Determinants of Fee Cutting on Initial Audit Engagements
基于1983至1987年间更换审计师的389家客户公司数据，描述了初始审计业务中费用削减的分布，并试图解释163家公司的费用削减差异，发现审计师类别、行业专长、技术效率及竞价数量等因素影响费用削减幅度，但客户财务健康状况的影响不显著。
This study extends Simon and Francis' [1988] estimates of average cross-sectional fee cutting on initial audit engagements by describing the distribution of percentage fee changes reported by 389 client firms which switched auditors from 1983 through 1987.1 In addition, this study attempts to explain cross-sectional variance in fee cutting for a subset of 163 client firms for which required data are available. Prior research suggests that cross-sectional variance in fee cutting may exist if (1) auditor low balling varies with the financial health of clients; (2) new auditors differ from old auditors on fee-relevant dimensions such as auditor class, industry expertise, and technological efficiency; and (3) the number of auditors bidding differs across engagements. Our results support the importance of these factors in determining percentage fee cuts, with the exception of the financial health of clients. Section 2 discusses background literature and identifies factors potentially associated with fee cuts. Section 3 describes the sample and variables. Statistical tests are presented in section 4, and section 5 summarizes the results.