Relationship between Change of Independent Auditor and Change of Audit Opinion

Abstract

The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of auditor change on audit opinion change, during a period of 9 years from 2002 to 2010. The study sample consists of 243 firms, listed in Tehran Stock Exchange. Research method is of regression type, and the hypotheses tests are carried out by the logistic regression method. The findings of this study confirm a direct relationship between auditor change and audit opinion change. Additionally, firm size has direct relationship with audit report change, and other variables such as loss, firm’s age and audit tenure have reverse relationship with audit report change. Auditor change has strong relationship with the opinion change. The positive relationship between auditor change and audit report change confirms the phenomenon of opinion shopping in the Iranian audit market.

Keywords

• : auditor
• audit opinion
• audit opinion change
• and opinion shopping