THE EFFECT OF VOLUNTARY AUDIT FIRM SWITCH ON AUDIT QUALITY

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of voluntary audit firm switches on audit quality. The study, which used discretionary accruals as a measure of audit quality, was conducted using the least square regression method in the sample of manufacturing industry companies traded in Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) between 2011-2016. The main result of the study shows that audit quality is negatively affected by voluntary audit firm switches. In addition, after voluntary audit firm changes, positive discretionary accruals and hence audit quality decreased in companies both the companies audited by big four and non-big four audit firms. On the other hand, we find that increase in audit quality in the case of voluntary audit firm change among the big four audit firms; decrease in audit quality in the case of voluntary audit firm change from non-big four audit firms to big four audit firms