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Strong Competition Among Audit Companies and Power to Achieve Higher Audit Fees: Who is at the Forefront?

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  • Vesna Å tager

Abstract

The aim of the research is to determine if the audit fees are statistically significantly different between the audit companies and vary, depending on the size of client and audit company. We find that for large auditees the average audit fees of the Big 4 Group did not statistically significantly deviate from normative audit fees, even surpass them, but not statistically significant. On average, small audit firms when auditing large auditees do not meet the predicted normative audit fees, and this deviation is statistically significant. Also, we confirm that the Big 4 auditing companies (KPMG, E & Y, Deloitte and PwC) were, statistically, significantly more likely to charge higher audit fees than a small auditing company would charge. The paper contributes to the literature to give users a clear indication about what average audit fees are typical of the Slovenian audit companies and which audit company is at the forefront. JEL Codes - M42; M48; D40

Suggested Citation

  • Vesna Å tager, 2018. "Strong Competition Among Audit Companies and Power to Achieve Higher Audit Fees: Who is at the Forefront?," Scientific Annals of Economics and Business (continues Analele Stiintifice), Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, vol. 65(2), pages 119-138, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:aic:saebjn:v:65:y:2018:i:2:p:119-138:n:106
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    File URL: http://saeb.feaa.uaic.ro/index.php/saeb/article/view/1092
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    auditing; audit fee; Slovenia; Big 4 in forefront; small auditing company;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M42 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Auditing
    • M48 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • D40 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - General

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