Use of Big Four auditors and fund raising: evidence from developing and emerging markets

Leif Atle Beisland, Roy Mersland and Øystein Strøm
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Roy Mersland: UIA - University of Agder

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Abstract: Purpose This study is motivated by recent research suggesting that the funding benefits of using Big Four auditors may not be as uniform as were previously assumed. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between use of Big Four auditors and access to debt capital by applying data from microfinance institutions (MFIs) in emerging countries, a population typically not investigated in accounting research. Design/methodology/approach The authors apply a unique hand-collected data set from 60 emerging markets and empirically investigate whether access to various debt categories is related to the use of Big Four auditors. Findings The authors find that access to international commercial debt, international subsidized debt and government agency debt is positively related to the use of a Big Four auditor. For local commercial debt, the authors find no association between auditor type and access to debt capital. The association between auditor choice and access to debt capital is stronger for nonprofit than for-profit MFIs. Originality/value This is the first audit quality study to include a broad sample of emerging countries, which in itself is an important contribution. As far as general audit quality research is concerned, the authors take the literature one step further by showing that the benefits of using a Big Four auditor may be dependent on the specific source of debt financing a firm or organization seeks to use. Moreover, the authors demonstrate that the for-profit vs nonprofit dimension influences the relationship between auditor choice and access to capital.

Keywords: Audit quality; Cost of debt; Fund raising; Microfinance; Emerging markets; Audit quality Cost of debt Fund raising Microfinance Emerging markets (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-05221012v1
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Published in International Journal of Emerging Markets, 2018, 13 (2), pp.371-390. ⟨10.1108/IJoEM-11-2016-0321⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05221012

DOI: 10.1108/IJoEM-11-2016-0321

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