Audit Fees and Social Capital
研究发现，总部位于美国社会资本较高地区的公司支付的审计费用较低，表明审计师会根据公司所在地的信任水平调整收费。
ABSTRACT We examine the impact of social capital on audit fees. We find that firms headquartered in U.S. counties with high social capital pay lower audit fees. Social capital measures the level of mutual trust in a region. Our results suggest that auditors judge the trustworthiness of their clients based on where the firm is headquartered and charge a premium when they trust the firm less. The basis of our results is the examination of more than 28,000 audit fees for more than 5,000 firms spanning the period of 2000 to 2009. The results are robust to controlling for a large number of firm-level and county-level characteristics. JEL Classifications: M42; M14.