当前位置: X-MOL 学术Journal of Accounting and Public Policy › 论文详情
Our official English website, www.x-mol.net, welcomes your feedback! (Note: you will need to create a separate account there.)
The costs and benefits of retirement policies at U.S. audit firms
Journal of Accounting and Public Policy ( IF 3.629 ) Pub Date : 2021-02-22 , DOI: 10.1016/j.jaccpubpol.2021.106824
Jenna J. Burke , Rani Hoitash , Udi Hoitash , Summer (Xia) Xiao

The mandatory retirement age within U.S. Big 4 audit firms ranges from 55 to 62, which has attracted controversy and legal scrutiny. The potential costs of an earlier retirement age include the loss of established networks, experience, and expertise. However, studies in non-U.S. jurisdictions conclude that partners nearing retirement disengage from their work, which manifests in lower audit quality. Using intensive hand-collected data on the age of 3,148 U.S. audit partners, we provide the first evidence of the costs and benefits of mandatory retirement policies at U.S. audit firms. We find that audit quality does not vary, but that fees are significantly higher for U.S. partners approaching retirement. These findings suggest that U.S. mandatory retirement policies are forcing out experienced revenue earners that are producing audit quality equivalent to younger partners. Additional analysis reveal that partner retirements are mechanisms to promote and grow the client portfolios of younger and female audit partners, and therefore increase partner diversity. Our additional analysis of non-U.S. audit partners leading audits of U.S. listed companies shows that partners approaching retirement are associated with lower audit quality across certain measures. This suggests that the audit quality of older U.S. partners is superior to their non-U.S. counterparts.



中文翻译:

美国审计公司退休政策的成本和收益

美国四大会计师事务所的强制退休年龄从 55 岁到 62 岁不等,这引起了争议和法律审查。提前退休的潜在成本包括失去已建立的网络、经验和专业知识。然而,在非美国司法管辖区的研究得出结论,接近退休的合伙人脱离了他们的工作,这表现在较低的审计质量上。使用关于 3,148 名美国审计合伙人年龄的大量手工收集数据,我们提供了美国审计公司强制退休政策的成本和收益的第一个证据。我们发现审计质量没有变化,但接近退休的美国合伙人的费用要高得多。这些发现表明美国 强制性退休政策正在迫使有经验的收入者退出,他们的审计质量与年轻合伙人相当。进一步的分析表明,合伙人退休是促进和扩大年轻和女性审计合伙人客户组合的机制,从而增加合伙人的多样性。我们对领导美国上市公司审计的非美国审计合伙人的额外分析表明,在某些衡量标准上,合伙人接近退休与较低的审计质量有关。这表明美国老合伙人的审计质量优于非美国同行。我们对领导美国上市公司审计的非美国审计合伙人的额外分析表明,在某些衡量标准上,合伙人接近退休与较低的审计质量有关。这表明美国老合伙人的审计质量优于非美国同行。我们对领导美国上市公司审计的非美国审计合伙人的额外分析表明,在某些衡量标准上,合伙人接近退休与较低的审计质量有关。这表明美国老合伙人的审计质量优于非美国同行。

更新日期:2021-02-22
down
wechat
bug