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An Assessment of the Provisions of Regulation (EU) No 537/2014 on Non-audit Services and Audit Firm Tenure: Evidence from Spain

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  • Garcia-Blandon, Josep
  • Argiles-Bosch, Josep Maria
  • Castillo-Merino, David
  • Martinez-Blasco, Monica

Abstract

On May 27, 2014, Regulation (EU) No 537/2014 was published in the Official Journal of the European Union. Aiming to enhance audit quality, the new regulation establishes important limitations to the selling of non-audit services by the audit firm to audit clients and a maximum tenure of ten years with the audit firm. However, it should be noted that the extant research has not consistently supported that non-audit services or long tenures impair the quality of audits. This research studies whether these provisions have been empirically associated with reduced audit quality for Spain. Because of its low litigation risk, the potentially negative impact of both non-audit services and tenure on audit quality should be clearly observed in the Spanish audit market. Nevertheless, we do not find significantly lower levels of audit quality associated with either non-audit services or long audit tenures. However, these results are conditional on the validity of using abnormal accruals to measure audit quality.

Suggested Citation

  • Garcia-Blandon, Josep & Argiles-Bosch, Josep Maria & Castillo-Merino, David & Martinez-Blasco, Monica, 2017. "An Assessment of the Provisions of Regulation (EU) No 537/2014 on Non-audit Services and Audit Firm Tenure: Evidence from Spain," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 52(3), pages 251-261.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:accoun:v:52:y:2017:i:3:p:251-261
    DOI: 10.1016/j.intacc.2017.07.003
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    2. Reshma Kumari Tiwari & Jasojit Debnath, 2021. "Joint Provision of Non-audit Services to Audit Clients: Empirical Evidences from India," Vikalpa: The Journal for Decision Makers, , vol. 46(3), pages 153-165, September.

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