The PCAOB's audit firm inspections drive audit focus and costs. The PCAOB's 2010-initiated increased emphasis on internal control audit work intensified concern over internal control weaknesses (ICW). IT-related material weaknesses (ITMW) have emerged as particularly significant with PCAOB reports (2008, 2012) highlighting on-going deficiencies in IT controls auditing and the 2015 PCAOB brief noting an on-going focus on recurring audit deficiencies. We explore how ICW affect audit fees and how alternative types of ITMW lead to varying degrees of persistence in fee premiums. Using propensity score matched samples, we find fee premiums associated with ITMW linger longer than premiums for non-IT entity-level material weaknesses (ELMW) or firms reporting account-specific material weaknesses. Moreover, we find that audit fee premiums by type of ICW remediated is overall strongest for ITMW linked to data processing integrity. Our findings underscore the importance of distinguishing not only between non-IT ELMW and ITMW but also types of ITMW as identified in data quality research.

PCAOB的审计公司检查推动了审计重点和成本。PCAOB在2010年开始更加重视内部控制审计工作，这加剧了人们对内部控制弱点（ICW）的担忧。与IT相关的实质性弱点（ITMW）在PCAOB报告（2008年，2012年）中尤为突出，该报告强调了IT控制审计中的持续缺陷，并在2015年PCAOB简报中指出了对持续性审计缺陷的持续关注。我们将探讨ICW如何影响审计费用，以及ITMW的其他类型如何导致不同程度的费用溢价持续性。使用倾向得分匹配的样本，我们发现与ITMW相关的费用溢价比对非IT实体级别的实质性弱点（ELMW）或报告特定于帐户的重大缺陷的公司。此外，我们发现，对于与数据处理完整性相关的ITMW，按ICW补救类型划分的审计费溢价总体上最强。我们的发现强调了不仅要区分非IT ELMW和ITMW的重要性，而且还要区分数据质量研究中确定的ITMW的类型。