Authors : Yi-Fang Yang, Lee-Wen Yang, Yahn-Shir Chen and Li-Chun Huang
Abstract: This study investigates the operating performance of Taiwanese international audit firms in different market structures under the control of audit quality. Market structures are defined as three time periods by the number of international audit firms in the auditing industry. Empirical results indicate that the operating performance of international firms is better than that of non-international firms in the three time periods. This suggests that higher audit quality brings about superior operating performance. Next, international firms have better operating performance in the more equal but concentrated market structures after mergers of international firms. This further confirms that international audit firm mergers upgrade audit quality and thereby improve operating performance. To the best of our knowledge, few prior studies directly investigate the operating performance of international audit firms. With the empirical results this study contributes knowledge to related literatures and brings managerial implications to the practitioners.
Yi-Fang Yang, Lee-Wen Yang, Yahn-Shir Chen and Li-Chun Huang, 2017. Quality Determines Performance: Evidence from International Audit Firms in Taiwan. International Business Management, 11: 2104-2114.