Audit research documents audit fee discounts associated with an auditor change, and that audit fees revert to average levels within a few years. This paper provides exploratory insights into the perceptions of board members vis-à-vis pricing practices used by auditors to achieve audit fee increases. In semi-structured interviews with 12 respondents (10 board members and two audit managers), we elicit perceptions on initial audit fee discounts, auditor pricing practices and client reactions to these pricing practices. The key findings indicate that auditors combine two pricing practices to achieve audit fee increases. First, they negotiate higher fees prior to the annual audit cycle, citing changes in client structure/size and the institutional environment. Second, they charge higher than negotiated fees after completing the audit (‘extra-billing’), citing justifications such as chargeable hour overruns and findings warranting additional work. Potentially, such auditor pricing practices have negative implications for audit quality and damage the auditor–client relationship.

中文翻译：

---

对审计费用增加的探索性见解：对董事会成员对审计师定价实践的看法的实地研究

审计研究记录了与审计师变更相关的审计费用折扣，并且审计费用在几年内恢复到平均水平。本文提供了关于董事会成员对审计师为实现审计费用增加而使用的定价做法​​的看法的探索性见解。在对 12 名受访者（10 名董事会成员和两名审计经理）的半结构化访谈中，我们了解了对初始审计费用折扣、审计定价做法以及客户对这些定价做法的反应的看法。主要调查结果表明，审计师结合两种定价实践来实现审计费用的增加。首先，他们在年度审计周期之前协商更高的费用，理由是客户结构/规模和制度环境的变化。其次，他们在完成审计后收取高于协商费用的费用（“额外计费”），引用诸如收费小时超支和需要额外工作的调查结果等理由。这种审计师定价做法可能会对审计质量产生负面影响，并损害审计师与客户的关系。