Do companies successfully engage in opinion-shopping? Evidence from the UK

Since observed audit opinions do not generally become more favourable after companies switch auditors, it has been argued that companies do not successfully engage in opinion-shopping. Rather than comparing observed pre- acid post-switch audit reports, this study tests for opinion-shopping by predicting the opinions companies would have received had they made opposite switch decisions. My results indicate that companies would have received unfavourable reports more often under different switch decisions. This suggests that companies do successfully engage in opinion-shopping. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. JEL classification: M41; G33.