Auditor independence and audit quality: A systematic literature review

Abstract

In recent years, the issues concerning auditor independence and audit quality have become more important. In this respect, studies on audit quality are agreed that good audit quality requires the auditor to be independent from the entity it audits. Therefore, in order to provide a general reflection on this theme. This study aims to examine the effect of auditor independence on audit quality through previous academic research.

The study was conducted as a systematic literature review. Then, we limited our selection to the studies written in french and english that were published between 2013 and 2023. The papers were analyzed with respect to the author, the methodology used, the country, and main results. Starting from 548 articles published in academic journals, the selection process identied 49 paper that met our selection criteria.

The main theoretical results led to the following conclusions: Firstly, the majority of the articles studied confirm that auditor independence has a positive effect on audit quality. Secondly, the results showed a predominance of quantitative approaches; Thirdly, the results indicate that during this period of analysis, Indonesia and Nigeria give great importance to the study of issues related to audit quality and its criteria. Lastly, all the articles selected for this research are published in internationally recognized journals.

In conclusion, the current study can spur researchers, practitioners, and academicians to gauge the impact and implications of auditor independence on audit quality and chart out future research agendas.

Key words: Audit, audit quality, independence, indicator of the quality of the audit.

JEL Classification: M42, M49

Paper type: Theoretical Research