Charge Higher Audit Fees Research Articles

Mandatory Disclosure of Negative Events and Auditor Behavior: Evidence from a Natural Experiment

Using the staggered adoption of data breach disclosure (DBD) laws, this paper studies the impact of mandatory disclosure of adverse corporate events on audit fees. DBD laws increase the frequency of disclosed cyber incidents, which adversely impacts firms’ financial condition and operations; this could result in a higher risk of misstatement and reputation loss for auditors. Consistent with this hypothesis, we find that auditors charge higher fees after the adoption of DBD laws. We also find that the increase in audit fees is more pronounced in firms with higher cyber risk and greater auditor reputational concerns. Furthermore, governance mechanisms and resources that are available to auditors can mitigate the rise in audit fees. Robustness tests suggest that the effect is not driven by realized cyber incidents and other contemporaneous events. Overall, our study provides evidence that the mandated disclosure regulation significantly affects audit pricing.

Do Auditors View Off-the-Clock Misbehavior by Company Leadership as a Signal of Tone at the Top?

ABSTRACT We study off-the-clock indiscretion accusations against corporate officers and directors and examine the extent, effectiveness, and context of auditors’ response. In the year that indiscretion allegations are first publicized, auditors charge higher fees and are more likely to resign. Auditors respond to allegations against both top executives and board members. Further, reactions are strongest when allegations demonstrate a lack of individual integrity and, separately, when the audit office has previously audited other similarly accused clients. Importantly, the resulting increase in auditors’ effort partially negates the association between indiscretions and lower financial reporting quality. However, auditors are primarily reactive, rather than proactive, and their response is stronger when the accused client is less important economically. These results suggest that company leadership’s off-the-clock indiscretions are signals to auditors of poor tone at the top, but the audit response is not uniform across all clients. JEL Classifications: M41; M42; M48; G34.

The Impact of Audit Office Cybersecurity Experience on Nonbreach Client's Audit Fees and Cybersecurity Risks

ABSTRACT This study investigates whether auditors’ experiences with their clients’ cybersecurity incidents affect their subsequent audits for nonbreach clients and help those clients reduce cybersecurity risks. We find that audit offices who have experience with cybersecurity-breached clients, ceteris paribus, charge higher audit fees from nonbreach clients. Additionally, the increased audit fees conditional on auditors’ cybersecurity experience are negatively associated with nonbreach clients’ future breach incidents. Such associations are found only in the Big 4 audit offices and offices with IT capability. This study offers timely insights for standard setters and important implications for both professionals and the academic literature by documenting the spillover effect of cybersecurity experience on subsequent risk assessments of nonbreach clients, while also confirming the effectiveness of engaging auditors in addressing cybersecurity matters. Data Availability: Data are available from the public sources identified in the article. JEL Classifications: M42.

Accounting Personnel Quality, Audit Risk, and Auditor Responses

SUMMARY This study draws on human capital theory to measure the quality of accounting personnel based on their education level and investigate whether the education level of the client firm’s accounting personnel affects auditors’ assessment of audit risk by examining audit outcomes. It shows that auditors charge higher fees and are more likely to make audit adjustments for companies whose accounting personnel have a lower level of education. The relationship between the education level of accounting personnel and audit fees (audit adjustments) is robust to an instrumental variable model, an entropy balancing approach, and a difference-in-differences analysis. Audit firms strategically assign more experienced partners to audit companies whose accounting personnel’s average education levels are relatively low. Taken together, these findings suggest that the education level of clients’ accounting personnel affects auditors’ assessment of audit risk and audit outcomes. JEL Classifications: M40; M42; J01; J24.

Top executive gender diversity and financial reporting quality

We examine whether gender diversity of chief executive and chief financial officers (CEOs and CFOs) is associated with financial reporting quality. The CEOs and CFOs of publicly traded companies are both required to certify the appropriateness of their financial statements and annual disclosures. We argue that gender diverse dyads (groups) of executives can bring different perspectives and professional skepticism to financial reporting. Using a sample of different CEO/CFO gender dyads during 2006–2019, we postulate and find evidence of higher accruals quality among firms led by gender-diverse dyads compared to accruals quality reported by firms led by all-male CEO/CFO pairs. Additional analyses reveal that the auditors of firms with gender-diverse executive dyads issue audit reports later, charge higher audit fees, and are more likely to be one of the Big 4 firms. These findings support the view that top executive gender diversity enhances financial reporting quality, which has important implications for corporate governance mechanisms.

The determinants of audit fees in the alternative investment market (Aim) in the UK: Evidence on the impact of risk, corporate governance and auditor size

This study examines the determinants of audit fees for companies listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in the United Kingdom (UK), which is the secondary market of the London Stock Exchange for small and medium sized companies. AIM companies are expected to present different audit pricing challenges compared to fully listed firms. From an audit demand perspective, AIM companies exhibit different risk and governance characteristics while, from a supply perspective, the AIM is characterized by greater auditor choice than typically found in main markets. We find that audit fees in the AIM are negatively influenced by client liquidity and the length of listing. We also find that higher levels of audit committee disclosures are associated with higher fees, although there is no evidence that individual audit committee characteristics influence audit fees. After controlling for self-selection bias, we find that Big 4 auditors charge higher fees and this premium is especially pronounced for smaller firms. Our findings contribute to the audit pricing literature by illustrating that the determinants of audit fees depends on the institutional setting in which companies operate as well as highlighting the importance of specific risk measures and auditor size in the determination of audit fees for AIM companies.

Audit Characteristics and Financial Reporting Timeliness of Nigerian Listed Non-Financial Institution

The management is accused of opportunistic behavior and financial report delays following the global financial scandal. Consequently, studies examine the effect of client-specific characteristics on financial report timeliness, and Nigeria is not an exemption. Recent studies focus on the effect of auditor's attributes in mitigating or explaining the rationale for the financial reporting delay. However, limited studies exist in Nigeria on the effect of audit characteristics on financial reporting timeliness in non-financial institutions. Our study contributes to knowledge by examining the effect of audit characteristics on the financial reporting timeliness in the Nigerian listed non-financial institution. We select 450 firm-year observations from 2011 to 2020 using a purposive sampling technique and estimate the model using the Ordinary Least Square Method (OLS). The result reveals that audit price and audit firm size positively affect financial reporting timeliness, while audit tenure is negative but insignificantly related to financial reporting timeliness. Our study concludes that delivering the financial report to the users takes longer when the auditors charge higher fees, reflecting an increase in auditors' workload resulting from additional audit risk and procedure. Also, large audit firms take a long time to communicate financial reports taking due care in forming audit opinions to ensure audit independence and reduce the litigation risk arising from the audit assignment

The Relationship between IFRS Adoption and Audit Fees: Evidence from China

We investigate the effect of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) mandatory adoption on audit fees, and how auditor type (Big 4 vs. non-Big 4) could moderate this relationship. Standard setters argue that IFRS adoption has a lot of benefits since it would lead to improving the accounting information quality. However, IFRS adoption has incremental costs also. our findings suggest that auditors charge higher audit fees after IFRS adoption. However, findings reveal that this relationship is more pronounced for non-big 4 audit firms. This study’s findings are important to standard setters as they evaluate the benefits and cost of IFRS adoption.

Do auditors consider alleged bribery when accepting clients? Evidence from Chinese non-state-owned enterprises

This study examines the relationship between firm-level alleged bribery and audit-related decisions for Chinese non-state-owned enterprises (NSOE). Using a sample of listed NSOEs in 2010–2016, we find that alleged bribery is negatively correlated with the probability of being accepted by top-tier auditors and is positively correlated with audit fees. These findings suggest that top-tier auditors are more reluctant to accept corrupt firms and also charge higher audit fees. Also, we find that the negative correlation between alleged bribery and the probability of being accepted by top-tier auditors is strengthened after an anti-corruption campaign launched by the Chinese government in 2013 and/or after the crackdown of provincial-level officials, and is more pronounced in less developed regions. Finally, we find that alleged bribery is positively associated with the level of earnings management, implying that alleged bribery likely increases irregularities in financial statements.

Do Emotions Affect Audit Practice? Terrorist Attacks and Accounting Misstatements

Psychology and neuroscience research shows that individuals with negative emotions (e.g., fear) are more sensitive to negative signals and exhibit a higher degree of risk aversion. Using local terrorist attacks as exogenous shocks that cause auditors to experience more negative emotions in the audit period, I empirically study the impact of negative emotions on audit practice. I find that accounting misstatements are less likely to occur for firms when there is a local terrorist attack in the audit period. The reduction in misstatements is stronger for auditors who are located closer to the terrorist attacks. Further evidence suggests that affected auditors are more likely to issue going concern opinions, spend more time on the audit, and charge higher audit fees. I obtain a similar set of results using airplane crashes as an alternative source of emotional shocks. Overall, the evidence is consistent with the idea that auditors with more negative emotions exert greater effort to lower misstatement risks. My findings provide large-scale archival causal evidence that emotions can affect audit outcomes.

Accounting Personnel Quality, Audit Risk, and Auditor Responses

Auditing standards and anecdotal evidence suggest that accounting personnel’s lack of financial reporting competencies can increase audit risk. This study draws on human capital theory to measure the quality of accounting personnel based on their education level and obtains evidence of how the quality of accounting personnel affects audit risk through examining audit outcomes. It shows that auditors charge higher fees and are more likely to make audit adjustments to companies whose accounting personnel have a lower level of education. The relationship between accounting personnel’s education and audit fees (audit adjustments) is robust to the propensity score matching approach and stronger in companies with more complex operations. Audit firms strategically assign more experienced partners to audit companies whose accounting personnel have a lower level of education. Taken together, these findings suggest that the quality of accounting personnel affects audit risk and audit outcomes.

Trust of the Crowd and Audit Pricing

Using a novel dataset that captures public perceptions of the trustworthiness of client firms by extracting and converting social media feeds into an index, we find that auditors charge higher fees for client firms with lower trustworthiness, as client firms with higher trustworthiness are less likely to incur lawsuits. This correlation is stronger for the shorter audit tenures, younger client firms, and more complex auditing practices after the enactment of the SOX Act. Our results are robust to: (i) including firm or county fixed effects, (ii) controlling for the internal control weaknesses and various corporate governance measures, and (iii) adding the trust index constructed from financial news. Our study highlights the role of the perceived trustworthiness of client firms in audit pricing decisions.

Discussion of “Audit Firm Assessments of Cyber-Security Risk: Evidence from Audit Fees and SEC Comment Letters”

The study by Rosati, Gogolin, and Lynn (in this issue) examines the impact of cyber-security incidents on audit fees. Using audit fee as a proxy for audit effort and risk, it takes 168 cyber-security incidents during 2005–2014 that are collected by the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse and documents that breached firms are charged higher audit fees. In addition, the authors find that the increase in audit fee is only temporary and exists during the [Formula: see text] to [Formula: see text] window surrounding the breach. Finally, this study also finds that the audit fee increases post SEC comment letters that are related to cyber-security incidents. Overall, my assessment of the paper is that it is well executed and well written. More importantly, it adheres well to its stated research question. The following are my written comments, which are based on my discussion of this paper at the 30th Annual TJIA Conference, regarding this paper’s contribution, framing, and empirical execution.

Implications of the Joint Provision of CSR Assurance and Financial Audit for Auditors' Assessment of Going‐Concern Risk

ABSTRACTWe examine whether the joint provision of corporate social responsibility (CSR) assurance services and financial audit by the same audit firm influences auditors' assessment of going‐concern risk. We predict that the provision of CSR assurance and financial audit by the same audit firm creates CSR‐related knowledge spillovers from the CSR assurance team to the financial audit engagement team, which helps in the auditor's assessment of going‐concern risk. Using more than 28,000 firm‐year observations from 55 countries, we document that, relative to audit firms that provide only the financial audit, audit firms that provide both CSR assurance and financial audit for the same client (i) issue more frequent going‐concern opinions and have lower Type II going‐concern errors, (ii) have clients that book larger environmental and litigation provisions, (iii) report earnings that are more persistent and value‐relevant and are less likely to book income‐decreasing earnings restatements, and (iv) do not charge higher audit fees or total fees. Our results are important especially because of firms' increasing exposure to CSR risks and the growing number of countries that require assurance of CSR reports.

U.S. Political Corruption and Audit Fees

ABSTRACT Using data on corruption convictions from the U.S. Department of Justice, we find that auditors charge higher fees when a firm is headquartered in a more corrupt district. This result is robust to a wide range of time and location fixed effects, using capital city isolation as an instrument, and propensity score matching. We also find that, relative to those in non-corrupt districts, firms in corrupt districts are more likely to have weak internal controls and restate earnings, and that their auditors exert greater effort. This evidence suggests that auditing firms located in corrupt areas entails additional risk, which auditors price into fees. JEL Classifications: D73; G31; G34.

U.S. Political Corruption and Audit Fees

Using data on corruption convictions from the U.S. Department of Justice, we find that auditors charge higher fees when a firm is headquartered in a more corrupt district. This result is robust to a wide range of time and location fixed effects, using capital city isolation as an instrument, and propensity score matching. We also find that, relative to those in non-corrupt districts, firms in corrupt districts are more likely to have weak internal controls and to restate earnings and that their auditors exert greater effort. This evidence suggests that auditing firms in corrupt areas entails additional risk, which auditors price into fees.

Auditor-Client Disagreements, Auditor Resignations, And Audit Fees Charged By Successor Auditors

This paper investigates the effects of auditor-client disagreement disclosure on auditor resignations and audit fee charged by successor auditors. Using a matched sample of auditor changes over the period 2003-2016, we find that auditor resignations are more often accompanied by auditor-client disagreements. We also find that Big 4 auditors are more likely to resign from their engagements when they disagree with their clients. Further, we document that successor auditors charge higher audit fees for firms that have disagreements with their predecessor auditors. Relative to non-Big 4 auditors, Big 4 successor auditors charge even higher audit fee for disagreement firms.

On accounting’s twenty-first century challenge: evidence on the relation between intangible assets and audit fees

We inform the policy debate arising from the dramatic shift in US firms’ balance sheets towards intangible assets that has created a challenge for market participants to estimate firm value. While accounting guidelines have failed to keep pace with this change, the auditors’ perspective on this issue remains unknown. Our study reveals that auditors also find it relatively more challenging to audit firms with higher intangible assets. Specifically, we document a strong positive relation between audit fee and the proportion of intangible assets, after controlling for standard audit fee determinants. Further, we show that firms with higher proportion of intangible assets are associated with higher auditor effort and higher litigation risk for auditors, manifesting in higher audit fee. Ex post proxies of innovation success, such as patents, citation-weighted patents and ex ante R&D expense, indicate that firms with greater likelihood of innovation success are also charged higher audit fees. We find that high intangible asset firms in concentrated patent-generating industries (i.e. with lower expected patent litigation) are charged lower audit fees than similar firms in patent-competitive industries.

Audit report lag, audit fees, and audit quality following an audit firm merger: Evidence from Hong Kong

This paper examines whether the clients of a merged audit firm have shortened report lag, increased audit fees, or reduced audit quality following the merger. These questions are important for a balanced investigation of a firm merger because regulators focus more on the downside of a merger than on its upside. Using a merger of audit firms in Hong Kong as a setting, this paper reports that clients of the merged firm have shorter audit report lag post-merger in the property industry in which the merged firm subsequently obtained more than one-half of the market share. Simultaneously, the evidence does not suggest that clients of the merged firm are charged higher audit fees or provided with lower quality audits after the merger. Thus, the results suggest that the merger of audit firms can benefit clients without corresponding disadvantages. Because this is a case study where the market share, industry specialization, expertise, and professional development of the audit firms may be unique, more research is needed on audit firm mergers to determine if these results are generalizable.

Environmental Risk and Audit Fees: Evidence from Monitoring of PM2.5

Previous studies have found many factors that affect audit fees, such as company size, business complexity, internal control quality, firm characteristics and so on. Under the background of increasingly severe environmental problems, environmental risks will inevitably affect the business conditions of the company and thus affect the auditor’s judgment of risks. However, we know little about whether and how environmental risks affect audit fees. In this paper, we use the monitoring after the PM2.5 explosion as an exogenous event, and the propensity matching score method and the difference-in-difference model are used to study the relationship between environmental risk and audit fees. The empirical results show that, first, after the monitoring of PM2.5 began in 2012, those listed companies located in cities that take the lead in monitoring PM2.5 would be charged higher audit fees. Second, this relationship exists only in heavily polluting enterprises with low internal control quality.