05/21/2025
By William Goldman

The Manning School of Business Department of Accounting invites you to attend a doctoral dissertation defense by Ph.D. Candidate William Goldman on “Consumer Complaints and Auditor Outcomes.”

Candidate name: William Goldman
Defense Date: Monday, June 2, 2025
Time: 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Location: Pulichino Tong Business Center, Room 462
Dissertation Title: Consumer Complaints and Auditor Outcomes
Advisor: Khondkar Karim

Committee Members

  • Karim Khondkar (Chair), Department of Accounting, Manning School of Business, UMass Lowell
  • SangHyun Suh, Department of Accounting, Manning School of Business, UMass Lowell
  • Huimin (Amy) Chen, Department of Accounting, Manning School of Business, UMass Lowell
  • Chi Zhang, Department of Finance, Manning School of Business, UMass Lowell

Abstract:
This dissertation examines the association between consumer complaints and auditor outcomes for large bank-holding companies subject to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s regulatory oversight (CFPB). Banking institutions play a vital role in the economy, but the impact of the CFPB’s additional oversight and disclosures on these banks that are often deemed “too big to fail” is unknown. Unlike other regulators that also receive complaints from consumers, the CFPB publishes these complaints online. Prior studies provide mixed evidence regarding the impact of consumer complaints on business risk. Since business risk is an important audit risk factor, I examine whether public disclosure of these complaints influences how the auditor conducts their work and whether complaints are associated with audit-related outcomes, such as audit fees, effort, accrual quality, and auditor changes. I find that consumer complaints are associated with increased audit fees, but complaints are not associated with an increased likelihood of auditor changes or lower audit quality. In additional analysis, I also examine the association between complaints and auditor outcomes for non-banking institutions. I show that audit fees increase for non-banking institutions. I also find some evidence that auditor changes are associated with complaints and mixed evidence that complaints are associated with lower earnings quality for non-banking institutions only. This study shows the importance of mandated public complaint disclosure on auditor outcomes.