The Role of Auditing in Small, Private Family Firms: Is It About Quality and Credibility?
用小型私有企业样本，实证发现家族控股或控制的企业比非家族企业更少选用四大审计师，且家族持股越高，选用四大审计的概率越低，表明家族影响会改变企业对审计质量和财务报告可信度的需求。
The authors present empirical evidence of how family ownership and control affect the demand for audit quality measured by audit firm size in a sample of small private firms. The results indicate that family-held or -controlled firms are less likely to use Big 4 auditors than nonfamily firms and that an increase in family ownership decreases the likelihood of a Big 4 audit. The results imply that the less concentrated family ownership is, the more need there is for outside control mechanisms because of higher agency costs. The results imply that family influence increases firms’ incentives to employ Big 4 audit firms, thereby increasing the credibility of their financial statements vis-à-vis outside stakeholders.