Client Employee Training and Audit Efficiency

SUMMARY We investigate whether client employee training facilitates a more efficient audit. Our hypothesis is that training improves the ability of the client personnel to process transactions accurately, improve internal control, and contribute to evidence gathering and information sharing in the conduct of the audit. Using a large sample of Belgian private firms with data on employee training, we find that a one standard deviation increase in clients’ training cost (hours) reduces audit fees by approximately 3.4 percent (1.7 percent). The effect is stronger for clients with highly educated employees. Using the Belgian labor status reform of 2014 as a natural experiment, we show that improving job security also reduces audit fees and enhances the negative association between training and audit fees. Consistent with higher audit efficiency, we also find a negative association between training and report lags. However, we find no association between training and audit quality.