Audit quality may be affected by types of audit
firm because large audit firms have more knowledge
management and economic resource for developing
audit staff than small audit firms. This notion is
consistent with several research studies. Becker et
al. (1998) report discretionary accruals in Big 6 audit
clients is lower than that in non-Big 6 audit clients.
Similarly, Gore et al. (2001) find that the provision of
non-audit services to audit clients may impair
auditor’s independence in case of non-Big 5 audit
clients. Thus, this research expects that audit fees or
economic dependence will affect auditor’s opinions
in a different way for Big 4 and non-Big 4 auditors.
Big 4 auditors may increase professional skepticism
to protect their reputation and meet public
expectation when they receive high audit fee.
Therefore, Big 4 auditors will perform more audit
works for problematic clients, charge for high audit
fee, and issue modified report to compensate
litigation and reputation risks. In other words, the
more problems, the higher audit fees, and the less
problems, the lower audit fees (Barkess and Simnett,
1994; Bell et al. 2001; Francis and Simon, 1987;
Palmrose, 1986; Simunic, 1980). Thus, the second
hypothesis is formulated as follows.