{"title":"Government contracts and audit fees","authors":"Mai Dao, Trung Pham, Hongkang Xu","doi":"10.1111/ijau.12298","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Topics concerning government contracts have recently attracted much attention from researchers and the public because of the US government's significant spending on goods and services. In this study, we investigate whether audit fees are associated with audit clients' government contracts. We find that firms with a higher proportion of government sales to total sales pay higher audit fees than other firms. Our further analysis shows the audit premium is driven mainly by the federal government and local government contracts. We also show that local government contracts have a larger effect than federal government contracts on the determination of audit fees. Taken together, our findings enhance our understanding of a potential determinant of audit fees and imply that auditors may view firms with and without government contracts differently.</p>","PeriodicalId":47092,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Auditing","volume":"27 1","pages":"1-23"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1000,"publicationDate":"2022-11-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ijau.12298","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Journal of Auditing","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ijau.12298","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"BUSINESS, FINANCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Topics concerning government contracts have recently attracted much attention from researchers and the public because of the US government's significant spending on goods and services. In this study, we investigate whether audit fees are associated with audit clients' government contracts. We find that firms with a higher proportion of government sales to total sales pay higher audit fees than other firms. Our further analysis shows the audit premium is driven mainly by the federal government and local government contracts. We also show that local government contracts have a larger effect than federal government contracts on the determination of audit fees. Taken together, our findings enhance our understanding of a potential determinant of audit fees and imply that auditors may view firms with and without government contracts differently.
期刊介绍:
In addition to communicating the results of original auditing research, the International Journal of Auditing also aims to advance knowledge in auditing by publishing critiques, thought leadership papers and literature reviews on specific aspects of auditing. The journal seeks to publish articles that have international appeal either due to the topic transcending national frontiers or due to the clear potential for readers to apply the results or ideas in their local environments. While articles must be methodologically and theoretically sound, any research orientation is acceptable. This means that papers may have an analytical and statistical, behavioural, economic and financial (including agency), sociological, critical, or historical basis. The editors consider articles for publication which fit into one or more of the following subject categories: • Financial statement audits • Public sector/governmental auditing • Internal auditing • Audit education and methods of teaching auditing (including case studies) • Audit aspects of corporate governance, including audit committees • Audit quality • Audit fees and related issues • Environmental, social and sustainability audits • Audit related ethical issues • Audit regulation • Independence issues • Legal liability and other legal issues • Auditing history • New and emerging audit and assurance issues