Abnormal Audit Fees, Audit Market Concentration and Audit Quality

Abstract

The problem of abnormal audit fees in the audit market is more prevalent. To study the impact on audit quality, China's A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2013 to 2020 were selected as the research objects, and the abnormal audit fees calculated using the pricing model were split into positive abnormal audit fees and negative abnormal audit fees, and the relationship between them and audit quality was analyzed using a regression model, and on this basis, the audit market was examined. The study also examines the mediating effect of concentration in the relationship between negative abnormal audit fees and audit quality. The study shows that abnormal audit fees are significantly and negatively related to audit quality regardless of whether they are high or low, and that audit market concentration plays a partially mediating role in the relationship between negative abnormal audit fees and audit quality, with the lower abnormal fees, the lower the audit market concentration and the higher the audit quality. The study provides new ideas and policy recommendations for the classic problem of abnormal audit fees and audit quality from the perspective of audit market concentration.