Did PwC lose reputation post audit failure at Satyam Computer Services? Evidence from the Indian audit market

Author First name, Last name, Institution

Partha Sarathi Mohapatra
Allan Graham
Anup Nandialath

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

International Journal of Accounting and Finance

Publication Date

1-1-2015

Abstract

Safeguarding reputation is one major incentive for large auditors to maintain high audit quality. We investigate the phenomenon of reputation by studying the impact of an audit failure on the reputation of a large audit firm in India. Specifically, we analyse the events surrounding the high profile audit failure of Satyam Computer Services and its resultant impact on the audit practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and its affiliates in India. The results of our analysis indicate that following the audit failure there was a high propensity for clients of PwC firms to switch to other firms. We interpret this behaviour as indicative of a loss of reputation for PwC due to the Satyam audit failure.

ISSN

1752-8224

Publisher

Inderscience Publishers

Volume

5

First Page

48

Last Page

61

Disciplines

Business | Computer Sciences

Indexed in Scopus

no

Open Access

no

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