Audit Premium, Brand Name Reputation, and Industrial Specialist: An Empirical Study of Private Universities and Colleges in Taiwan

Abstract

The main obstacle of audit fee research lies in fees collection. In the past, audit fees were usually collected by questionnaire survey method. This study however features itself by collecting first-hand audit fees data from the MOE directly via legislators and from the announcement after CPA association public bidding. This study examines not only types of tendering procedures but also audit revenue premiums about private universities and colleges in Taiwan in both brand name reputation and industry specialist perspectives. The results give support to our hypotheses. This study contributes some findings and significance. Firstly, the most important significance in the study, different from prior researches in which audit fees are paid by the client, we collect the unique data that audit fees are paid by the MOE. We can examine whether the effects of independent variables on audit fees are different from prior studies. Secondly, prior studies give evidence to support the agency theory, while we didn’t find any research focused on real audit fees of NPOs applied the agency theory in Taiwan. Applying real audit fees, our results show that the agency theory is tenable for NPOs, especially the private universities and colleges. Thirdly, we propose some determinants of audit fees about the private universities and colleges. Finally, audit revenue premiums exist not only in profit organizations but also in NPOs.