Auditor-auditee negotiation: effects of auditor independence and expertise in Tunisian context

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of auditor independence (auditor tenure) and expertise (auditor industry specialist, auditor experience and the audit firm size) on auditor-auditee negotiation outcomes. For the entire sample of 53 Tunisians firms for the period 2001–2007, our results indicate non-significant relationship between auditor tenure and auditor-auditee negotiation outcomes, a positive and significant relationship between auditor experience and the extent to which the auditee agreed with the auditor over the financial reporting issues. On the other hand, the results indicate a positive but non-significant relationship between the auditor industry specialist and the negotiation outcome. For the audit firm size, we find a negative and significant effect on negotiation outcome. Indeed, we find no significant relationship between auditee importance and size and auditor-auditee negotiation outcome.