Defining and Measuring Audit Quality: Insights from PCAOB Board Member Botic’s Four-Pillar Framework

SUMMARY Audit quality cannot be observed directly and instead reflects the interaction of incentives, expertise, execution, and outcomes. PCAOB Board Member George Botic’s four-pillar framework, Integrity and Independence, Technical Competence, Audit Performance, and Outcomes and Impact, provides a structured way to organize these dimensions in observable terms. This paper aligns the framework with established academic research and demonstrates that each pillar corresponds to empirically tested constructs. Drawing on prior literature, regulatory guidance, and firm transparency disclosures, the paper maps commonly used indicators, such as nonaudit fees, industry specialization, inspection findings, and restatements to the four pillars. Research and practice measure the same underlying components of audit quality, even when expressed in different terms. As a result, regulators and firms can use the four pillars to structure oversight, integrate existing metrics, and diagnose whether weaknesses stem from incentives, capability, execution, or outcomes. JEL Classifications: M42; M48.