Audit Prices, Credit Ratings : S&P-100

This study tests the hypothesis that the companies which have lower credit ratings are charged higher audit fees or the companies which have higher credit ratings pay lower audit fees. The hypothesis is based on the assumption that these price differentials should be observed given Credit ratings and financial ratios in a stable audit market. For this study, data from S&P-100 is used. The companies which composes S&P-100 index have shown that the difference between audit fees is derived from credit ratings