... auditor choice Big 4 auditors audit fees audit quality competition Regulators, researchers, and practitioners have long recognized the importance of understanding the effects of audit market competition on audit outcomes ( Simunic 1980 ; GAO 2003 ; Oxera 2006 ; GAO 2008 ). Archival proxies...

... by the notion that auditor-client alignment and auditor-closest-competitor distance can help differentiate the incumbent Big 4 auditor from other Big 4 auditors and thus provide market power, i.e., inhibit clients from shopping for another supplier because of the lack of a similar Big 4 provider in the local...

... year of engagement. However, the fee premium is only attributable to Big 4 auditors. While the Big 4 charge 45 percent higher fees when clients have disagreements or other reportable events, there is no such fee premium associated with non-Big 4 clients. More importantly, Big 4 predecessor auditors...