The price of employee-related CSR deficiencies: evidence from peer auditor death

Drawing on the post-trauma growth theory, this study examines whether peer auditor death, a proxy for extreme employee-related CSR deficiencies, affects auditor exit from the auditing industry. Using a sample from the Chinese auditing market during over 2010–2019, our findings reveal that peer auditor death is significantly positively associated with auditor exit from the auditing industry. Moreover, our findings are robust to a variety of sensitivity tests using alternative proxies for peer auditor death and auditor exit. Besides, the relation between peer auditor death and audit exit is more pronounced for disease-related auditor death, longer-tenured deceased (dead) auditors, audit offices with high workload, younger auditors, and audit offices in provinces with higher marketisation indexes. Lastly, peer auditor death leads to an increase in auditor resignation at the audit office level and a decreased likelihood that auditors exiting from the auditing industry serve as top managers in listed firms.