ABSTRACT
This paper investigates the effect of three characteristics of external audit on the value of
company. Audit characteristics comprise of audit tenure, audit firm size, and audit opinion
while firm’s value is measured by P/E, P/B, and Tobin’s Q. Using 2,240 company-year
observations, this paper finds that higher value of company is achieved by shorter audit
tenure, brand name audit firms, and unqualified audit opinion. This finding is consistent in
all three measures of firm’s value and after controlling company’s asset size and age. These
research findings suggest that (1) mandatory rotation may become solution to ensure that
professional relationship between auditor and client can be maintained, (2) brand name
auditors seem to offer better quality of audit and increase the value of the company, and (3)
financial service authority in Indonesia should encourage more companies to prepare
financial statements in accordance with accounting standards to receive unqualified opinion
from independent auditor.