THE INFLUENCE OF CORPORATE GOVERNANCE MECHANISMS IN THE AUDITING FEES OF BRAZILIAN COMPANIES LISTED IN B3

This study aims to examine the influence of corporate governance mechanisms on the audit fees of Brazilian publicly traded companies belonging to B3's special listing segments in the year 2016. Descriptive research was used, with documental data collection procedures and with quantitative analysis approach. The sample was composed of 173 Brazilian companies listed in B3. The relationship between the board (size, board independence and duality of director), audit committee (existence, committee size and member expertise), size of the company, return on assets, type of audit firm and the level of corporate governance with audit fees. The database was set up based on the access to the Econornatica (R) database and the collection of reference forms on company websites and analyzed through descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression. The results of the study demonstrate that, within the Brazilian capital market, the independence of the board of directors, the size of the company and the type of audit firm influence audit fees. No significant audit fee relationships were found with board size, director duality, presence and size of the audit committee, expertise, return on assets, and corporate governance level.