The 150-hour rule

This paper adapts Dye's (1995) model to evaluate the effects of the 150-hour rule on the audit market. Incorporating the auditors' education as a joint input with the audit effort for determining the audit quality, we show that the audit fee is higher, pre-rule CPAs are better off, and audit clients are worse off as results of the Rule. Additionally, more pre-rule CPAs elect to enter the audit market. Some less wealthy post-rule CPAs who would otherwise get into the audit market choose not to. Surprisingly, the average audit quality in the market can be lower due to the Rule. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. JEL classification: M4; I21; K13; L15.