The effect of engagement partner workload on audit quality
ISSN: 0268-6902
Article publication date: 30 August 2021
Issue publication date: 8 October 2021
Abstract
Purpose
Auditing studies have shifted the research focus from the audit firm level to the individual audit partner level in recent years. Motivated by the call from Lennox and Wu (2018) to explore the effect of audit partners’ characteristics on audit quality in the US, this study aims to develop a new measure of engagement partner workload (EPW), which includes both the size and number of clients audited to test the effect of EPW on audit quality. This study also examines the moderating effect of the partner firm size on audit quality.
Design/methodology/approach
To test the effect of the EPW on audit quality, this study runs multivariate regressions of EPW on each specific client’s discretionary accruals and audit report delays. This study also runs a logistic regression of EPW on clients’ probability of having small profit increases to meet performance benchmarks.
Findings
Results of the hypotheses show that partner workload is positively related to audit quality. The results indicate that partners with larger, but fewer, clients conduct higher quality audits. Further analysis indicates that the relationship between partner workload and audit quality only holds for partners from the non-Big 4 firms.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literatures of both audit quality and audit partner characteristics, and the results complement initial research aimed at identifying US partner-related characteristics that influence audit quality.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers, participants at the American Accounting Association Annual Meeting 2018 in Washington DC and the American Accounting Association Southeast Region Meeting 2018 in Greenville, South Carolina for their valuable comments.
Citation
Cheng, Y., Haynes, C.M. and Yu, M.D. (2021), "The effect of engagement partner workload on audit quality", Managerial Auditing Journal, Vol. 36 No. 8, pp. 1068-1091. https://doi.org/10.1108/MAJ-04-2020-2635
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited