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Switching due diligence auditor in Chinese mergers and acquisitions

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  • Bi, XiaoGang
  • Tang, Judy
  • Tharyan, Rajesh

Abstract

The routine financial reporting auditor (FR auditor) of an acquiring firm has the advantage of knowing the acquirer very well, however, a large portion of acquirers in China do not use their FR auditor to continue serve as their due diligence auditor (DD auditor) in the takeover process. Using a sample of 818 takeover transactions from 2004 to 2014, we find that the acquiring firms are more likely to appoint a new DD auditor for M&A, instead of using the incumbent one, when the FR auditor is not an industry specialist and the acquiring firms’ financial reporting quality is low. For low financial reporting quality acquiring firms, changing to a new DD auditor can prevent negative market reactions when firms make the M&A announcement, but firms have to pay a higher premium. Our results remain robust when using alternative definitions of industry specialisation and measures of financial reporting quality.

Suggested Citation

  • Bi, XiaoGang & Tang, Judy & Tharyan, Rajesh, 2020. "Switching due diligence auditor in Chinese mergers and acquisitions," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:riibaf:v:54:y:2020:i:c:s0275531919310372
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ribaf.2020.101244
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    Cited by:

    1. Dennis, Steven A. & Wang, Song & Zhang, Yilei, 2021. "Debt Issues around Mergers & Acquisitions," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Due diligence auditor; Mergers & acquisitions; Takeovers; Value creation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G24 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Investment Banking; Venture Capital; Brokerage
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance

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