Reactions of the Tunisian capital market to audit reports: a comparison between reports established by the Big Four and No-Big Four auditors

摘要

The aim of this study is to test empirically whether there is a relationship between audit reports signed by Big Four or No-Big Four external auditors and stock prices in the Tunisian financial capital market. For this purpose, we use the event study methodology. Based on a sample of 51 listed companies on the Tunis Stock Exchange for the period 2002-2007, we observe that the significant positive price reactions is only reported eight days after the disclosure of unqualified audit reports issued by the No-Big Four auditors. On the other hand, our findings show that qualifications expressed in the audit reports issued by the Big four auditors do not provide investors with information content different from qualifications issued in reports by No-Big Four auditors.