Purpose – This study aims to contribute to the understanding of audit pricing and the competitiveness of the audit fee market by examining audit fee stickiness. Design/methodology/approach – The authors explore the price behavior of audit fees in response to changes in the variables that are...

This paper examines the circumstances in which financial reporting exists. Jensen and Meckling (1995) observe that where there are high knowledge transfer costs, then decentralisation is necessary; and that where decentralisation occurs there is a control problem, which can be addressed by...

We examine whether auditor independence is affected by the amount spent on non-audit services. Faster growth in non-audit fees and longer time periods over which non-audit services are purchased might reduce the auditor's independence from that client. Our results do not provide any support for...

A number of research papers present evidence of fee premiums paid to specialist auditors. In this paper, we explore for listed and unlisted New Zealand firms not only the question of whether such premiums exist, but perhaps more importantly why they exist. We find evidence of fee premiums for...

Leading academic and professional accountants have suggested that the crisis in auditing over the past few years may have had its origin in deregulation which allowed firms to advertise their services and solicit new clients, encouraging accounting firms to become more commercial. In this paper,...

Non-audit services provided by auditors to their audit clients continue to be a controversial issue around the world. While research evidence has not usually shown that auditors lose their independence when providing non-audit services, the risk that they could do so is still a concern to...

Purpose – The accounting profession has argued strongly against claims that the provision of non-audit services to audit clients leads to impaired auditor independence, instead claiming that the joint provision of non-audit services and audit services creates knowledge spillovers that lead to...

Purpose – This study seeks to examine whether there are differences between companies that purchase either recurring or non-recurring audit services and those that do not, and whether auditors discount their audit fees for either type of non-audit service. Design/methodology/approach – The...