A Comparative Study of Pricing of Audit Services in Emerging Economies

This paper contributes to the under-researched issue of how auditors charge for their services by empirically examining audit fee determinants in three emerging economies within South Asia. Using data from 118 Bangladeshi firms, 219 Indian firms and 229 Pakistani firms for the year 1998, the results show that size of the reporting entity, multinational affiliation and size of the audit firms are the most important determinants across the three countries. No significant relations were found between audit fees and the firm's financial condition and auditee complexity. The results of this study provide useful insights into the role of contracting cost variables and auditors' billing practices in comparative and emerging economies in general, and South Asia in particular.