Stock market reactions to audit failure in Japan: The case of Kanebo and ChuoAoyama

This paper investigates the impact of accounting fraud by Kanebo and the resulting penalties on Kanebo and its auditor, ChuoAoyama, on the stock prices of clients of ChuoAoyama and the other Big 4 auditors in Japan. Studying such a case in a low-litigation country provides an opportunity to test whether loss of an auditors' reputation matters without an insurance rationale. We find that the announcements of poor audit quality has significantly decreased the stock prices of clients of ChuoAoyama and, to a lesser extent, stock prices of the clients of the other Big 4 auditors. This industry-wide spillover has not been previously studied.