The effects of non-audit services on auditor independence: An experimental investigation of supervisory board members’ perceptions

Roger Meuwissen and Reiner Quick

Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, 2019, vol. 36, issue C, -

Abstract: Based on the notion that the simultaneous provision of audit and non-audit services (NAS) to clients may endanger auditor independence, current European auditing regulation prohibits the provision of most NAS to audit clients, and limits total fees for NAS (European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, 2014). There is, however, only limited evidence on whether real insiders perceive the provision of NAS as negatively affecting auditor independence. Therefore, this study experimentally investigates the perceptions of German supervisory board members on auditor independence when auditors simultaneously provide NAS and audit services. The results of the study show that the provision of NAS is perceived as having a negative effect on auditor independence. Furthermore, in distinguishing between various forms of NAS, human resource consulting is perceived as having the most negative impact. The results contribute to the debate in the European Union (EU) on whether or not to further restrict the provision of NAS, and help to evaluate the EU regulation aimed at restricting the provision on NAS.

Keywords: Auditor independence; Non-audit services; Auditing; Germany (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1061951817300708
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jiaata:v:36:y:2019:i:c:3

DOI: 10.1016/j.intaccaudtax.2019.05.004

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation is currently edited by R. Larson

More articles in Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().