Analysis of the effects of changes in Spanish auditing regulation on audit quality and its differential effect depending on the type of auditor

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to provide evidence on the effect of the reforms of the Spanish auditing legislation, enacted in 2002, 2010 and 2015, on audit quality. More specifically, we study whether the reforms had a differential effect depending on the type of auditor. To this end, the auditors were classified according to their size. We analyzed the specific case of non-financial listed Spanish companies which are considered as Public Interest Entities (PIEs). The main results indicate that none of the reforms caused an improvement in financial reporting quality. This could mean that legal reforms per se are not sufficient to achieve the intended objectives in countries with weak legal enforcement, as is the case of Spain. Because of this, it may be necessary to implement mechanisms to encourage auditors to apply the new rules.

Keywords

• Audit quality
• Big4 auditors
• discretionary accruals
• audit regulation