An Empirical Research On The Influencing Factors Of Internal Control Audit Fees

A series of significant financial scandals have brought serious disasters to the world. Therefore, the U.S. congress took the lead in enacting the Sarbanes-Oxley act, the law had two most striking points:one was to improve corporate governance structure, strengthen internal control; the other one was to improve the independence and supervision status of auditors. Sarbanes-Oxley act requires listed companies’managements to evaluate internal control and to issue evaluation reports every year, and demands auditors who publish annual reports to comment on internal control and issue internal control audit reports. Financial fraud cases appeared in our country, combined with more and more countries except the United States paid attention to internal control audit gradually, the Ministry of Finance and the Audit Commission, the CSRC, the CBRC and the CIRC promulgated the Corporate Internal Control Supporting Guidelines, in order to provide specific standards and guidance of the design and operation of internal control, the evaluation and audit of internal control.Internal control audit fees are bonds of certified public accountants and corporate, they embody the power balance between the two. From the perspective of certified public accountants, the level of internal control audit fees can reflect the independence of certified public accountants, the rationality of audit processes, the observance of occupation moral; from the perspective of corporate, the level of internal control audit fees can reflect the essential culture backgrounds, the correct value and duty performances from leaders to general staff, the construction of internal control systems of any modern corporate who wants to stand and develop in the market economy.According to basic theories, system backgrounds and literature review of internal control audit, this paper puts forward seven hypotheses, selects domestic listed companies who disclose internal control audit fees as samples, mainly uses empirical research method, to explore the influencing factors of internal control audit fees, and achieves the following conclusions:the firm size, the business complexity, the equity concentration positive relate to internal control audit fees significantly, these conclusions are obvious; board independence positive relates to internal control audit fees significantly, this suggests that independent directors to purchase high quality audit service desires beyond their roles in corporate governance; if board of directors perform the self-assessment function positive relates to internal control audit fees significantly, in contrast to the intuitive analysis conclusion, the result of empirical study proves that companies who disclose internal control evaluation reports, the high costs of internal control audits, the opposite is low, this suggests that the board of directors’disclosures of internal control evaluation reports exist the tendency of formalism; certified public accountants professionalization negative relates to internal control audit fees significantly, this suggests that the efficiency brought by certified public accountants beyond the high quality of high return; whether the integration of audits negative relates to internal control audit fees significantly, the empirical conclusion is consistent to the intuitive analysis conclusion, integrating statement audits and internal control audits, the low costs of internal control audits, the opposite is high.The aim and meaning of the research on internal control audit fees are to provide suggestions to improve internal control systems:first, the control environment is the basis for the effective implementation of internal control, the corporate need to set the tone of internal control, set up the awareness of internal control from the management to the staff; second, perfect corporate governance structure is the most fundamental guarantee for the effective design and operation of internal control; finally, true and accurate information disclosure is an important power to promote the improvement of internal control systems.