Logo image
An empirical study of returns to scale of CPA firms in the post SOX era
Journal article   Peer reviewed

An empirical study of returns to scale of CPA firms in the post SOX era

Hsihui Chang, Hiu Choy and Iny Hwang
Annals of operations research, v 229(1), pp 253-264
Jun 2015

Abstract

DEA Returns to scale Operations Research/Decision Theory M&A Organic growth Theory of Computation Combinatorics SOX Economics / Management Science CPA firms
This paper performs empirical tests for the returns to scale pattern of certified public accountant (CPA) firms in the post Sarbanes–Oxley Act (SOX) era using data envelopment analysis. Analyzing a sample of 70 of the top 100 CPA firms from Accounting Today surveys over the 6 years period 2005–2010, we find that our sample CPA firms as a whole exhibit decreasing returns to scale in the post SOX era, suggesting that these CPA firms had exhausted scale economies by expansions through mergers and acquisitions and organic growth. Thus, these firms may consider stopping their expansion plans and downsizing or divestitures in order to improve their production efficiency.

Metrics

22 Record Views
6 citations in Scopus

Details

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

InCites Highlights

Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:

Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
International collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Operations Research & Management Science
Logo image