Political connections: A threat to auditor independence?

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine whether political connections further impair auditor independence by investigating the relationship between non-audit fees and audit fees and as to whether political connections moderate such relationship. Design/methodology/approach: This study emplo...

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Main Authors: Abdul Wahab, Effiezal Aswadi, Jain, M., Rahman, A.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Emerald 2015
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/45797
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author Abdul Wahab, Effiezal Aswadi
Jain, M.
Rahman, A.
author_facet Abdul Wahab, Effiezal Aswadi
Jain, M.
Rahman, A.
author_sort Abdul Wahab, Effiezal Aswadi
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine whether political connections further impair auditor independence by investigating the relationship between non-audit fees and audit fees and as to whether political connections moderate such relationship. Design/methodology/approach: This study employs panel regression analysis. The panel data set consists of 379 firm-year observations for three years from year 2001 to 2003. Findings: Based on 379 firm-year observations for the period of 2001-2003, grounded on two proxies of political connections namely politically connected firms and the proportion of Bumiputras directors, the authors find a positive and significant relationship between non-audit fees and audit fees, and the relationship becomes weaker, only for Bumiputra-dominated firms connected firms. Originality/value: This study contributes to the extant literature by examining the role of political connections in the context of auditor independence. In addition, this study is conducted in Malaysia, which provides a unique institutional environment with the existence of political connections that is built on ethnic grounds.
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
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publishDate 2015
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-457972017-12-13T01:39:36Z Political connections: A threat to auditor independence? Abdul Wahab, Effiezal Aswadi Jain, M. Rahman, A. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine whether political connections further impair auditor independence by investigating the relationship between non-audit fees and audit fees and as to whether political connections moderate such relationship. Design/methodology/approach: This study employs panel regression analysis. The panel data set consists of 379 firm-year observations for three years from year 2001 to 2003. Findings: Based on 379 firm-year observations for the period of 2001-2003, grounded on two proxies of political connections namely politically connected firms and the proportion of Bumiputras directors, the authors find a positive and significant relationship between non-audit fees and audit fees, and the relationship becomes weaker, only for Bumiputra-dominated firms connected firms. Originality/value: This study contributes to the extant literature by examining the role of political connections in the context of auditor independence. In addition, this study is conducted in Malaysia, which provides a unique institutional environment with the existence of political connections that is built on ethnic grounds. 2015 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/45797 10.1108/JAEE-03-2012-0013 Emerald fulltext
spellingShingle Abdul Wahab, Effiezal Aswadi
Jain, M.
Rahman, A.
Political connections: A threat to auditor independence?
title Political connections: A threat to auditor independence?
title_full Political connections: A threat to auditor independence?
title_fullStr Political connections: A threat to auditor independence?
title_full_unstemmed Political connections: A threat to auditor independence?
title_short Political connections: A threat to auditor independence?
title_sort political connections: a threat to auditor independence?
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/45797