Earnings Management, Audit Firm Size, and Audit Quality: A Literature Review

This study aims to examine the relationship between earnings management, audit firm size, and audit quality. Using a literature review approach based on 71 scientific articles, four main discussions were identified. First, audit firm size has not yet become a commonly used topic for measuring audit quality. Second, publicly listed companies remain the dominant research objects, indicating opportunities for further studies on private companies. Third, audit quality measurement still largely relies on the Big 4 versus Non-Big 4 classification due to its simplicity. Fourth, earnings management measurement is generally approached from the company’s perspective, while alternative measurements from the perspective of the audit firm as the auditor remain rarely explored. This study also has limitations, particularly the limited access to a broader range of articles. Future research is therefore expected to incorporate a larger number of studies and include article categories indexed in databases such as SCOPUS or SINTA.