How do auditors respond to accounting restatements? Evidence on audit staff allocation

Abstract

We examine how auditors respond to accounting restatements using audit input data from Japan. We find that audit fees, the number of Certified Public Accountant (CPA) licensed staff, and the number of signing partners are higher for firms in the restatement year than in the year prior to the restatement. Our results also reveal that the increase in audit fees and the higher numbers of CPA-licensed staff and signing partners persist after the restatement year. The results are robust after excluding dismissal of auditors subsequent to the occurrence of restatements. We further find that client firms are not able to gain a fee discount but will be audited by greater numbers of partners if they switch auditors after the restatement. We also obtain consistent results using propensity score matching. Overall, our findings suggest that audit firms increase audit inputs (i.e., higher fees and more experienced staff with a CPA license) in response to their own mistakes (i.e., accounting restatements). Taken together, the results suggest that the increased audit fees may reflect the increase in the risks, but not the risks alone.