Abstract: From the perspective of the heterogeneity of signed CPA teams, this paper examines the impact of the identity heterogeneity of CPA teams and the task-related heterogeneity on audit quality. The findings show that Party heterogeneity and age heterogeneity of the identity heterogeneity in the signed CPA team members can improve audit quality, while the task-related heterogeneity has no impact on audit quality. Further research finds out that team power structure, team size, teamwork duration and customer importance heterogeneity have significant adjustment effect on the heterogeneity of the signature CPA teams and audit quality. Such research conclusions can provide theoretical reference and experience for the characterization research in the audit field with signature CPA teams as the units.

Key words: team heterogeneity; audit quality; higher-order theory