Published Online:January 2026
Product Name:The IUP Journal of Accounting Research & Audit Practices
Product Type:Article
Product Code:IJARAP080126
DOI:10.71329/IUPJARAP/2026.25.1.148-181
Author Name:Jadallah Jadallah, Stacie Krupp and Elizabeth M Pierce
Availability:YES
Subject/Domain:Finance
Download Format:PDF
Pages:148-181
The paper uses financial restatements, a common measure of audit quality, to rank auditors on a state-by-state basis in the United States (US). The data for the period 2016 to 2020 from audit analytics is used to rank auditors. Big R and little r restatements are used. During this time period, it is found that Iowa and Oregon are the states with the lowest quality auditors, while several states have high-quality auditors. Thirty states (including district of Columbia and Puerto Rico) have zero or one of the Big 4 accounting firms ranked in the top 10. This finding is different from that of Francis et al. (2013), who found that larger Big 4 offices experience fewer client restatements. In assessing the Big 4 firms, the ranking in terms of audit quality is given as follows: (1) Ernst & Young, (2) PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), (3) Deloitte, and (4) KPMG. The paper provides US companies with lists of high-quality auditors to choose from for completion of their annual audits.
Each year, Accounting Today puts out its list of the top 100 accounting firms. The top component in determining Accounting Today’s rankings is revenue brought in by the accounting firm. For example, the top 13 firms on the 2021 list are the top 13 revenue firms in order (Accounting Today, 2021).