EXPLORING THE NEXUS BETWEEN AUDIT FEES AND AUDIT QUALITY: EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF LOCAL ACCOUNTING FIRMS IN GHANA

Although a number of variables, including audit committee size, gender diversity, and leverage, have been found to have some correlation with audit quality in a variety of industries, including the banking and manufacturing sectors in general, not much research of this kind has been done in relation to local accounting firms in Ghana. As a result, this study attempts to close the gap by examining, among other things, how audit fees charged by local accounting firms in Ghana affect audit quality while controlling for audit committee size, firm leverage, and audit committee gender diversity. The cross-sectional data included in this study's analysis came from the 2023 World Bank Group Country Survey. The nonparametric correlation with Kendall Tau-b revealed that audit fees demonstrated a significant and weak negative correlation with audit committee gender diversity, suggesting that the higher the audit fees, the lower the audit committee gender diversity. The fitted probit regression indicates that audit fees have a significant positive impact on audit quality, suggesting that higher audit fees produce better audit quality. Therefore, as the sole regulator of accounting practices in Ghana, the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana (ICAG) should establish fair and reasonable audit fees guidelines to improve audit quality. These fees guidelines should also impose severe penalties, such as a license loss for the accounting firms, if they fail to comply with the regulated price. Furthermore, ICAG should consider other factors other than revenue of local accounting firms in the determination of appropriate audit fees