Zusammenfassung:
We investigate whether audit partner tenure and audit quality associations remain significant after the implementation of mandatory audit partner rotation. Carey and Simnett (2006) report a significant negative association between long audit partner tenure and the propensity to issue qualified going-concern opinions for financially distressed companies. However, their study uses data from a period when there was no restriction on the length of audit partner tenure, i.e., from a period before there was mandatory audit partner rotation after a fixed period of time. We revisit this issue using Australian data from a period after the introduction of mandatory audit partner rotation. We find a significant positive association between audit partner tenure when tenure is five years or more and the likelihood of an auditor issuing a going-concern opinion for a financially distressed company. Our findings provide evidence that auditors are more likely to issue qualified going-concern opinions for financially distressed companies when there is mandatory audit partner rotation after a fixed period of time. Our findings suggest that the implementation of mandatory audit partner rotation has improved audit quality.