دانلود رایگان مقاله محرکان اصلی خدمات مشاوره رویکرد متا آنالیز

abstract

This meta-analysis incorporates the results from 34 separate studies examining fee models for consultancy services whereby the consulting firm provides both audit and advisory services to its customers. The findings indicate a number of key determinants of consultancy bills: client size, audit fees, auditors being from a “Big Audit Firm,” client's financial difficulties, and prior experience with the legal auditors. Conversely, the meta-results fail to correlate the variable of interest with several constructs commonly used in consultancy models such as the auditee's inherent risk, the client's financial debt, or the audit opinion. The study also explores the influence of three moderators: the Sarbanes–Oxley Act, the legal environment, and the type of statutory auditor. The overall moderator results are robust but fail to group prior data into homogeneous sets. The findings are relevant for policy makers, audit scholars, and stakeholders.

5. Conclusions, implications and limitations of the study

This paper identifies the main drivers of NAS fees by applying MA to prior published results in order to investigate the overall effect size of the tested variables. The meta-data shows a high correlation (35%) between NAS fees and client Size. Companies in expansion (measured through Sales Growth) also contract more advisory services. Within the different measures of client complexity, the Number of business operations offers the best results. A plausible explanation for the significant association between the variable of interest and both Return on Assets (with a negative sign) and reporting bottom line losses (with a positive sign) is that companies facing financial difficulties seek advisory services in order to improve their performance. Companies hiring a Big Auditing Firm also have higher consultancy bills with their audit firms.