Women leading the audit process and audit fees: A European study

This study investigates if a gender effect exists on the audit fees associated with the presence of women in roles closely related to the audit process. The analysis is based on the largest European corporations studied between 2016 and 2018. The results show that firms with female chief financial o...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: García Blandón, Josep, Argilés Bosch, Josep M., Ravenda, Diego, Castillo Merino, David
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:España
Institución:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repositorio:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:2445/192821
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/192821
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Empreses auditores
Estudis de gènere
Lideratge en les dones
Accounting firms
Gender studies
Leadership in women
Descripción
Sumario:This study investigates if a gender effect exists on the audit fees associated with the presence of women in roles closely related to the audit process. The analysis is based on the largest European corporations studied between 2016 and 2018. The results show that firms with female chief financial officers and more female directors on the audit committee pay significantly lower audit fees than other firms. However, the results for the remaining gender variables (audit partner, chair of the audit committee, and chief executive officer) do not show any association. Additionally, we find that accounting expertise drives the association between female directors and audit fees. Therefore, neither non-expert female directors nor, more surprisingly, female directors who are labelled as financial experts, have any significant effects on audit fees. Another interesting finding is that the gender variables provide significant results when they are observed in more gender egalitarian contexts, though not in less egalitarian settings. These results have interesting implications at various levels.