Impact of selected factors on external audit fees for the case of publicly listed manufacturing and industrial sector in the Philippines

• Main Author: Lacap, Charlotte Mei L.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2017
• Subjects: Management audit; Business enterprises; Industrial management
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/5780
• Institution: De La Salle University

External audit provides reasonable assurance regarding the credibility of firms financial information. However, external audits quality is sometimes flawed due to some factors and audit fee is one of them. Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants in the Philippines laid out reminders and general guide on how audit fees should reflect the fair value of the services performed here in the Philippines. Normally, audit fees are calculated based on the audit risks to be assumed by the auditors for them to provide their audit opinions. This paper extends previous researches to examine what are the determinants of audit fees using Philippine setting, specifically for the case of manufacturing / industrial listed companies covering years 2009 to 2014. The objective is to know whether the selected factors have association to the external audit fees paid by companies. These factors are proxies / surrogate of the intended variables, such as company size, complexity, risk, governance structure, internal control as well as auditing firm attributes. Using all the available information as disclosed in the annual reports / SEC 17A and audited financial statements, these variables are analyzed using a panel regression. The empirical findings suggest that sales, foreign operations and Big5 have positive and significant impact to audit fees. This implies that audit fees responds to company's size, complexity and auditing firm attribute.