Name
Change or not to change? – Does audit quality deteriorate with longer audit firm tenure?
Date & Time
Sunday, July 5, 2026
Description
This study examines whether audit firm tenure has any impact on audit quality. From a sample of FTSE100 index firms over the period of 2015-2019, we investigate the relationship between short and long audit firm tenure and audit quality using the raw value of discretionary accruals. We find no significant association between audit firm tenure and audit quality during the period under review, and audit quality is not negatively impacted when audit firm tenure exceeds 5 or 10 years. Furthermore, our additional analysis of audit quality using raw value of current accruals suggests that quality is not compromised, even where there is an extended tenure of 20 or more years. This implies that UK regulators should perhaps consider abandoning the present mandatory rules regarding the rotation of auditors.
Muhammad Tahir
Keywords
audit firm tenure, audit quality, regulators of auditors, discretionary accruals
Theme
AUDITING
Author 1
Muhammad Tahir
Author 2
Alnoor Bhimani