Auditors’ International Experience, Audit Outcomes, and Career Opportunities

SUMMARY

Because audit firms’ client portfolios increasingly include multinational companies, firms promote international experience among their personnel. We interview audit partners to understand their perspectives on why auditors obtain this experience, its benefits and challenges, and how it influences their ensuing audit work. We then conduct empirical analyses to examine how international experience affects subsequent client assignments, audit outcomes, and partners’ career opportunities. We find that international experience is associated with assignments to clients with more foreign operations, higher audit efficiency for global clients, and promotion to audit firm leadership roles. However, we find little evidence that international experience affects audit quality. Our study provides important implications for audit personnel and firms as they weigh the costs and benefits of international rotations and training.

Data Availability: All data used in this study are available from public databases or profiles of individual auditors.

JEL Classifications: M42.