The Relationship between Firm Market Power and Audit Fee Decisions

Abstract

This study analyzed the relationship between firm market power and audit fee decision. Specifically, the impact of the market power measured by market share on audit fee was determined, and also the impact of the company’s governance structure on the relationship between market power and audit fee was analyzed. This paper finds that firm market power is positively related to audit fee. This result is pronounced for firms with good corporate governance. Specifically, results are summarized as follows. First, there is a positive relationship between market power and audit fee. Second, the largest shareholder mitigates the positive relationship between market power and audit fee. Third, foreign investors strengthen the positive relationship between market power and audit fee. The contributions of the study are as follows. First, this study systematically examined the relationship between market power and audit fee that were rarely highlighted in the preceding studies. Second, this study provides a systematic and expanded view of the impact of corporate governance on audit quality. Third, this study offers the stakeholders in the capital market with insights from implications that express the necessity of utilizing the company’s competitive status and information in order to evaluate the reliability of the company’s financial statements.