The Effect of Ownership Style on Audit Client’s of Industry-Specialist Auditor Choice and Joint Audit Approach Adoption: An Empirical Evidence from Companies Listed in the Egyptian Stock Exchange

This research aimed to study and examine the relationship between the ownership style and auditor and external audit approach choice decisions, and the impact of the board governance on these relationships. By using a sample from the non-financial companies listed on the Egyptian Stock Exchange for the period starting from 2015 to 2019.
The results indicated that: First; institutional ownership and foreign ownership (management ownership) have a positive and significant (has a negative and significant) affect industry-specialist auditor Choice decision. Second; foreign ownership (management ownership and institutional ownership) has a positive and significant (have a negative and significant) affect joint audit approach adoption decision. Third; foreign ownership (management ownership and family ownership) has a positive and significant (have a negative and significant) affect Big 4 auditor choice decision. Fourth; foreign ownership (management ownership) has a positive and significant (negative and significant) affects affect joint audit approach adoption decision through a Big 4 audit firm and another Non-Big 4 foreign audit firm, institutional ownership and foreign ownership have a positive and significant affect joint audit approach adoption decision through a Big 4 audit firm and another local and non-foreign audit firm. Finally; the probability that companies with the largest management ownership (foreign ownership) percentage will be more (decreased) choosing an industry-specialist auditor, Big 4 auditor, or adopting a joint audit approach than others when the board is more committed to corporate governance. Taken together, these results provide evidence that ownership style can effectively create economic forces that can justify changes in demand for the audit service quality. These findings also have important implications for regulators and auditors to understand the motives for Egyptian companies' choice of auditors, audit approach, and audit services market structure.