The Downward Trend of Audit Fees

Source: CPA Trendlines

The following blog post by Rick Telberg is reproduced in its entirety with permission.

Have audit fees hit bottom?

Not quite yet, according to a new analysis by CFO magazine.

But, CFO says “the trend has begun to slow.”

“Only three of the top-eight audit firms showed a drop in fees charged as a percentage of client revenue in 2009,” CFO says, compared with a dramatic drop from 2007 to 2008 for all but Crowe among the top eight firms.

Audit fees have been dropping since 2007.

In 2004, more than a third of auditor changes were the result of audit firms walking away from clients.

Last year, 82 percent of auditor changes resulted from companies firing their auditors. And among the Big Four, the number was 90 percent.

From CPA Trendlines, http://cpatrendlines.com, September 1, 2010.