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Are audit fees discounted in initial year audit engagements?

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  • Barua, Abhijit
  • Lennox, Clive S.
  • Raghunandan, Aneesh

Abstract

Many studies report that audit fees are discounted in the year of an auditor change and regulators have long been concerned that such fee discounting could impair audit quality. We find significant bias in the way studies have tested for fee discounting. The bias exists because interim procedures are usually performed by both the predecessor and successor auditors but only the successor’s fee needs to be disclosed. Accordingly, the disclosed fee during the auditor change year usually relates to a partial year of auditing services. We find that the evidence for fee discounting disappears after correcting for this measurement bias.

Suggested Citation

  • Barua, Abhijit & Lennox, Clive S. & Raghunandan, Aneesh, 2020. "Are audit fees discounted in initial year audit engagements?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 102683, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:102683
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    Cited by:

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    3. Yang, Seunghee & Lee, Woo-Jong & Lim, Youngdeok & Yi, Cheong H., 2021. "Audit firm operating leverage and pricing strategy: Evidence from lowballing in audit industry," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2).
    4. Dang, Man & Puwanenthiren, Premkanth & Truong, Cameron & Henry, Darren & Vo, Xuan Vinh, 2022. "Audit quality and seasoned equity offerings methods," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    5. Hu, Juncheng & Li, Xiaorong & Wan, Zhong, 2023. "Corporate corruption and future audit fees: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3).
    6. Xue, Bai & O'Sullivan, Noel, 2023. "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," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    7. Huh, Bong Gu & Lee, Sunhwa & Kim, Wonsin, 2021. "The impact of the input level of information system audit on the audit quality: Korean evidence," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    8. Chen Chen & Ting‐Chiao Huang & Mukesh Garg & Mehdi Khedmati, 2021. "Governments as customers: Exploring the effects of government customers on supplier firms’ information quality," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(9-10), pages 1630-1667, October.

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    JEL classification:

    • M40 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - General
    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics

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