What do Client-firms Think of their Auditors? Evidence from the Italian Market

In the audit industry, the reputation of the different players is of paramount importance, as customers tend to rely on ‘social proof’ of competence rather than attempting directly to assess the quality of audit work. The relevance of the topic is testified by the number of studies which have investigated the reputation audit firms enjoy among their clients, by analyzing features such as whether the Big audit firms are attributed audit fee premiums in comparison to non-big audit firms. This article differs from these studies in that it investigates audit firms’ reputation by collecting the judgments and opinions of client-firms. Contrary to the widespread assumption that the Big audit firms as a group enjoy a better reputation than the non-Big audit firms among their clients, we discovered that the Big Four are not necessarily perceived as superior in comparison to their smaller counterparts. Moreover, we found evidence of reputational differences even within the Big Four group.