Corporative governance and ownership structure factors and their influence on audit fees

Abstract

The objective of this article was to investigate the influence of corporate governance and ownership structure on independent audit fees in companies listed in B3. The data collection comprised the period from 2012 to 2014, and 214 firms. The results allow to infer that there is a relationship between corporate governance factors and property structure with independent audit fees. We conclude that corporate governance and ownership structure influence the fees of independent auditors, where companies that have better governance practices generate more controls to be audited, increasing costs with independent auditing. On the other hand, companies with a high degree of concentration of ownership, characterized by greater ease of agency conflicts, tend to have fewer controls, consequently with less data to be audited, and it is easier for the majority shareholder to prevail its own Thereby reducing costs with independent auditing.

Keywords

• honorários de auditoria
• estrutura de propriedade
• governança corporativa