Factors Affecting Auditor Switching with an Emphasis on Auditor Characteristics: A Meta-Analysis Approach

The aim of this study is to provide an understanding of the factors affecting auditor switching with an emphasis on auditor characteristics. For this end, a meta-analysis method is used to investigate the common predictors of auditor switching in order to determine whether previous research provides a consistent picture of audit switching drivers using auditor characteristics. By searching for articles published within the period from 2001 to 2021 to find Persian articles and from 1996 to 2021 to find English articles in top international journals indexed in the Scopus database, 67 articles were selected and the variables affecting auditor switching based on auditor characteristics were extracted. Egger regression and Funnel chart have also been used to evaluate the bias. The results of this study showed that variables such as auditor industry expertise, auditor tenure, audit fees, auditor opinions, audit firm size, audit quality, and financial restatements lead to auditor switching. These results contribute to research on the key factors affecting the auditor switching in terms of client characteristics and are useful for regression modeling of the factors affecting auditor switching.