This study examines whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance impacts financial audit fees of U.S. listed firms from 2000 to 2016. We use the CSR performance ratings from the KLD database to measure firms' CSR performance. Using the sum of a firm's CSR strengths and concerns as a measure of a firm's overall involvement in CSR‐related matters, we find that a greater score is associated with higher audit fees. Further, we disaggregate this measure into CSR concerns and CSR strengths and find that both measures are positively related to audit fees. In additional analyses, we find that firms involved in certain CSR initiatives (strengths) as well as controversies (concerns) pay higher audit fees due to increased audit complexity. Our findings suggest that firms' CSR performance is a source of audit complexity, in addition to other sources that have been documented in prior literature.

中文翻译：

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客户的企业社会责任绩效是审计复杂性的根源吗？

本研究调查了2000年至2016年间企业社会责任（CSR）绩效是否影响美国上市公司的财务审计费用。我们使用KLD数据库中的CSR绩效评级来衡量企业的CSR绩效。通过将公司的CSR优势和关注点的总和作为衡量公司在CSR相关事务中的整体参与程度的指标，我们发现得分越高，审计费用就越高。此外，我们将该措施分为企业社会责任关注点和企业社会责任优势，发现这两种措施都与审计费用呈正相关。在其他分析中，我们发现参与某些CSR计划（优势）和争议（担忧）的公司会因审计复杂性的增加而支付更高的审计费用。我们的发现表明，企业的CSR绩效是审计复杂性的根源，