An Analysis of the Relationship between Audit Fees and Non-audit Fees

Abstract

A schism exists among accounting researchers with regards to the argument of whether auditors should be allowed to provide non-audit services to their audit clients. Pressure imposed by practicing accountants in Saudi Arabia to allow auditors in the Kingdom to provide their clients, including audit clients, such services has increased. This despite the fact that professional standards do not allow providing audit and non-audit services to the same client, and in spite of the regulatory provisions prohibition to audit clients. Therefore, analyzing the relationship between audit fees and services fees enables regulatory bodies in Saudi Arabia to decide whether to allow auditors to provide their audit clients with non-audit services. A five-year data set of audit fees and non-audit fees for audit firms certified in the Kingdom are made available to the researcher. A positive correlation exists between the two types of fees. The Fixed Effects Model suggests that non-audit fees is an independent variable explaining variance in the audit fees - the dependent variable. Because at the current time, providing tax and Zakat services to audit clients are permissible in Saudi Arabia, this study concludes that such services need to be added to the prohibited services that auditors are not supposed to provide to their audit clients.