scholarly journals Do Abnormally High Audit Fees Impair Audit Quality?

2010 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jong-Hag Choi ◽  
Jeong-Bon Kim ◽  
Yoonseok Zang
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Normal Level ◽  
Audit Quality ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Discretionary Accruals ◽  
Negatively Associated ◽  
Audit Fee ◽  
The Difference

SUMMARY: This study examines whether and how audit quality proxied by the magnitude of absolute discretionary accruals is associated with abnormal audit fees, that is, the difference between actual audit fee and the expected, normal level of audit fee. The results of various regressions reveal that the association between the two is asymmetric, depending on the sign of the abnormal audit fee. For observations with negative abnormal audit fees, there is no significant association between audit quality and abnormal audit fee. In contrast, abnormal audit fees are negatively associated with audit quality for observations with positive abnormal audit fees. Our findings suggest that auditors’ incentives to deter biased financial reporting differ systematically, depending on whether their clients pay more than or less than the normal level of audit fee. Our results are robust to a variety of sensitivity checks.

The association between abnormal audit fees and audit quality after IFRS adoption

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 252-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soo-Jung Jung ◽  
Bum-Joon Kim ◽  
Ju-Ryum Chung
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Audit Quality ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Discretionary Accruals ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Discretionary Accrual ◽  
Ifrs Adoption ◽  
Audit Fee ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose This paper aims to examine how the relationship between abnormal audit fees and audit quality changed after adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in Korea. Design/methodology/approach Using empirical data collected over the period from 2008 to 2013, this study analyzes the association between abnormally high/low audit fee and audit quality. This study uses linear regression to test the hypothetical relation using discretionary accrual as a proxy for audit quality. Findings This study finds that there exists no significant relationship between abnormally high audit fees and audit quality measured by the magnitude of discretionary accruals in the pre-IFRS adoption period. However, the relationship between abnormally high audit fees and the magnitude of discretionary accruals turns to be positive in the post-IFRS adoption period. These finding suggests that the IFRS enables some clients to engage more discretion in the choice of discretionary accruals and auditors charge higher audit fees in return for allowing the discretion for such clients. Practical implications This study provides insight to regulators of the need to review carefully the financial statements of firms with abnormally high audit fees, and to investors to be more cautious when using financial information about these firms. Originality/value To the best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to assess IFRS impact on audit fee-quality relation. Also, unique Korean audit market with intensifying competition and discounting audit fee provides interesting setting to review the impact of abnormal audit fee on audit quality.

Small Audit Firm Membership in Associations, Networks, and Alliances: Implications for Audit Quality and Audit Fees

2015 ◽  
Vol 91 (3) ◽  
pp. 767-792 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth L. Bills ◽  
Lauren M. Cunningham ◽  
Linda A. Myers
Keyword(s):  
Audit Quality ◽  
Matched Control ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Discretionary Accruals ◽  
Audit Firm ◽  
Association Member ◽  
Big 4 ◽  
Audit Firms ◽  
Audit Fee ◽  
Control Samples

ABSTRACT In this study, we examine the benefits of membership in an accounting firm association, network, or alliance (collectively referred to as “an association”). Associations provide member accounting firms with numerous benefits, including access to the expertise of professionals from other independent member firms, joint conferences and technical trainings, assistance in dealing with staffing and geographic limitations, and the ability to use the association name in marketing materials. We expect these benefits to result in higher-quality audits and higher audit fees (or audit fee premiums). Using hand-collected data on association membership, we find that association member firms conduct higher-quality audits than nonmember firms, where audit quality is proxied for by fewer Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) inspection deficiencies and fewer financial statement misstatements, as well as less extreme absolute discretionary accruals and lower positive discretionary accruals. We also find that audit fees are higher for clients of member firms than for clients of nonmember firms, suggesting that clients are willing to pay an audit fee premium to engage association member audit firms. Finally, we find that member firm audits are of similar quality to a size-matched sample of Big 4 audits, but member firm clients pay lower fee premiums than do Big 4 clients. Our inferences are robust to the use of company size-matched control samples, audit firm size-matched control samples, propensity score matching, two-stage least squares regression, and to analyses that consider changes in association membership. Our findings should be of interest to regulators because they suggest that association membership assists small audit firms in overcoming barriers to auditing larger audit clients. In addition, our findings should be informative to audit committees when making auditor selection decisions, and to investors and accounting researchers interested in the relation between audit firm type and audit quality.

scholarly journals The The Effect of Abnormal Audit Fee on Audit Quality

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-76
Author(s):  
Heny Dewi Ratnasari
Keyword(s):  
Audit Quality ◽  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Manufacturing Companies ◽  
Audit Fee ◽  
Regression Test ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Observation Period

Abstract: This study aims to examine the effect between abnormal audit fee, which is the difference between actual audit fee and normal audit fee levels, on the audit quality proxied by accrual discretionary. The study was conducted on 414 samples of manufacturing companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange for the 2013-2018 observation period. The multiple linear regression test results show a relationship between the main variables is asymmetric, which depends on the sign of abnormal audit fees. For observations with negative abnormal audit fees or below normal audit fee levels, it’s showed that there is no significant effect between audit quality and abnormal audit fees. In fact, the findings indicate that there is a negative effect between abnormal audit fees and audit quality when tested on observations with negative abnormal audit fees or above normal audit fees levels. These results indicate that there is a dependence between the auditor and the client when the client pays a high audit fee so that it is possible to let the client manage earnings through discretionary accruals, which decreases the audit quality.

Does Fee Disclosure Type Matter? Evidence from Price Adjustment in the Audit Market of Taiwan

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 41-61
Author(s):  
Jengfang Chen ◽  
Rong-Ruey Duh ◽  
Kuei-Fu Li
Keyword(s):  
Audit Quality ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Discretionary Accruals ◽  
Financial Statement ◽  
Price Adjustment ◽  
Regulatory Change ◽  
Public Companies ◽  
Audit Market ◽  
Audit Fee ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACT While mandatory audit fee disclosure makes fee information transparent, there have been concerns about the impact of price adjustment on audit quality. Taking advantage of a regulatory change in Taiwan that required public companies to disclose audit fee but allowed two alternative disclosure forms (amount disclosure or range disclosure), this study investigates the impact of the fee disclosure form on price adjustment and the influence of such adjustment on audit quality. Using a dataset including audit fees under the two disclosure forms, we find that, for overcharged companies, the downward adjustment is larger for amount disclosure companies than range disclosure companies and such downward adjustment increase discretionary accruals in amount disclosure companies but not for range disclosure companies. Our study helps understand the impact of different fee disclosure forms on price adjustment and audit quality, which should be of interest to regulators and financial statement users in Taiwan and beyond.

Relation Between Real Earnings Management And Audit Quality

2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 967-980 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyuk Shawn ◽  
Hyoik Leese ◽  
Jaegyung Jung ◽  
Sanghyuk Moon
Keyword(s):  
Earnings Management ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Audit Quality ◽  
Discretionary Accruals ◽  
Real Earnings Management ◽  
Net Income ◽  
Real Activity ◽  
Financial Reports ◽  
Audit Fee

Net income is composed of CFO and accruals. Auditors generally detect discretionary accruals to raise reliability of financial reporting and call upon managers to correct their financial reports according to the materiality. From these viewpoints, prior researches use the size of discretionary accruals as proxies for the audit quality. However, manager can also use CFO factors as means of earnings management. We confirm whether abnormal CFO factors, that is, real activity earnings management (hereafter RAM) by Roychordhury model(2006), can be as a proxy for the audit quality with comparing the size of RAM with existing proxies of audit quality such as auditors’ size (e.g. big4), audit time and audit fee. Our results show that the size of RAM is positively correlated with some existing proxies of audit quality. Also, we find discretionary accruals positively correlated with RAM in Korea. The result implies managers in Korea simultaneously use RAM as well as discretionary accruals as a means of earnings management.

It Is Not Only What You Know, It Is Also Who You Know: CEO Network Connections and Financial Reporting Quality

2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 27-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Avishek Bhandari ◽  
Babak Mammadov ◽  
Austin Shelton ◽  
Maya Thevenot
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Internal Control ◽  
Audit Quality ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Discretionary Accruals ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Financial Reporting Quality ◽  
Financial Restatements ◽  
External Connections

SUMMARY The study investigates whether CEOs' external connections with other executives and directors are associated with enhanced financial reporting quality. We find that CEOs with larger connections have lower discretionary accruals and are less likely to have financial restatements and material internal control weaknesses. Further results show that larger social networks are associated with higher audit quality, which translates into higher audit fees. The results are robust to a variety of alternative specifications, including controls for endogeneity, and are consistent with well-connected CEOs providing economic benefits to their firms, rather than using their position to extract rents at the expense of shareholders.

Abnormal Audit Fee and Audit Quality

2012 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharad C. Asthana ◽  
Jeff P. Boone
Keyword(s):  
Bargaining Power ◽  
Audit Quality ◽  
Earnings Forecasts ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Discretionary Accruals ◽  
Auditor Independence ◽  
Power Increase ◽  
Sarbanes Oxley ◽  
Audit Fee

SUMMARY This study tests the hypotheses that below-normal audit fees signal important nuances in the balance of bargaining power between the auditor and the client, and that such power may ultimately influence audit quality. We find that audit quality, proxied by absolute discretionary accruals and meeting or beating analysts' earnings forecasts, declines as negative abnormal audit fees increase in magnitude, with the effect amplified as proxies for client bargaining power increase. We find that this effect is dampened in years following the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), suggesting that SOX was effective in enhancing auditor independence.

Abnormal audit fees and accrual and real earnings management: evidence from UK

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 395-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Alhadab
Keyword(s):  
Earnings Management ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Audit Quality ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Real Earnings Management ◽  
Direct Impact ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Negatively Associated ◽  
Audit Firms ◽  
The Uk

Purpose This paper aims to examine the relationship between abnormal audit fees and accrual-based and real-based earnings management by using a sample of 1,055 UK firm-year observations from 2006 to 2015. Design/methodology/approach Linear regression was used to test the hypothetical relation between abnormal audit fees and accrual and real earnings management. Following prior research, several proxies have been used to measure abnormal audit fees, accrual earnings management and real earnings management. Findings Abnormal audit fees were negatively associated with real earnings management. A higher level of abnormal audit fees was the major driver of enhanced audit quality, in turn reducing managers’ flexibility to use real earnings management and to manipulate reported earnings. Abnormal audit fees were found to be negatively associated with abnormal discretionary expenses, abnormal production costs and the aggregated measure of real earnings management. Practical implications This paper outlines the importance of considering any abnormal audit fees paid to audit firms. It is expected that the abnormal audit fees might compromise auditor independence and lead to a higher level of earnings management. However, the findings of this paper provide a new insight to many interested parties, e.g. regulators, audit firms, investors and creditors, that abnormal audit fees are associated with higher audit quality and higher financial reporting quality in the UK. Regulators in the meanwhile should reform the audit market by, e.g. revising the types of non-audit services that are provided for the same client, setting a cap on the maximum fees that can charged by auditors and monitoring earnings management practices. Audit firms should take into consideration that any charged abnormal level of audit fees may have a direct impact on audit quality. Originality/value This is the first study to examine the impact of abnormal audit fees on accruals and real earnings management after major regulatory changes that took place in the UK. These major changes are the adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards in 2005 and the new legislation concerning the ethical standards issued by the UK Audit Practice Board in 2004. These two major changes are expected to have a direct impact on both earnings management and audit fees, notably for the largest public listed firms. This study also focuses on one of the very developed and attractive stock markets in the world, the UK FTSE 350 stock index, that incorporates that largest 350 public firms.

Impact of firm’s specific factors on audit fee of quoted consumer goods firms

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-55
Author(s):  
Wasiu Ajani Musa ◽  
Ramat Titilayo Salman ◽  
Ibrahim Olayiwola Amoo ◽  
Muhammed Lawal Subair
Keyword(s):  
Consumer Goods ◽  
Audit Quality ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
P Value ◽  
Chi Square ◽  
Ifrs Adoption ◽  
Audit Fee ◽  
Specific Factors ◽  
The Impact

Greater pricing presume on audit service has been put by the regulations of the auditing and accounting practices for the disclosure of audit fees, since audit fee is directly related to audit quality. However, the audit fees perceived by the client is often different from the amount charged by the auditors. Hence, this study investigated the impact of firm-specific characteristics on audit fees of quoted consumer goods firms in Nigeria using a purposive sampling technique. Secondary data were obtained from annual reports of the companies for the period from 2009-2016. The empirical result from Breusch-Pagan Lagrange Multiplier Test (BP-LM) produced a chi-square value of 13.94 with p-value of 0.0001 indicating that pooled ordinary least squares (OLS) will not be appropriate for the study. The Hausman test showed a chi-square of 23.55 with a p-value of 0.001 indicating that the null hypothesis is strongly rejected. Thus, the only estimate from the fixed effect model was interpreted to explain the relationship between firm-specific characteristics and audit fees of quoted consumer goods firms in Nigeria. The result revealed that auditee size, auditee risk, auditee profitability and IFRS adoption are the firm specific characteristics that impact on audit fees with only auditee size and IFRS adoption being positively related to audit fees while the other factors are negatively related to audit fees. Based on this finding, this study concluded that the firm’s specific factors are the major drivers of audit fees in Nigeria consumer goods firms. This study recommends among others that companies should implement corporate governance principles that address issues relating to board independence and committee sizes to guide activities in the consumer goods sector since profitability behave negatively with audit fees.

Who Did the Audit? Audit Quality and Disclosures of Other Audit Participants in PCAOB Filings

2014 ◽  
Vol 90 (5) ◽  
pp. 1939-1967 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Callaway Dee ◽  
Ayalew Lulseged ◽  
Tianming Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Audit Quality ◽  
Market Reaction ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Discretionary Accruals ◽  
Multivariate Model ◽  
Significant Decline ◽  
Earnings Response Coefficients ◽  
Absolute Value ◽  
Earnings Response ◽  
First Time

ABSTRACT We empirically test whether audit quality is affected when part of an SEC issuer's audit is outsourced to auditors other than the principal auditor (“participating auditors”). We find a significantly negative market reaction and a significant decline in earnings response coefficients (ERCs) for experimental issuers disclosed for the first time as having participating auditors involved in their audits. However, we find no market reaction and no decline in ERCs for a matching sample of issuers that are not disclosed as using participating auditors, nor for issuers disclosed for the second or third time as using participating auditors. We also find actual audit quality as measured by absolute value of performance-matched discretionary accruals is lower for the experimental issuers, although we find no difference in audit fees paid by the experimental and matching issuers in a multivariate model. Our findings suggest that the PCAOB's proposed rule requiring disclosure of the use of other auditors in addition to the principal auditor would provide information useful to investors in assessing audit quality for SEC issuers.

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