Climate Change Risk Disclosures and Audit Fees: A Text Analytics Assessment

In this paper, we first conduct a longitudinal study of public companies’ climate change risk disclosures from 2005 to 2019. Results indicate that although the number of firms disclosing climate change risks increased over time, disclosure length and disclosure clarity did not improve consistently during the study period. It seems that firms temporarily adjusted their disclosure behaviors around 2010 to satisfy the SEC’s 2010 guidance regarding climate change disclosures. From that point forward, however, companies’ disclosure length and clarity declined. Climate change and disclosures in a client’s environment can elevate both inherent risk and audit risk. Accordingly, the second part of the study empirically examines whether climate change risk disclosures are embedded into the auditors’ risk model and associated audit prices. Results suggest that audit fees are significantly associated with climate change risk disclosure length and clarity, and lower climate change risk disclosure clarity is associated with higher audit fees.