Audit Quality: Do the Audit Committee and Internal Audit Arrangements Matter?

This study examines the impact of corporate governance mechanisms namely audit committee characteristics, internal audit arrangements, and managerial ownership on external audit fees. Using a sample of 539 firms listed on the main board, the results of the study document a positive relationship betw...

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Main Authors: Zain, M., Abdul Wahab, Effiezal Aswadi, Boon, F.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Virtus Interpress 2010
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/10607
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author Zain, M.
Abdul Wahab, Effiezal Aswadi
Boon, F.
author_facet Zain, M.
Abdul Wahab, Effiezal Aswadi
Boon, F.
author_sort Zain, M.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description This study examines the impact of corporate governance mechanisms namely audit committee characteristics, internal audit arrangements, and managerial ownership on external audit fees. Using a sample of 539 firms listed on the main board, the results of the study document a positive relationship between audit committee independence and audit fees. Consistent with the capital reputational theory, the result suggests that independent audit committee demand for higher quality audit in order to protect their capital reputation as an expert. Contrary to our prediction, this study documents a negative relationship between audit committee expertise and audit fees indicating that auditors perceived firms with more audit committee members that possess accounting and finance expertise to be less risky and thus charged less audit fees to these firms. Furthermore, findings indicate that firms with their own internal audit function pay higher audit fees in comparison to those firms that outsourced their internal audit activities. Consistent with agency theory, the result suggests that the demand for audit services would be lower for firms whose managers own higher percentage of shares due to lower agency cost as compared to those firms with higher outsiders? ownership.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-106072017-02-28T01:32:56Z Audit Quality: Do the Audit Committee and Internal Audit Arrangements Matter? Zain, M. Abdul Wahab, Effiezal Aswadi Boon, F. This study examines the impact of corporate governance mechanisms namely audit committee characteristics, internal audit arrangements, and managerial ownership on external audit fees. Using a sample of 539 firms listed on the main board, the results of the study document a positive relationship between audit committee independence and audit fees. Consistent with the capital reputational theory, the result suggests that independent audit committee demand for higher quality audit in order to protect their capital reputation as an expert. Contrary to our prediction, this study documents a negative relationship between audit committee expertise and audit fees indicating that auditors perceived firms with more audit committee members that possess accounting and finance expertise to be less risky and thus charged less audit fees to these firms. Furthermore, findings indicate that firms with their own internal audit function pay higher audit fees in comparison to those firms that outsourced their internal audit activities. Consistent with agency theory, the result suggests that the demand for audit services would be lower for firms whose managers own higher percentage of shares due to lower agency cost as compared to those firms with higher outsiders? ownership. 2010 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/10607 Virtus Interpress restricted
spellingShingle Zain, M.
Abdul Wahab, Effiezal Aswadi
Boon, F.
Audit Quality: Do the Audit Committee and Internal Audit Arrangements Matter?
title Audit Quality: Do the Audit Committee and Internal Audit Arrangements Matter?
title_full Audit Quality: Do the Audit Committee and Internal Audit Arrangements Matter?
title_fullStr Audit Quality: Do the Audit Committee and Internal Audit Arrangements Matter?
title_full_unstemmed Audit Quality: Do the Audit Committee and Internal Audit Arrangements Matter?
title_short Audit Quality: Do the Audit Committee and Internal Audit Arrangements Matter?
title_sort audit quality: do the audit committee and internal audit arrangements matter?
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/10607