engleski

Audit fees determinants in the Croatian auditing service market

Upgrading the legislation in the area of financial reporting requires from businesses, whose financial statements are object of the audit, disclosure of all fees paid to auditors as well as the basis on which fees are paid. Such emphasis on transparency provides the starting point for analysis of the audit fees determinants which takes the central place in this article whereby the audit fees include fees for the performed audit of financial statements. The purpose of this paper is to point out the need for the establishment of appropriate mechanisms for regulating the amount of audit fees charged, since research findings indicate the presence of audit fees which amounts does not provide the covering of the costs that would assure gratification of minimum requirements that ensure the audit process is performed according to guidelines in the International Auditing Standards. The aim of this paper is in the function of achieving its purpose, and consists in identifying the most important audit fees determinants in the Croatian audit services market as well as the direction and intensity of their influence. The starting point of this research are the audit fee determinants emphasized in the previous researches conducted in economies with long tradition in performing the financial statement audit. The analysis of data from financial reports of 194 business entities whose securities are listed on the Zagreb Stock Exchange in 2009 showed that 50 business entities publicly disclosed the amount of audit fees so they represent the sample in this research. Various research methods were used in drawing the conclusion among which the quantitative ones are emphasized. Partial Least Square regression is used for identifying the determinants of audit fees. As it combines features from principal component analysis and multiple regression, it was useful when determining the contribution of each assumed determinant of audit fee. Considering that, two models which capture most of information on mentioned determinants, at the same time also useful for predicting audit fees, are established. The contribution of each observed audit fees determinant is identified in an individual model. According to that, the most important contributors to specific model, as well as most influential determinants that define such audit fees model have been identified. Finally, obtained regression coefficients can be used to compute predicted audit fees.

financial statement audit fees; audit fees determinants; partial least square regression

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