Fair Value and Audit Fees
44 Pages Posted: 3 Jun 2011 Last revised: 5 Sep 2013
Date Written: September 5, 2012
Abstract
This paper investigates the effect of fair value reporting and its attributes on audit fees. We use as our primary sample the European real estate industry around mandatory IFRS adoption (under which reporting of property fair values becomes compulsory), due to its unique operating and reporting characteristics. We document lower audit fees for firms reporting property assets at fair value relative to those employing depreciated cost ― a difference that appears driven (in part) by impairment tests that occur only under depreciated cost. We further find that audit fees are decreasing in firm’s exposure to fair value, and increasing both in the complexity of the fair value estimation and for recognition (versus only disclosure) of fair values. We corroborate our findings in two alternative settings: contrasting UK and US real estate firms; and using UK investment trusts. Overall, the results suggest that fair values can lead to lower monitoring costs; however, any reductions in audit fees will vary with salient characteristics of the fair value reporting, including the difficulty to measure and the treatment within the financial statements.
Keywords: fair value, audit fees, audit pricing, real estate industry, IFRS
JEL Classification: M41, M42
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?
Recommended Papers
-
International Accounting Standards and Accounting Quality
By Mary E. Barth, Wayne R. Landsman, ...
-
Mandatory IFRS Reporting Around the World: Early Evidence on the Economic Consequences
By Holger Daske, Luzi Hail, ...
-
International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS): Pros and Cons for Investors
By Ray Ball
-
Financial Statement Effects of Adopting International Accounting Standards: the Case of Germany
By Mingyi Hung and K.r. Subramanyam
-
Market Reaction to the Adoption of IFRS in Europe
By Chris Armstrong, Mary E. Barth, ...
-
Market Reaction to the Adoption of IFRS in Europe
By Chris Armstrong, Mary E. Barth, ...
-
By Vicentiu Covrig, Mark L. Defond, ...
-
Adopting a Label: Heterogeneity in the Economic Consequences Around IAS/IFRS Adoptions
By Holger Daske, Luzi Hail, ...