How Does Individual Auditors’ Selection of Key Audit Matter Subjects Reveal Audit Quality? Evidence From China

Shanshan Zhang, Qian Sun, Xiaoke Cheng, School of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University, School of Economics and Management, Nanjing University of Science and Technology

Journal of Accounting, Auditing & Finance

Published online on June 03, 2025

Abstract

Journal of Accounting, Auditing & Finance, Ahead of Print.
This paper examines how individual auditors’ selection of specific key audit matter (KAM) subjects reveals their audit quality. Specifically, we find that auditors reporting more auditor-specific or less entity-specific KAMs offer lower audit quality. ...