This paper aims to investigate whether the choice for a Big4-affiliated local audit firm affects the capital structure of listed companies in Indonesia, a fast-growing emerging country that is characterized by high information asymmetry and low litigation risk. A unique characteristic of the Indonesian audit environment is that Big4 auditors can only enter the market indirectly through affiliation with a local audit firm.,A sample of Indonesian listed companies between 2008 and 2015 is used to investigate this relation using ordinary least squares (OLS). To address the concern that the choice for Big4-affiliated auditors might reflect client characteristics, the authors also perform OLS on a matched sample, using both propensity-score and entropy-balance matching.,Across all three samples, the authors document that companies audited by a Big4-affiliated local audit firm display lower debt ratios. The authors find no such effect for affiliation with second-tier audit firms. Surprisingly, they find that the negative effect of Big4 affiliation is increasing in client size.,This study provides evidence of the consequences of hiring Big4 auditors on the perceived information asymmetry by financial markets under extreme conditions: in an environment characterized by low litigation risk and where Big4 auditors can operate only indirectly through affiliation.,The results of this study are of interest to policymakers, managers and financial stakeholders in emerging countries where external financing is important yet difficult to obtain because of severe information asymmetry. Hiring a Big4 auditor, even only through affiliation, might reduce perceived information asymmetry and increase the access to external equity financing.,To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to provide evidence of the effect of Big4 auditors on their clients’ capital structure when they can operate only indirectly through affiliation with a local auditor.

中文翻译：

---

拥有Big4审计师和资本结构的本地审计公司的隶属关系：来自印度尼西亚的证据

本文旨在研究对一家拥有四大关联公司的本地审计公司的选择是否会影响印尼的上市公司的资本结构，印尼是一个快速发展的新兴国家，具有很高的信息不对称性和低诉讼风险。印尼审计环境的一个独特特征是，Big4审计师只能通过与当地审计公司的联系来间接进入市场。2008年至2015年间，印度尼西亚样本公司的样本用于使用普通最小二乘法（OLS）来调查这种关系。 。为了解决Big4关联审计师的选择可能反映客户特征的问题，作者还使用倾向得分和熵平衡匹配对匹配的样本执行OLS。在所有三个样本中，作者证明，一家由Big4联属的当地审计公司审计的公司负债率较低。作者发现与二级审计公司的联系没有这种影响。出乎意料的是，他们发现Big4会员关系的负面影响正在增加客户规模。这项研究提供了证据，证明在极端条件下：在诉讼风险较低且在这种情况下，Big4审计师只能通过从属关系间接进行操作。这项研究的结果吸引了新兴国家的决策者，管理人员和财务利益相关者的关注，在这些国家，外部融资非常重要，但由于信息严重不对称而难以获得。雇用Big4审计师，即使仅通过从属关系，