Foreign exchange risk and audit pricing: Evidence from U.S. multinational corporations

Abstract

Foreign exchange volatility challenges auditors for not only demanding more audit efforts but also imposing heightened audit risk. We first show foreign exchange risks increase cash flow uncertainty and reduce financial reporting quality, supporting our premise that foreign exchange risks increase audit risk. Next, we find audit fees are higher for MNCs with greater exposure to foreign exchange volatility, but not when MNCs use financial hedging against foreign exchange risk. Furthermore, we show that the impact of foreign exchange risk on audit fees is attenuated by auditor MNC expertise, auditor busyness, and MNC’s operation diversity, whereas the impact is exacerbated for companies facing high pressure to avoid missing earnings targets and for auditors with high market concentration. Overall, our study provides novel evidence of the implications of MNCs’ exposure to foreign exchange risk on financial reporting and auditing, thereby enriching our understanding of MNCs.