This study examines whether audit firm transparency disclosures are associated with audit quality and explores the effect of audit firm size on this association. Using control and treatment samples of Australian audit firms pre- and post-introduction of a disclosure requirement, we document that firms affected by the regulation display improvement in audit quality. We find that the extent of transparency disclosures is positively associated with audit quality, and audit firm size affects this association in a non-linear manner. That is, the association is stronger for large non-Big 4 than Big 4 firms and insignificant for medium and small non-Big 4 firms. The results suggest that large non-Big 4 firms (and Big 4 to a lesser extent) attempt to distinguish themselves through audit quality by providing extensive disclosures about their systems and practices. The incremental effect for Big 4 firms is smaller, as these firms have an already established reputation for quality in the audit market.

中文翻译：

---

审计事务所透明度披露和审计质量

本研究考察审计事务所透明度披露是否与审计质量相关，并探讨审计事务所规模对这种关联的影响。使用披露要求前后澳大利亚审计公司的控制和处理样本，我们记录了受监管影响的公司审计质量的改善。我们发现透明度披露的程度与审计质量呈正相关，审计事务所规模以非线性方式影响这种关联。也就是说，对于大型非四大公司的关联性强于四大公司，而对于中小型非四大公司则无关紧要。结果表明，大型非四大公司（以及在较小程度上的四大公司）试图通过提供有关其系统和实践的广泛披露来通过审计质量来区分自己。四大公司的增量效应较小，因为这些公司在审计市场上已经建立了良好的质量声誉。