Audit fees and financial crisis: Evidence from the spanish manufacturing industries

Resumen

The international financial crisis plunged the Spanish economy in a downturn spiral from 2008 to 2010, with seven consecutives recession periods. During this period, Spanish companies faced growth and liquidity problems and credit constrains, which increased their business risk. The international literature emphasizes that there is a relationship between business risk and audit fees. This study considers if there is a relationship between time (the three years period when Spanish recession was higher and the following three-year period) and audit fees.  We analyzed the financial statements and annual audit fees, obtained from SABI database, from 2008 to 2013, charged by auditors to 119 manufacturing companies. The results obtained, despite positive and negative correlations between audit fees and other variables of our model, are not totally conclusive neither consistent. They point out to a tenuous relationship between time and audit fees, partially corroborating the American reality, but not the studies made in Australia, China, Sweden and South Korea.