Abstract Through a combined study, we explore the professional perspectives of two distinct PCAOB constituent groups related to the PCAOB's proposed regulatory approach for audit quality indicators. First, we examine the comment letters of Non-Big Four audit firms and find that this specific constituent group views most of the PCAOB's proposed audit quality indicators as infeasible and redundant. Further, Non-Big Four audit firms contend that the indicators require greater clarification from the regulator as well as substantial accompanying qualitative context to avoid misinterpretation that may lead to unintended consequences. Second, we survey a collection of audit committee members from small, publicly-traded companies regarding the current evaluation and perceived effectiveness of eleven specific PCAOB audit quality indicators, each of which is well-established in the extant audit quality literature. We find indicators related to auditor personnel with specialized skill and knowledge, experience of audit personnel, and the timely reporting of internal control issues are perceived to possess the highest level of effectiveness in the evaluation of audit quality.

中文翻译：

---

审计质量指标：非四大审计公司和小公司审计委员会的观点

摘要通过一项综合研究，我们探索了与PCAOB提议的审计质量指标监管方法有关的两个不同PCAOB组成组的专业观点。首先，我们检查了非四大审计公司的意见书，发现该特定组成组认为PCAOB提出的大多数审计质量指标是不可行和多余的。此外，非四大会计师事务所辩称，指标需要监管机构作出更大的澄清，并附有实质性的定性背景，以免误解可能导致意想不到的后果。其次，我们对来自小型上市公司的审计委员会成员进行了调查，以评估11项特定PCAOB审计质量指标的当前评估和感知效果，在现有的审计质量文献中，每一项都是公认的。我们发现与具有专业技能和知识的审计人员相关的指标，审计人员的经验以及及时报告内部控制问题被认为在评估审计质量方面具有最高的有效性。