Determinants of audit fees: the importance of litigation, disclosure, and regulatory burdens in audit engagements in 20 countries

Abstract

The majority of previous audit fee research has focused on fees and their determinants in individual countries. This paper combines fee observations from 20 countries into a single sample. The benefit of aggregating fee observations from differing countries is the opportunity to examine the effects of variables such as litigation and regulation, which vary across, but not within a given country on audit fees. Hence, the focus of this paper is on “macro” determinants of audit fees. The results indicate that increased litigation pressures, institutional traditions of increased disclosure, and increased regulation put upward pressures on audit fees. This paper establishes the role of those variables in the determination of fees, integrating an international perspective in the examination of audit fees.