Signing networks of audit partners and accruals quality: evidence from Taiwan

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the association between audit partners’ signing networks and accruals quality, using the sample of Taiwanese publicly traded companies. Design/methodology/approach This study uses four centrality measures as proxies in this study for the strength of the audit partners’ relationship networks and the absolute value of discretionary accruals to measure accruals quality. Findings Using the sample of publicly traded firms audited by the Big 4 accounting firms in Taiwan during the 2011–2017 period, this study finds that the centrality of an audit partner’s signing network is negatively associated with the absolute value of discretionary accruals. The result is robust to various discretionary accruals measures and survives the alternative explanation related to the endogenous matching between audit partners and their clients. Originality/value This study contributes to the understanding of the effect of the relationship network within an accounting firm on accruals quality. This is one of the few studies to empirically examine the strength of the audit partners’ relationship network as a factor in firms’ financial reporting quality, especially by using the sample from an emerging market. This study shows that the strength of the audit partners’ signing networks contains incremental information when assessing firms’ earnings quality. High-quality audit work is important to ensure high-quality financial reporting and the results of this study highlight that audit partners’ network linkages affect the quality of their work.