This research monograph aims to investigate audit quality in Italian nonlisted companies. More specifically, it addresses the question of whether Big 4 auditors perform high-quality audit in non-listed companies. The key findings are that (i) Big 4 auditors provide high-quality audit compared to other auditors in terms of both accounting and real earnings management; (ii) such auditors are more independent than other auditors. The findings provide an analysis of the drivers of real and accrual-based earnings management, thereby producing some compelling evidence on audit quality in the context of the Italian non-listed companies.

Gaetano Matonti is a Researcher of Accounting at the Department of Management & Innovation Systems, the University of Salerno. His research skills are in evidence in the fields of financial and management accounting, with a particular emphasis on audit quality, earnings management detection models, activity-based costing in the healthcare organizations. He was visiting researcher at University of West of England and he has joint research with Prof. Jon Tucker of University of West of England - Bristol, UK.