IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/bracre/v57y2025i3s0890838924002841.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

COVID-19 pandemic and audit quality

Author

Listed:
  • Lin, Bingxuan
  • Wu, Liansheng
  • Zhang, Yimin
  • Zhou, Jian

Abstract

In this study, we examine the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on audit quality among firms listed in China, focusing on the role of empathy between auditors and their clients. Our analysis reveals that the pandemic's adverse effects on audit quality are predominantly observed when there is a high degree of empathy, particularly when both the audit firm and the client are located within areas heavily affected by the outbreak. Further investigation indicates that the deterioration in audit quality is primarily associated with auditors who have less experience, occupy junior positions, are employed by more philanthropically inclined audit firms, or work for firms outside the Big 10. Our research offers compelling evidence of the impact of empathy on audit quality and carries profound implications for various audit stakeholders, including management, auditors, shareholders, and regulatory bodies.

Suggested Citation

  • Lin, Bingxuan & Wu, Liansheng & Zhang, Yimin & Zhou, Jian, 2025. "COVID-19 pandemic and audit quality," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 57(3).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:bracre:v:57:y:2025:i:3:s0890838924002841
    DOI: 10.1016/j.bar.2024.101504
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890838924002841
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.bar.2024.101504?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:bracre:v:57:y:2025:i:3:s0890838924002841. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/the-british-accounting-review .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.