France's joint-audit requirement and audit fees: The influence of ownership and governance

Abstract

Besides the size of the external auditor, which is a major determinant, audit fees depend also on audit market characteristics, corporate governance and ownership. On the basis of a sample of 130 French listed companies during the 2004-2006 period, we present evidence of a "Big" auditor premium. The results highlight that the presence of a "Big" among auditors has a positive and significant effect of the level of audit fees. This impact is more important in the case of joint audit by two "Big" auditors. The choice of a "Major" auditor also increases the level of audit fees. Finally, we find that governance and ownership characteristics act in different ways on auditor's selection involving complementarity or substitution with external audit.