Your participation not only helps FEI members benchmark company audit fees and experiences, it also provides valuable insights for your fellow FEI members, regulators and the press. Last year we learned that for average filers, audit fees increased by 4 percent, though average fees by size of company ranged from flat to an increase of 10 percent.
The primary reason for the increase was corporate acquisitions. Another reason for fee increases was the growing use by audit firms of audit testing, driven perhaps directly or indirectly by an increased number of inspections by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB).
Another key finding was marked by the 10th anniversary of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. In response to the question “has your company experienced an increase or a decrease in its internal costs of compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 within the past three years?,” three fourths of the non-accelerated filers responded “decrease” (the only clear majority response from the three groups).
However, 27 percent of large accelerated filers said their compliance costs had increased, and when asked why, 63 percent indicated “other”. Seven of the 11 participants indicated the increase was PCAOB-related.
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FERF is also looking for a sponsor for this popular report. If you have any interest, please feel free to reach out to Bill Sinnett, Senior Director of Research, at [email protected] or 973-765-1004.