Resumen de Investor Dissatisfaction toward Auditors
Barbara J. Sainty, Gary K. Taylor, David D. Williams
Shareholders, as owners of the firm, often are sought to ratify management's selection of an auditor through a formal vote during the annual shareholders' meeting. This vote represents the primary vehicle for investor communication concerning auditor-related issues and, thus, can be used as an indicator of investor dissatisfaction with the auditor. This study proposes to measure shareholders' dissatisfaction with the auditor through the shareholders' auditor ratification vote.
We identify attributes associated with high levels of investor dissatisfaction and then determine if a high level of investor dissatisfaction is associated with a subsequent change in a firm's auditor. We determined that investor dissatisfaction is associated with a firm having engaged a less credible auditor and the issuance of a going concern audit opinion. In addition, we find that investors react strongly to the unexpected issuance of a going concern opinion. Finally, we discovered that managers are sensitive to shareholder dissatisfaction signals by noting a higher occurrence of auditor changes for firms with high investor dissatisfaction.
