The The Influence of Management Change, Audit Opinion, and Audit Fee on Auditor Switching with Financial Distress as a Moderating Variable in Property and Real Estate Companies Listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange

Abstract

Every company, especially those that are growing, needs a lot of support from investors. Investors will think of injecting funds when the company has high profits and low bankruptcy risk. Therefore, large companies choose to use KAP services when auditing financial statements. Auditor Switching is the change of auditors by the company or the auditors themselves, and the purpose is to maintain auditor independence. This study was conducted to determine the influence of Management Change, Audit Opinion, and Audit Fee on Auditor Switching with Financial Distress as a moderating variable in property and real estate companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange from 2019-2021. The sample was taken using purposive sampling, where the population was 62 companies, and after deducting the research criteria, the research sample consisted of 32 companies, so that in 3 years there were 96 companies. Statistical test using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with Partial Least Square (PLS) approach. The results of the study simultaneously show that Management Change, Audit Opinion and Audit Fee affect Auditor Switching. Partially, the Path coefficient shows that the Management Change and Audit Opinion has a positive and significant influence on Auditor Switching. Audit Fee has a negative and significant influence on Auditor Switching. While Financial Distress is not able to moderate the influence of Management Change and Audit Opinion on Auditor Switching, Financial Distress can moderate the influence of Audit Fees on Auditor Switching.