We find that the audit report lag is significantly higher for former Andersen
clients that did not follow their Andersen partner to the new audit firm than for clients
voluntarily changing auditors from another Big 5 predecessor for the fiscal year ended
December 31, 2002 the first year with the new auditor for ex-Andersen clients. The
differences in audit reporting lags between the two groups are not significant for fiscal
years ended December 31, 2000 the last year before Andersen’s Enron related problems
surfaced, or 2003 the second year with the successor auditor. We also find that
clients with voluntary i.e., non-Andersen auditor changes have only marginally higher
audit reporting lags compared to clients without auditor changes. Our results, focusing
on a cost component of involuntary auditor changes, thus provide relevant empirical
evidence for debates surrounding mandatory auditor rotation. We also find that ex-
Andersen clients that followed the Andersen partner to the new audit firm had shorter
audit report lags than ex-Andersen clients that did not follow their Andersen partner.
Our findings highlight the importance of individual relationships in the auditing process,
and suggest new avenues for future research.