Industry Specialization and Audit Quality: Evidence from Audit Firm Switches in China*

Abstract

Numerous studies have investigated the consequences of auditor switching. This study contributes to the existing literature by examining the impact of industry specialization on audit quality using audit firm switches in China. We find that changing from a non-specialist to a specialist at the auditor partner level rather than the audit firm level decreases discretionary accruals and increases value relevance and the likelihood of modified audit opinions and going-concern opinions. These results suggest that upward partner-level industry specialization improves audit quality for clients, which attenuates the negative impact of an audit switch.