Grace Lee Looks at Audit Partner Assignments and Audit Quality

Assistant Professor Hye Seung (Grace) Lee’s co-authored paper, “Audit Partner Assignments and Audit Quality in the United States” appears in the March 2019 edition of Accounting Review. The paper examines demand and supply-side factors associated with audit partner selection and assignment and whether audit partner gender and experience are associated with board and management gender and experience. The results indicate that companies with more gender-diverse boards of directors and top management teams are more likely to have a female lead audit partner. In addition, the client’s board experience is positively correlated with the experience of the lead audit partner. The authors also find that higher audit fees are positively associated with female and more experienced audit partners.