The collaborative paper "COVID-19 Pandemic and Audit Quality" co-authored by Professor Bingxuan Lin, Overseas Academic Backbone of the Base, has been published in The British Accounting Review.

The British Accounting Review is an internationally authoritative journal in the fields of accounting and finance. It focuses on cutting-edge topics including financial accounting, management accounting, auditing, ESG, and corporate governance, covering various methodologies such as archival analysis, experimental and case studies, and is renowned for its academic originality.

Abstract：In this study, we examine the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on audit quality among firms listed in China, focusing on the role of empathy between auditors and their clients. Our analysis reveals that the pandemic's adverse effects on audit quality are predominantly observed when there is a high degree of empathy, particularly when both the audit firm and the client are located within areas heavily affected by the outbreak. Further investigation indicates that the deterioration in audit quality is primarily associated with auditors who have less experience, occupy junior positions, are employed by more philanthropically inclined audit firms, or work for firms outside the Big 10. Our research offers compelling evidence of the impact of empathy on audit quality and carries profound implications for various audit stakeholders, including management, auditors, shareholders, and regulatory bodies.

Link：https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bar.2024.101504

Author profile

Bingxuan Lin, a Doctor of Philosophy in Finance from the Georgia State University, the United States, is currently a professor of finance at the University of Rhode Island, the United States. His research fields mainly include corporate mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, information disclosure, the Chinese capital market, and behavioral finance. He has published more than 40 papers in first-class academic journals at home and abroad such as the Journal of Financial Research, the International Review of Financial Analysis, Applied Economics, the Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, the Journal of Business & Economics Research, and Management Science.