Related party transactions and audit fees in a dominant owner context

ABSTRACT By adopting an integrated theoretical approach, which combines supply and demand forces, the current work examines the effect of related party transactions (RPTs) on audit fees in a sample of non-financial Spanish listed firms during the period 2005–2017. Our results show a negative effect of the amount involved in RPTs and external audit fees. Thus, in a context where both investor protection and litigation risk are low and where ownership concentration is prevalent, audit fees are less likely to incorporate agency conflicts associated to RPTs and, in contrast, are mainly affected by auditee needs.