Audit fees double in US
Audit fees from US clients to the Big Four accounting firms have doubled because of work prompted by Sarbanes-Oxley, a new survey claims.
Regulation means fees will rocket in 2005
Section 404 on internal controls helped PricewaterhouseCoopers increase its audit revenues by a massive 134%, said the survey.
KPMG experienced 109% growth, Ernst & Young, 96% growth, while Deloitte, propping up the pack, still managed a whopping 78% growth in audit fees.
The survey, carried out by the Corporate Executive Board in December, found that the 43 companies questioned spent an average of between $5m (£2.7m) and $8m to comply with the legislation in 2004.
‘We believe the overall audit fee increase is in the 80 to 100% range, with significant variation depending on the specific client and the complexity of the work,’ a PwC spokesperson told The Financial Times.