arbiter
JournalsAccount

Auditor industry expertise in Italy: evidence from the Big 4 partners

Tatiana Mazza & Stefano Azzali

International Journal of Managerial and Financial Accounting2026https://doi.org/10.1504/ijmfa.2026.152746article
AJG 2ABDC B
Weight
0.50

Abstract

Auditor industry expertise is investigated from three lines of research areas: 1) transfer of auditor expertise; 2) effects of mandatory audit firm rotations; 3) effects of the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards and of strengthening of Internal Controls over Financial Reporting. Interviewing the Big 4 partners in Italy, we learn that the area-level of industry expertise, in contrast to common law countries, complements the national-level, allowing for the transfer of tacit and codified knowledge among offices where the mandatory audit firm rotation cycle reduces the useful life and quality of office-level industry expertise. We learn that recent regulatory actions have increased the demand for task expertise but not industry expertise. The results could have implications: for regulators of European Union countries in the implementation of the mandatory audit firm rotation rule; for managers of audit firms in the decision of localisation of offices and in their employees' organisation to improve audit quality.

Open via your library →

Cite this paper

https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1504/ijmfa.2026.152746

Or copy a formatted citation

@article{tatiana2026,
  title        = {{Auditor industry expertise in Italy: evidence from the Big 4 partners}},
  author       = {Tatiana Mazza & Stefano Azzali},
  journal      = {International Journal of Managerial and Financial Accounting},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1504/ijmfa.2026.152746},
}

Paste directly into BibTeX, Zotero, or your reference manager.

Flag this paper

Auditor industry expertise in Italy: evidence from the Big 4 partners

Flags are reviewed by the Arbiter methodology team within 5 business days.

Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.