ABSTRACT

The major purpose of this study is to examine the impact of internal control and corporate governance on audit fees. If an organization has strong internal control and corporate governance it will require fewer and less extensive audit procedures to obtain a reasonable level of assurance regarding the audited statements, thus reducing audit fees accordingly. This study covered a sample of 120 respondents drawn from four selected organizations in Abia state, Nigeria. To achieve the objective of the study, the data collected from the questionnaires were analyzed using simple percentage method, while the hypothesis testing was conducted using the chi-square and they were tested at 5% level of significance and 95% level of confidence. The result of the research work meets the empirical expectation that corporate governance and internal control have positive effect on the audit fee. The researcher after the analysis and interpretation was convinced that when internal control of an organization is effective, it will help the organization to generate a reliable financial report. The findings also revealed that effective corporate governance of an organization influence the audit process, but when the corporate governance of an organization is weak, the effect on audit fee is negative. This is to say that there is significant relationship between effective corporate governance and audit fees. Also the study recommended some import steps in line with the above stated findings: That every organization should have an effective and reliable internal control and corporate governance of an organization should critically involve in the process of audit fee negotiation.