دانلود رایگان مقاله فصلی بودن حسابرسی و قیمت گذاری خدمات ممیزی

ABSTRACT

Auditing is seasonal, with the majority of U.S. public companies having a December fiscal year-end. This results in an audit “busy season” and “off-season” with a non-trivial seasonal impact on the pricing of audit services. We apply an economic framework that explains how audit seasonality affects both the magnitude and the price elasticity of audit demand and audit supply. We find that the audit busy season is associated with an audit fee premium of approximately 10 percent based on a meta-analysis of 97 analyses from 18 audit fee studies of U.S public companies. A meta-regression of the contextual differences in research design between studies reveals that examining only Big N attenuates the busy season effect size but does not eliminate it, and that the busy season effect size may be larger post-SOX.

CONCLUSION

At the most fundamental level, the non-uniform client distribution of fiscal year-ends throughout the calendar year leads to seasonal variation in the manifestation of audit demand and supply. From an auditor’s perspective, the calendar year may be divided into a busy season and an offseason. Consistent with our economic theoretical framework, the busy season leads to increased audit demand but constrained and inelastic supply, which in turn increases the price of audit services. By conducting a meta-analysis of existing empirical studies that use an audit fee model calibrated on data from U.S. public companies, we find that ceteris paribusthe audit busy season is associated with an approximately 10 percent increase in average audit fees. We consider this to be an economically significant audit fee premium. A meta-regression of the estimated busy season effect size and the contextual differences in research design between studies show that examining only Big N in the studies attenuates the busy season effect size but does not eliminate it, and that the busy season effect size might have increased post-SOX. Our results should be of interest to both audit clients and researchers who may be interested in the effect and fee premiums associated with seasonality.