TITLE:
External Audit Quality and Value Creation: What Relationship in the Cameroonian Context
AUTHORS:
Michael Forzeh Fossung, Dongmo Kana Valery Verges
KEYWORDS:
Value Creation, Audit Quality, Competence, Independence
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Accounting,
Vol.11 No.1,
December
28,
2021
ABSTRACT: A financial statement audit is an essential tool for reducing information asymmetry and maintaining an efficient market environment. However, if the audit strives to improve financial performance, there must be credibility and reliability. This research verifies the link between external audit quality and value creation while controlling for other exogenous factors (the size and age of the firm). Given that most research on this relationship has been carried in the context of developed countries and much more on listed companies, this study adopts a new approach to investigate the contribution of external audit in improving the value creation by unlisted companies like Cameroon. The audit quality was captured by the competence and the independence of the auditor. The creation of value is measured by the evolution of turnover and net income. Using the logistic regression analysis on data collected on a sample of 97 public limited companies in Cameroon, it is proved that audit quality has a positive and significant influence on value creation. Belonging to the Big Four, providing services other than external audit and the evolution of audit fees have no significant impact on value creation. As control variables, the company’s size does not explain value creation, but the firm’s age does. It is recommended that the management hire a competent auditor who respects the steps of the audit process to create more value. Due to the importance of having a high-quality audit, further studies should explore other external audit quality variables such as co-auditing, adherence to the audit timetable, and the time allowed for audit assignments.