CEO’s name uniqueness and audit fee

ABSTRACT Borrowed from the relevant research on the impact of name uniqueness on one’s personality, our study extends the research perspective to its impact on external auditors. Using the data of Chinese listed firms in 2009–2019, we find a significantly positive relationship between CEOs’ name uniqueness and audit fees. Further study shows that this influence could be explained by its impact on CEOs' personality traits, resulting in strategic deviance or increased audit effort, rather than its impact on auditors' first impression. The impact of CEOs’ name uniqueness on audit fees is more pronounced when CEOs’ characteristics are more susceptible to their name uniqueness, when companies are more likely to attract auditors’ attention, or when auditors are more likely to be affected by their uniqueness. This paper extends the impact of CEOs’ personality traits on audit fees, and expands the understanding of CEOs and audit decision-making.