Title: Audit firm rotation and audit quality: case of the listed Tunisian firms

Authors: Mohamed Ali Omri; Abir Ben Abdennebi

Addresses: Unité de recherche Finance et Stratégie des Affaires, Faculté des sciences économiques et de gestion de Tunis, Université de Tunis El Manar, Campus Universitaire El Manar II, B.P. 248, CP 2092, Tunis, Tunisia ' Unité de recherche Finance et Stratégie des Affaires, Faculté des sciences économiques et de gestion de Tunis, Université de Tunis El Manar, Campus Universitaire El Manar II, B.P. 248, CP 2092, Tunis, Tunisia

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to study the impact of audit firm rotation on the audit quality (audit opinion and audit firm reputation), on a sample of all Tunisian listed firms. To move towards this objective, we used a logistic regression model on panel data over a period of 16 years (1995-2010). The results suggest that mandatory audit firm rotation affects negatively and meaningfully audit firm reputation. However, no relationship could be identified between mandatory rotation and audit opinion. Moreover, we found no evidence that the voluntary audit firm rotation affects the audit quality. Finally, we noted that size of firms is considered as potential determinant of the audit quality in the Tunisian context.

Keywords: mandatory rotation; voluntary rotation; audit quality; audit opinion; audit firm reputation; Tunisia; audit firm rotation; firm size; auditing.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEBR.2014.064661

International Journal of Economics and Business Research, 2014 Vol.8 No.3, pp.245 - 257

Received: 25 Apr 2013
Accepted: 23 Aug 2013
Published online: 13 Sep 2014 *

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