IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v73y2025ics1544612324016933.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Legal background of corporate management and corporate audit quality

Author

Listed:
  • Liang, Yanyan
  • Zhang, Shuo

Abstract

This study examines how executives’ legal backgrounds impact audit quality in the A-share markets of Shanghai and Shenzhen, focusing on non-financial listed companies. Findings show that having legal expertise among executives significantly improves audit quality. Robustness tests support these findings, and further analysis reveals that this effect varies depending on the company's ownership structure and its internal controls’ quality. Notably, the positive effect is more pronounced in private companies and those with lax internal controls.

Suggested Citation

  • Liang, Yanyan & Zhang, Shuo, 2025. "Legal background of corporate management and corporate audit quality," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:73:y:2025:i:c:s1544612324016933
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2024.106664
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612324016933
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2024.106664?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

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shivaram Rajgopal & Suraj Srinivasan & Xin Zheng, 2021. "Measuring audit quality," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 26(2), pages 559-619, June.
    2. Stéphanie Thiéry & Stéphane Lhuillery & Marion Tellechea, 2023. "How can governance, human capital, and communication practices enhance internal audit quality?," Post-Print hal-04296250, HAL.
    3. Juan L. Gandía & David Huguet, 2021. "Audit fees and earnings management: differences based on the type of audit," Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(1), pages 2628-2650, January.
    4. Shahanif Hasan & Aza Azlina Md. Kassim & Mohamad Ali Abdul Hamid, 2020. "The Impact of Audit Quality, Audit Committee and Financial Reporting Quality: Evidence from Malaysia," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 10(5), pages 272-281.
    5. Kuo, Nan-Ting & Li, Shu & Jin, Zhen, 2023. "Social trust and the demand for audit quality," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    6. Dang, Man & Puwanenthiren, Premkanth & Truong, Cameron & Henry, Darren & Vo, Xuan Vinh, 2022. "Audit quality and seasoned equity offerings methods," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    7. Thiéry, Stéphanie & Lhuillery, Stephane & Tellechea, Marion, 2023. "How can governance, human capital, and communication practices enhance internal audit quality?," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    8. Songsheng Chen & Qingqing Liu & Li Yao, 2024. "Do analysts’ earnings forecasts exclude earnings management? Evidence from audit adjustments," Asia-Pacific Journal of Accounting & Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(6), pages 1008-1027, November.
    9. Bai, Min & Shen, Luxi & Li, Yue & Yu, Chia-Feng (Jeffrey), 2024. "Does legal justice promote stakeholder justice? Evidence from a judicial reform in China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Geapcă Natalia Maria, 2025. "Factors Affecting the Internal Audit Effectiveness: Empirical Evidence from the Professionals’ Perception within an Emerging Country," Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence, Sciendo, vol. 19(1), pages 3258-3266.
    2. Samson Ojeme Samuel & Owolabi Joseph Alade, 2025. "Effect of Audit Independence on the Financial Reporting Quality of Listed Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 9(6), pages 4197-4218, June.
    3. Fang, Xubing & Liu, Maotao, 2024. "Regional judicial capacity and corporate total factor productivity: Evidence from the establishment of circuit courts," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 465-489.
    4. Zulifa Ivada Asikin & Faris Shalahuddin Zakiy & Wahab Zaenuri & Najim Nur Fauziah, 2022. "Does audit quality, managerial reports, audit committee affect financial report quality? Case of companies listed on Jakarta Islamic Index (JII) 2018-2020," Asian Management and Business Review, Master of Management, Department of Management, Faculty of Business and Economics Universitas Islam Indonesia, vol. 2(2), pages 207-219.
    5. John Xuefeng Jiang & Shaohua He & K. Philip Wang, 2025. "Partner wealth and audit quality: evidence from the United States," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 30(1), pages 702-737, March.
    6. Kevin Koh & Li Li & Xuejiao Liu & Chunfei Wang, 2023. "The Effect of Audit Partner Diversity on Audit Quality: Evidence from China," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 59(1), pages 340-380, March.
    7. Isaac Selasi Awuye, 2022. "The impact of audit quality on earnings management: Evidence from France," Post-Print hal-03824396, HAL.
    8. Masoud Azizkhani & Sarowar Hossain & Mai Nguyen, 2023. "Effects of audit committee chair characteristics on auditor choice, audit fee and audit quality," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(3), pages 3675-3707, September.
    9. Sabine Graschitz & Marcel Steller, 2025. "Audit fees and audit quality in Austria—a replicatory study in the wake of the EU audit reform," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 95(2), pages 295-332, April.
    10. Jordan Schoenfeld, 2024. "Cyber risk and voluntary Service Organization Control (SOC) audits," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 29(1), pages 580-620, March.
    11. Li, Changgui & Liu, Xiaowen & Hou, Zhiping & Li, Yongyi, 2023. "Retail investor attention and equity mispricing: The mediating role of earnings management," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    12. Hou, Fei & Shen, Huayu & Wang, Ping & Xiong, Hao, 2023. "Signing auditors' cultural background and debt financing costs," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    13. Abdullah Kürşat Merter & Gökhan Özer, 2024. "Audit Committee and Timely Reporting: Evidence From Turkey," SAGE Open, , vol. 14(1), pages 21582440241, March.
    14. Puwanenthiren, Premkanth & Azam, Md Saiful & Jahangir Ali, Muhammad & Nadarajah, Sivathaasan, 2024. "Does annual report readability influence the design of SEOs?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(PA), pages 970-984.
    15. Mowchan, Michael J., 2023. "Do accounting firms change strategy through office managing partner appointments? Evidence from the U.S," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    16. Sanchez-Famoso, Valeriano & Cano-Rubio, Myriam & Fuentes-Lombardo, Guadalupe, 2025. "Relational capital’s contribution to international success: Evidence from family-owned wineries and olive oil mills in Spain," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    17. Wang, Qi & Zhang, Lin & Ma, Qianqun & Wu, Chong, 2024. "The impact of financial risk on boilerplate of key audit matters: Evidence from China," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(PB).
    18. Lina Mao & Chongluan Lu & Guangfan Sun & Chunyan Zhang & Changwei Guo, 2024. "Regional culture and corporate finance: a literature review," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-12, December.
    19. Hendijani Zadeh, Mohammad & Jalali, Zahra, 2024. "Do options trading activities affect underlying firms' asymmetric cost behavior?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    20. Kose John & Min (Shirley) Liu, 2021. "Does the Disclosure of an Audit Engagement Partner’s Name Improve the Audit Quality? A Difference-in-Difference Analysis," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-30, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:finlet:v:73:y:2025:i:c:s1544612324016933. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/frl .

    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.