Accounting Commons^™

Do Accounting Firm Consulting Revenues Affect Audit Quality? Evidence From The Pre- And Post-Sox Eras, Ling Lei Lisic, Linda A. Myers, Robert Pawlewicz, Timothy A. Seidel

Accountancy Faculty Publications

In recent years, public accounting firms have experienced a steady increase in the proportion of their revenues generated from consulting services. Although growth in consulting revenue following the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act (SOX) has been generated primarily from services provided to nonaudit clients, regulators have expressed concerns about the potential implications of this increase for audit quality. In contrast, accounting firms assert that the expertise developed by their consulting professionals helps them to provide better quality audits. We examine the relation between the proportion of accounting firm consulting revenue to total revenue and audit quality and investor perceptions of audit quality. Because …