Abstract ABSTRACT: The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants has indicated that auditor independence, both actual and perceived, is necessary to maximize the benefit of auditor association. This paper reports the results of a study of stockholder perceptions of the effect of relative client size, gifts, and purchase discount arrangements on auditor independence. The findings indicate that gifts and discount arrangements of even a minimal amount significantly affected users' perceptions of auditor independence. The effect of client size was not significant.
Pany et al. (Tue,) studied this question.