The Introduction of State Regulation and Auditor Retendering in School Districts: Local Audit Market Structure, Audit Pricing, and Internal Control Reporting

Abstract

The impacts of auditor retendering or rotation mandates and auditor selection have been a regulatory concern for some time. However, finding suitable research settings to examine these policies has been a challenge. This paper reports the results of a study (Elder and Yebba 2020) that explores the consequences of implementing a retendering policy in a local governmental audit market. The study finds an association between periodic retendering and auditor concentration, including the growth of fee premium specialization within the market. We also find changes in quality associated with these mandates, including greater auditor effort, evidenced through higher audit fees and longer reporting delays, and improved documentation of internal controls evidenced through increased reporting of control deficiencies. Collectively, we provide evidence that periodic retendering of audit services may provide a suitable level of quality enhancement while not forcing auditees to absorb audit inefficiencies common with a rotation policy.