Saints or sinners? Politically connected auditors and their audit quality

Do politically connected auditors deliver superior audit quality or do they compromise their independence for politically connected clients? In my study with Jeff (Zeyun) Chen we retrieve the PAC contributions of all Big 4 employees to members of Senate and House of Representatives committees that oversee the audit industry and examine the implications of auditors’ political connections for their audit quality. Our study is now available online in the European Accounting Review.