Institutional investors, political connection and audit quality in Malaysia

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to extend the audit pricing literature by examining whetherinstitutional investors and political connection are associated with higher audit fees.Design/methodology/approach – Both descriptive and multivariate analyses are employed toaddress the research object...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Abdul Wahab, Effiezal Aswadi, Zain, M., James, K., Haron, H.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Emerald 2009
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/31214
Description
Summary:Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to extend the audit pricing literature by examining whetherinstitutional investors and political connection are associated with higher audit fees.Design/methodology/approach – Both descriptive and multivariate analyses are employed toaddress the research objectives. In addition, the authors use panel data to control for bothheterocedasticity and contemporaneous correlations in each cross-section.Findings – Based on a panel analysis of 390 Malaysian firms from 1999 to 2003, a positiverelationship between institutional ownership and audit fees is found, although the economic impact isminimal. Further, the authors find that audit fees are higher for politically connected firms.Research limitations/implications – A thorough examination on the role of political connection ismuch warranted to provide a better understanding on such connection influences the audit market.Originality/value – This paper provides an alternative view on the role of political connection, andon how they influence the audit market