Engagement Quality Reviewers: Descriptive Insights on Competence and Independence

In this study, we leverage recent disclosure requirements in China to provide a descriptive analysis of individual-level engagement quality reviewers (EQRs), offering a detailed profile of the attributes of EQRs assigned to listed company audits. We find substantial within-firm network connections between EQRs and engagement partners through prior collaborations, as well as a notable share of engagements in which the EQR either previously served as the client’s engagement partner or alternates roles with the same engagement partner within a year. Further, a significant proportion of EQRs either lack prior experience in the client’s industry or have lower industry specialization or organizational standing than the engagement partner. In addition, we observe cross-firm variation in the size of the EQR pool and in individual reviewer workload, with some EQRs responsible for a large number of engagements. These findings offer valuable descriptive evidence on EQ review practices and suggest avenues for future research. Data Availability: Data are available from the public sources cited in the text. JEL Classifications: M41; M43.