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Kinds of Fees Terms modified by Fees Selected AbstractsPerceived parental rearing in subjects with obsessive,compulsive disorder and their siblingsACTA PSYCHIATRICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 4 2010L. Lennertz Lennertz L, Grabe HJ, Ruhrmann S, Rampacher F, Vogeley A, Schulze-Rauschenbach S, Ettelt S, Meyer K, Kraft S, Reck C, Pukrop R, John U, Freyberger HJ, Klosterkötter J, Maier W, Falkai P, Wagner M. Perceived parental rearing in subjects with obsessive,compulsive disorder and their siblings. Objective:, Perceived parenting in patients suffering from obsessive,compulsive disorder (OCD) is examined. We attempted to overcome some methodological limitations of prior studies by taking age of onset, parental OCD and comorbid depression into consideration. In addition, we included data from unaffected siblings to corroborate information on parental rearing. Method:, One hundred and twenty-two cases with OCD and 41 of their siblings as well as 59 healthy controls and 45 of their siblings completed the German short-version of the EMBU (FEE). Results:, Obsessive,compulsive disorder cases reported less parental warmth and more parental rejection and control. Further analyses indicated that parenting is also associated with OCD in cases with late onset and cases without parents affected by OCD. OCD cases with comorbid depression described their parents particularly negatively. Data from siblings indicated good validity of perceived parenting in OCD. Conclusion:, This study provides further evidence for dysfunctional child rearing being relevant to the development of OCD and depression. [source] Auditor Independence: A Comparative Descriptive Study of the UK, France and ItalyINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AUDITING, Issue 2 2002Joanna E. Stevenson The independence of the external auditor has long been a subject of great debate, particularly by UK and US interested parties. With the growth and globalisation of the large multi-disciplinary firms, it has again been pushed to the fore: new ethical guidance issued by international bodies such as La Fédération des Experts- Comptables Européens (FEE) and The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and the activities of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Independence Standards Board in the US have encouraged a wider consideration of the issue. In Europe, the European Commission has issued a Consultative Paper containing fundamental principles for adoption into Member States' own regulation on statutory auditor independence. Increasing pressure for the removal of obstacles to a single European audit market have resulted in safeguards of auditor independence in some countries being described as undesirable barriers. This paper considers the issue of statutory auditor independence across three EU Member States: the UK, France and Italy, by comparing the ethical guides and the legal and professional regulations in place, highlighting and discussing areas of divergence, and contrasting them with the EC's Consultative Paper. It takes into account factors such as culture and the historical development of auditing in order to explore the differences found. The paper demonstrates that positions taken in France and Italy on the issue of auditor independence differ markedly from that taken by the UK profession. Of the three countries reviewed, the UK viewpoint has most obviously influenced the drafting of the EC Paper. The implications of these variances for EU harmonisation are discussed, and the paper concludes that there is a clear need for empirical study of this important issue in Europe to better understand the reasons for differing perceptions and attitudes, and the repercussions of these differences on the process of European audit harmonisation. [source] Presence of a tracheotomy tube and aspiration status in early, postsurgical head and neck cancer patientsHEAD & NECK: JOURNAL FOR THE SCIENCES & SPECIALTIES OF THE HEAD AND NECK, Issue 9 2005Steven B. Leder PhD Abstract Background. We sought to investigate the effects, if any, that the presence of a tracheotomy tube has on aspiration status in early, postsurgical head and neck cancer patients. Methods. Twenty-two consecutive adult, postoperative head and neck cancer patients were prospectively evaluated with fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) under three conditions: (1) tracheotomy tube present, (2) tracheotomy tube removed and tracheostoma covered with gauze sponge; and (3) tracheotomy tube removed and tracheostoma left open and uncovered. For each condition, the endoscope was first inserted transnasally to determine aspiration status during FEES and then inserted through the tracheostoma to corroborate aspiration status by examining the distal trachea inferiorly to the carina. Three experienced examiners determined aspiration status under each condition and endoscope placement. Results. There was 100% agreement on aspiration status between FEES results and endoscopic examination through the tracheostoma. Specifically, 13 of 22 patients (59%) swallowed successfully and nine of 22 (41%) aspirated. There was also 100% agreement on aspiration status for tracheotomy tube present, decannulation and tracheostoma covered by gauze sponge, and decannulation and tracheostoma left open and uncovered. Conclusions. Neither presence of a tracheotomy tube nor decannulation affected aspiration status in early, postsurgical head and neck cancer patients. The clinical impressions that a tracheotomy or tracheotomy tube increases aspiration risk or that decannulation results in improved swallowing function are not supported. Rather, need for a tracheotomy indicates comorbidities (eg, respiratory failure, trauma, stroke, advanced age, reduced functional reserve, and medications used to treat the critically ill) that by themselves predispose patients for dysphagia and aspiration. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck27: XXX,XXX, 2005 [source] Validation of a swallowing disturbance questionnaire for detecting dysphagia in patients with Parkinson's diseaseMOVEMENT DISORDERS, Issue 13 2007Yael Manor MA Abstract Underreporting of swallowing disturbances by Parkinson's disease (PD) patients may lead to delay in diagnosis and treatment, alerting the physician to an existing dysphagia only after the first episode of aspiration pneumonia. We developed and validated a swallowing disturbance questionnaire (SDQ) for PD patients and compared its findings to an objective assessment. Fifty-seven PD patients (mean age 69 ± 10 years) participated in this study. Each patient was queried about experiencing swallowing disturbances and asked to complete a self-reported 15-item "yes/no" questionnaire on swallowing disturbances (24 replied "no"). All study patients underwent a physical/clinical swallowing evaluation by a speech pathologist and an otolaryngologist. The 33 patients who complained of swallowing disturbances also underwent fiberoptic endoscopyic evaluation of swallowing (FEES). According to the ROC test, the "optimal" score (where the sensitivity and specificity curves cross) is 11 (sensitivity 80.5%, specificity 81.3%). Using the SDQ questionnaire substantially reduced Type I errors (specifically, an existing swallowing problem missed by the selected cutoff point). On the basis of the SDQ assessment alone, 12 of the 24 (50%) noncomplaining patients would have been referred to further evaluation that they otherwise would not have undergone. The SDQ emerged as a validated tool to detect early dysphagia in PD patients. © 2007 Movement Disorder Society [source] Immediate Percutaneous Medialization for Acute Vocal Fold Immobility With Aspiration,THE LARYNGOSCOPE, Issue 8 2001Timothy D. Anderson MD Abstract Objectives To determine the efficacy of immediate bedside or office percutaneous, trans-thyroidal injections of a bioabsorbable gelatin material (Gelfoam, Upjohn Co., Kalamazoo, MI) to decrease the risk of aspiration resulting from acute vocal fold immobility. Study Design Retrospective review of patients presenting with acute vocal fold immobility and aspiration or high aspiration risk at an urban, tertiary care university hospital. Methods All patients were evaluated by videostroboscopy, functional endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES), and objective voice measures. Patients with acute vocal fold immobility and evidence of aspiration on history or FEES were given the option of medialization by Gelfoam injection. Injections were performed percutaneously in the office or at the bedside under laryngoscopic guidance. FEES was repeated after injection to verify improvement in aspiration. Results Eleven patients underwent Gelfoam injection for treatment of aspiration and vocal fold immobility. All were significantly improved on post-injection FEES study. All patients were returned to an oral diet, avoiding the need for long-term enteral access. Conclusion Percutaneous Gelfoam injections is a rapid, temporary solution to the common problem of aspiration resulting from acute vocal fold immobility. [source] Pauline Christology: an Exegetical-Theological Study , By Gordon D. FeeRELIGIOUS STUDIES REVIEW, Issue 3 2008Thomas H. Olbricht No abstract is available for this article. [source] Discretionary Accounting Accruals, Managers' Incentives, and Audit Fees,CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNTING RESEARCH, Issue 3 2003Ferdinand A. Gul Abstract This paper examines the linkages between discretionary accruals (DAs), managerial share ownership, management compensation, and audit fees. It draws on the theory that managers of firms with high management ownership are likely to use DAs to communicate value-relevant information, while managers of firms with high accounting-based compensation are likely to use DAs opportunistically to manage earnings to improve their compensation. OLS regression results of 648 Australian firms show that (1) there is a positive association between DAs and audit fees; (2) managerial ownership negatively affects the positive relationship between DAs and audit fees; and (3) this negative impact is further found to be weaker for firms with high accounting-based management compensation. [source] Board Characteristics and Audit Fees,CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNTING RESEARCH, Issue 3 2002Joseph V. Carcello Abstract This paper examines the relations between three board characteristics (independence, diligence, and expertise) and Big 6 audit fees for Fortune 1000 companies. To protect its reputation capital, avoid legal liability, and promote shareholder interests, a more independent, diligent, and expert board may demand differentially higher audit quality (greater assurance, which requires more audit work) than the Big 6 audit firms normally provide. The audit fee increases as the auditor's additional costs are passed on to the client, such that we expect positive relations between audit fees and the board characteristics examined. We find significant positive relations between audit fees and board independence, diligence, and expertise. The results persist when similar measures of audit committee "quality" are included in the model. The results add to the growing body of literature documenting relations between corporate governance mechanisms and various facets of the financial reporting and audit processes, as well as to our understanding of the determinants of audit fees. [source] User Fees for Health Services: Guidelines for Protecting the Poor, by William Newbrander, David Collins and Lucy Gilson.HEALTH ECONOMICS, Issue 2 20022001., Boston, Management Sciences for Health No abstract is available for this article. [source] The Impact of Increased Fees on Participation in Higher Education in EnglandHIGHER EDUCATION QUARTERLY, Issue 2 2005Hazel Pennell This article explores some recent research evidence on the possible impact of the higher education reforms in England on participation by students from lower socio-economic backgrounds. The evidence is examined in terms of costs, debt and term-time working. Financial issues have been shown to constrain choice of institution and place of study for lower-income students, and financial problems are commonly cited as reasons for dropping out of higher education. The greatest difference in debt levels has been found to be linked to family background, with students who were poor before they entered university leaving university with the largest debts. Overdrafts and credit card debt levels have been shown to be lower for students in receipt of grants than for those who are not. Research has shown that school leavers who are least debt-averse are more likely to go to university than those who are anti-debt; the latter include those from the lowest socio-economic groups and certain black and minority ethnic groups. Students who work in term-time may achieve less academically: those who work in term-time are more often those from lower socio-economic groups or minority ethnic groups. Overall, the evidence indicates that financial payments and grants are likely to be the most promising way forward to increase participation in higher education among those from lower socio-economic backgrounds. [source] The Impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act on the Audit Fees of Australian Listed FirmsINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AUDITING, Issue 2 2009Fazlina Mohd Salman The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (2002) (SOX) was enacted to improve the corporate governance practices of US firms. Significantly, foreign registrants traded on US stock exchanges are also required to comply with SOX. This study assesses the impact of the SOX legislation on non-US firms by examining audit fees for Australian firms with foreign registrant status in the US from 2001 to 2005, compared with audit fees for other Australian firms. The findings indicate that Australian companies issuing American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) incurred substantial increases in audit fees and Australian firms subject to the full provisions of SOX incurred larger increases in audit fees. These findings provide a broader understanding of the compliance costs for non-US firms subject to SOX and therefore inform both policy-makers and firms. [source] Evidence on the Impact of Internal Control and Corporate Governance on Audit FeesINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AUDITING, Issue 1 2008David Hay Previous studies generally suggest that internal control and external auditing can substitute for each other, so that better internal control will be associated with lower audit fees. However, their empirical results do not support this view. In contrast, previous studies of the interaction between corporate governance and external audit services often assume that they are complementary, and that improved governance is associated with higher audit fees, although the evidence about this issue is also mixed. We examine whether the ,substitution' or ,complementary controls' views apply. We find that measures of internal auditing, corporate governance, and concentration of ownership are all positively related to audit fees, consistent with the explanation that controls are complementary. The study makes a contribution by assisting regulators in understanding the effects of regulation of corporate governance, and by showing auditors and auditing standard setters that the view that internal controls can substitute for external auditing may not be helpful. We also find that these relationships hold only in a relatively less-regulated environment. [source] The Relationship between Categories of Non-Audit Services and Audit Fees: Evidence from UK CompaniesINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AUDITING, Issue 1 2002M. Ezzamel Using survey data we examine the relationship between various categories of non-audit services and audit fees. Compared to previous research, we use a more refined classification of non-audit services both for incumbent and non-incumbent auditors, and control for the existence of an internal audit function and basis of disclosure. Our results suggest that the relationship between levels of audit fees and non-audit services varies by category of non-audit service. These results support explanations of the positive association between fees paid for non-audit services and audit fees in terms either of client specific differences, e.g. organisational complexity, or of events giving rise to the purchase of more audit and non-audit services rather than in terms of direct economic linkages between the cost functions for audit and non-audit services. We speculate that the presence of another auditing firm at the client in a consulting capacity may exert competitive pressure on the fee for external audit. [source] Auditors' Perceived Business Risk and Audit Fees: Analysis and EvidenceJOURNAL OF ACCOUNTING RESEARCH, Issue 1 2001Timothy B. Bell This study analyzes the relation between auditors' perceived business risk and audit fees to determine whether audit firms or their clients bear the expected legal costs of business risk. We predict that hourly audit fees and the number of audit hours are increasing in business risk. Using confidential survey data collected by a large international accounting firm for 422 audits, we find that high business risk increases the number of audit hours, but not the fee per hour. This implies that firms perceive firm-level differences in business risk and obtain compensation through billing additional hours, not by raising the hourly charge. [source] Auditor's Engagement Risk and Audit Fees: The Role of Audit Firm AlumniJOURNAL OF BUSINESS FINANCE & ACCOUNTING, Issue 9-10 2007Ilias G. Basioudis Abstract:, This study explores the effect of the association of audit firm alumni with their alma mater on audit prices. The tests indicate that there is a moderate reduction of up to 21% in the level of audit fee when alumni (i.e., former employees) of the incumbent audit firm sit on the client board of directors which is consistent with the engagement risk theory. This suggests that there is an ,alumni effect' in the market for audit services. The findings hold only in the large company segment of the market. The results are robust to different model specifications and alternative samples. The sample comprises all executive and non-executive directors who run the UK quoted companies and are simultaneously ICAEW qualified chartered accountants. The study's implications for the accounting profession and the regulators are also discussed. [source] Why do Underwriters Charge Low Underwriting Fees for Initial Public Offerings in Taiwan?JOURNAL OF BUSINESS FINANCE & ACCOUNTING, Issue 7-8 2006Hsuan-Chi Chen Abstract:, In Taiwan, underwriting fees for initial public offerings (IPOs) are extremely low compared to fees in other countries. From 1989 to 1999, the average underwriting fee for IPOs in Taiwan is 0.99%,far below the regulatory limit. Although the Taiwanese underwriting industry is highly concentrated, underwriting fees do not cluster at any particular level. We examine the underwriting fee and income structure in Taiwan and find support for an incentive hypothesis. Underwriters have an incentive to charge lower underwriting fees when market demand for IPO shares increases and capital gains account for a larger portion of their total income. [source] Auditor,Provided Consultancy Services and their Associations with Audit Fees and Audit OpinionsJOURNAL OF BUSINESS FINANCE & ACCOUNTING, Issue 5-6 2002Michael Firth This study examines the relationships between non,audit services fees (consultancy fees) paid to auditors and (1) audit fees, and (2) the occurrence of qualified audit opinions. The positive association between consultancy fees and audit fees is shown to be due to certain company specific events that generate a demand for consultancy services as well as requiring additional audit effort. Identified company specific events are mergers and acquisitions, new share issues, new accounting and information systems, new CEOs, and corporate restructurings. When these events are absent, there is no statistically significant relationship between audit fees and consultancy fees after controlling for company size. Companies that have relatively high consultancy fees are more likely to receive a clean audit opinion. This may be due to the non,audit work clearing up problem areas at the client company or it may be due to high consultancy fees impairing auditor independence. With the available data it is not possible to distinguish between these two reasons. [source] Attorney Fees in Class Action Settlements: An Empirical StudyJOURNAL OF EMPIRICAL LEGAL STUDIES, Issue 1 2004Theodore Eisenberg Study of two comprehensive class action case data sets covering 1993,2002 shows that the amount of client recovery is overwhelmingly the most important determinant of the attorney fee award. Even in cases in which the courts engage in the lodestar calculation (the product of reasonable hours and a reasonable hourly rate), the client's recovery generally explains the pattern of awards better than the lodestar. Thus, the time and expense of a lodestar calculation may be wasteful. We also find no robust evidence that either recoveries for plaintiffs or fees of their attorneys increased over time. The mean fee award in common fund cases is well below the widely quoted one-third figure, constituting 21.9 percent of the recovery across all cases for a comprehensive data set of published cases. A scaling effect exists: fees constitute a lower percent of the client's recovery as the client's recovery increases. Fees are also correlated with risk: the presence of high risk is associated with a higher fee, while low-risk cases generate lower fees. Fees as a percent of class recovery were found to be higher in federal than state court. The presence of "soft" relief (such as injunctive relief or coupons) has no material effect on the fee, regardless of whether the soft relief was included in the quantified benefit for the class used as the basis for computing the attorney fee. The study also addresses costs and expenses. Like fees, these display significant scale effects. The article proposes a simple methodology by which courts can evaluate the reasonableness of fee requests. [source] Fees a problem for students the world overAUSTRALIAN VETERINARY JOURNAL, Issue 12 2002Article first published online: 10 MAR 200 No abstract is available for this article. [source] Outsourcing and Audit Risk for Internal Audit Services,CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNTING RESEARCH, Issue 3 2000DENNIS H. CAPLAN Abstract Some companies now outsource their internal audit function to public accountants. Internal auditors and accounting firms disagree about the merits of outsourcing. Each type of auditor claims to provide more cost-effective services and appears to claim superior expertise. This paper uses agency theory to examine outsourcing and reconciles the outsourcing debate without resorting to differential auditor expertise. Under the assumptions that public accountants' "deep pockets" provide incentives to outsource and their higher opportunity cost provides a disincentive, we characterize the optimal employment contract with each auditor. We find that public accountants provide higher levels of testing, but possibly for a higher expected fee. This result supports both the internal auditor's claim as the lower cost provider, and the public accountant's claim of higher quality. We also find that incentives to outsource generally increase in various measures of risk, including the risk that a control weakness exists and the size of the loss that can result from an undetected control weakness. [source] Sarbanes Oxley Section 404 Costs of Compliance: a case studyCORPORATE GOVERNANCE, Issue 2 2007Lineke Sneller In 2002 US Congress approved the Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX). Section 404 requires companies to assess their internal controls and acquire an attestation of this assessment from their external auditor. In this paper, we investigate the costs of compliance of this assessment and attestation. The European division of a US listed company is used as a case study. The divisional project approach is described, and costs of compliance for this division are presented in two categories: assessment costs, mainly hours spent by internal staff; and attestation costs, mainly audit fees. The case study shows that the internal hours spent on assessment are approximately 12 times higher than the initial estimate made by the SEC in 2002, and that the realised other expenses are approximately 1.4 times higher than this estimate. Furthermore, a year on year increase of 50 per cent of the company's audit fee in the first year of Section 404 compliance is found. Companies can reduce the costs of compliance by implementing programmed controls, using auditors from countries with lower rates, remediating material weaknesses only, focusing on the internal control system rather than on individual controls, and by encouraging the auditor to rely on the company's assessment. [source] Decision Making in a Standby Service System,DECISION SCIENCES, Issue 3 2000H. V. Ravinder A standby service option allows a firm to lower its risk of not having sufficient capacity to satisfy demand without investing in additional capacity. Standby service options currently exist in the natural gas, electric, and water utility industries. Firms seeking standby service are typically large industrial or institutional organizations that, due to unexpectedly high demand or interruptions in their own supply system, look to a public utility to supplement their requirements. Typically, the firm pays the utility a reservation fee based on a nominated volume and a consumption charge based on the volume actually taken. In this paper, a single-period model is developed and optimized with respect to the amount of standby capacity a firm should reserve. Expressions for the mean and variance of the supplier's aggregate standby demand distribution are developed. A procedure for computing the level of capacity needed to safely meet its standby obligations is presented. Numerical results suggest that the standby supplier can safely meet its standby demand with a capacity that is generally between 20 to 50% of the aggregate nominated volume. [source] STRATEGIC DECISIONS ON LAWYERS' COMPENSATION IN CIVIL DISPUTESECONOMIC INQUIRY, Issue 4 2007KYUNG HWAN BAIK We study a model of civil dispute with delegation in which a plaintiff's lawyer works on a contingent-fee basis but a defendant's lawyer on an hourly fee basis. We first derive the condition under which delegation to the lawyers brings both litigants more payoffs compared with the case of no delegation. We then show that under this profitable delegation condition, the contingent-fee fraction for the plaintiff's lawyer is about one-third. Next, allowing the plaintiff to choose between the two fees, we show that under the profitable delegation condition, the plaintiff chooses the contingent fee, given that the defendant adopts the hourly fee. (JEL K41, K13, D74, D72) [source] An Empirical Investigation of Price Competition and Industry Specialisation in NHS Audit ServicesFINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY & MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2005Ilias G. Basioudis The NHS audit market is regulated by the Audit Commission (AC) and has unique features. We develop a model for audit fees that includes rigorous analysis of the type of auditor. Poor financial standing does not give rise to higher audit fees. Despite regulation the study supports the existence of a Big Five price premium on the audit fee, but only one firm has a premium. We found no premium due to industry specialisation. The removal of performance audit from AC regulation will require improved audit fee reporting and control. [source] Fishing rights auctions in the fisheries of Lake Peipsi-Pihkva, EstoniaFISHERIES MANAGEMENT & ECOLOGY, Issue 5 2005M. VETEMAA Abstract, To deal with excessive fishing capacity, a part of the fishing rights, both volume quotas and gear use rights, in all Estonian fisheries was allocated each year during 2001,2003 through auctions while the remainder was allocated on the basis of the recent fishing rights use history. All fishing rights depreciated in a geometric manner by 10% annually. This was carried out for the first time in 2001, but the system was abandoned for political reasons in 2003. In this paper, the development of the small-scale Estonian inland fisheries, as well as the results of the auctions of fishing rights in those fisheries, are discussed. The auctions led to some increase in the number of owners of fishing rights. In most cases, however, new enterprises were formed on the basis of fishers active up to 2001 as employees of other enterprises. The auctions did not lead to a concentration of ownership of fishing rights in large enterprises. On the contrary, the share of smaller owners increased. According to the Fishing Act, in Estonia there is a fishing fee for all professional fishing gears. The official fishing fee was always used as the starting price in bidding, and this increased greatly during the bidding. Finally, the auction system served as a real incentive for fishers to cooperate more than they did during the previous management system based only on earlier rights. [source] Two-Sided Search, Marriages, and MatchmakersINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC REVIEW, Issue 1 2000Francis Bloch This article analyzes the provision of matching services in a model of two-sided search. Agents belong to two heterogeneous populations and are distributed on [0, 1]. Their utility is equal to the index of their mate. In a search equilibrium agents form subintervals and are only matched to agents inside their class. Marriage brokers match agents according to a centralized procedure. If the matchmaker charges a uniform participation fee, only agents of higher quality participate in the centralized procedure. If the matchmaker charges a commission on the matching surplus, only agents of lower quality go to the intermediary. [source] Audit Quality, Corporate Governance, and Earnings Management: A Meta-AnalysisINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AUDITING, Issue 1 2010Jerry W. Lin Earnings management is of great concern to corporate stakeholders. While numerous studies have investigated the effects of various corporate governance and audit quality variables on earnings management, empirical evidence is rather inconsistent. This meta-analysis identifies 12 significant relationships by integrating results from 48 prior studies. For corporate governance, the independence of the board of directors and its expertise have a negative relationship with earnings management. Similar negative relationships exist between earnings management and the audit committee's independence, its size, expertise, and the number of meetings. The audit committee's share ownership has a positive effect on earnings management. For audit quality, auditor tenure, auditor size, and specialization have a negative relationship with earnings management. Auditor independence, as measured by fee ratio and total fee, is also a deterrent to earnings management. [source] Propensity to Switch Auditors and Strictness of Legal Liability Environment: The Role of Audit MispricingINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AUDITING, Issue 3 2007Juha-Pekka Kallunki This article investigates whether firms paying relatively high audit fees are more likely to switch auditors. Moreover, we investigate whether the legal liability environment affects the propensity to switch auditors owing to audit fee under- and/or over-pricing. Our empirical results from analysing the Compustat Global Vantage data from ten countries show that the over-pricing of auditing services increases the likelihood of auditor switches. We also find that a greater degree of under-pricing of auditing services in the initial audit engagement year is required to cause an auditor switch in countries with a stringent legal environment as opposed to countries with a lax legal environment. All the results remain unchanged after controlling for numerous firm and country differences. [source] The Relationship between Categories of Non-Audit Services and Audit Fees: Evidence from UK CompaniesINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AUDITING, Issue 1 2002M. Ezzamel Using survey data we examine the relationship between various categories of non-audit services and audit fees. Compared to previous research, we use a more refined classification of non-audit services both for incumbent and non-incumbent auditors, and control for the existence of an internal audit function and basis of disclosure. Our results suggest that the relationship between levels of audit fees and non-audit services varies by category of non-audit service. These results support explanations of the positive association between fees paid for non-audit services and audit fees in terms either of client specific differences, e.g. organisational complexity, or of events giving rise to the purchase of more audit and non-audit services rather than in terms of direct economic linkages between the cost functions for audit and non-audit services. We speculate that the presence of another auditing firm at the client in a consulting capacity may exert competitive pressure on the fee for external audit. [source] Workers' Remittances to India: An Examination of Transfer Cost and EfficiencyINTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, Issue 5 2010Bhupal Singh Regarding the time efficiency of remittance transfer channels to India, the evidence suggests that traditional banking instruments are relatively inefficient as compared to the new information technology-enabled products. Transfer arrangement of the Indian banks with overseas exchange houses has reduced the settlement cycle and the cost. Both the banks and money transfer operators (MTOs) are able to keep the transaction cycle low through the use of information technology-enabled formats. Given that the average cost curve of the banks is located to the right of the average cost curve of the MTOs, greater potential exists for the improvement in overall efficiency of the two entities, particularly through the sharing of messaging and the access and disbursement networks to reduce the overhead cost. The estimates of error correction model reveal that the transaction fee and payment infrastructure are significant determinants of remittance flows, underscoring the scope of policy measures in influencing remittance inflows. The estimates indicate that over the medium to long-term horizon, transaction cost emerges as the most dominant variable explaining the variation in remittances. The payments infrastructure also explains about 10 per cent variation in remittances over the medium-term. The impulse response analysis further reveals that the favourable shocks to transaction fees and the payments infrastructure cause steady improvement in remittance inflows over the medium-term horizon, thus underlining the importance of cost and efficiency in affecting the workers' remittances. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||