Title: Opinion Shopping and Auditor Demand: A Novel Framework

中文题目：审计意见购买与审计需求：一个新的分析框架

Speaker: Aiyong Zhu professor, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics

Time: 2025年6月23日，上午9：30

Place: 管理科研楼第三教室

Abstract:

This study proposes a novel framework for empirically identifying opinion shopping.  We modify the widely used Lennox (2000) model by incorporating a discrete choice approach. Our modification relaxes the assumption that all audit firms use the same audit technology, allows for a more nuanced consideration of client preferences, and enables policy evaluations. We apply this framework to the U.S. audit market in the post-SOX era and use going concern modifications as a proxy for unfavorable audit opinions. First, we find that clients exhibit preferences consistent with opinion shopping, favoring audit firms that are less likely to issue going concern modifications. However, clients also value audit firms with a reputation for being strict, suggesting a complex trade-off between leniency and credibility. Second, clients perceive a reputation for strictness as a positive attribute only for Big 4 auditors and industry specialists. Third, our analysis reveals that large clients are more likely to prioritize audit accuracy. Finally, we evaluate the effects of multiple-period contracts and mandatory rotation, highlighting their unintended consequences. While such policies have limited effects on opinion shopping, they impose significant economic costs, particularly by disrupting client-auditor matching efficiency.

Bio: 

朱爱勇，西南财经大学会计学院教授，入选西南财经大学“光华百人计划”。2014年获得德国曼海姆大学经济学博士学位，博士期间2010-2011耶鲁大学交换访问，2012-2014德国央行访问学者。2014-2022年在武汉大学经济与管理学院任职，2019/09-2021/08德国美因茨大学，2024/08-2025/01达特茅斯学院任访问教授。主要研究方向为资本市场的审计需求与审计竞争，先后在Review of Accounting Studies (2017), The Accounting Review (2022, 2024), Journal of International Money and Finance (2024) 等期刊上发表论文，同时主持国家自然科学基金青年项目等。