We investigate the coinciding effects of the implementation of Auditing Standard No. 5 (AS5), the change in the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s (PCAOB) inspection regime, and the Great Recession on the audit fees and audit quality of accelerated filers. AS5 took effect in November 2007 and promulgated a top-down, risk-based audit approach to SOX 404(b) audits of accelerated filers. Concurrently, the PCAOB adopted a stricter approach to its inspections of audit firms, which encouraged them to improve audit quality and reduce audit fees. Moreover, the Great Recession pressured audit firms to reduce fees. We find that, following the three events, audit fees decreased and quality increased for accelerated filers. We also find that audit fees and audit quality increased for non-accelerated filers, although these filers were not directly affected by AS5.

我们调查了实施第5号审计准则（AS5），更改上市公司会计监督委员会（PCAOB）的检查制度以及经济大衰退对加速申报者的审计费用和审计质量的共同影响。AS5于2007年11月生效，并颁布了自上而下，基于风险的审计方法，用于SOX 404（b）加速申报人的审计。同时，PCAOB对审计公司的检查采用了更严格的方法，这鼓励他们提高审计质量并降低审计费用。此外，大萧条给审计公司施加了压力，要求其降低费用。我们发现，在这三起事件之后，加速报送者的审计费用降低了，质量提高了。我们还发现，非提速申报人的审计费用和审计质量有所提高，