committee members should be inversely related to suspicious auditor switching.A sample of 60 matched U.S. firms was evaluated along the hypothesized dimensions after controlling for company size, industry, stock exchange, financial health, and management stock ownership. Collectively, univariate and logistic regression results provide support for our predictions. The findings indicate that suspicious switchers: (1) are less likely to have an audit committee, (2) have a smaller percentage of independent directors on the audit committee, (3) have fewer members with experience in accounting, auditing, or finance, (4) hold fewer audit committee meetings, and (5) have smaller audit committees than nonsuspicious switching companies. Exploratory analyses also reveal that audit committees for companies with suspicious switches had younger members, and fewer members with no stock ownership in the company served.