The impact of external factors and initial year audits on audit fees of Swiss-market oriented firms

Abstract

Shifts in the macroeconomic environment can have a significant impact on audit work in terms of complexity and quantity. Higher complexity and risk are sometimes accompanied by increased risk of default or audit effort, which we would expect to be reflected in audit fees. Earlier studies on the impact of external factors on fees, mostly focused on specific events and concentrate less on the development over a longer observation period. The purpose of this study is to complement the literature by observing the audit fees of Swiss companies and to assess the impact of macroeconomic influences.