Growth opportunities, Cash Holding and Audit Fee

Managers, seeking economic benefits, maintain a high level of cash. Additional cash exacerbates agency problems between shareholders and managers; meanwhile auditors, in order to decrease audit risk related to cash holdings, demand more audit fees by more audit efforts. The current research, aimed to investigate the relationship between cash holdings and audit fees and also examine the role of growth opportunities in the relationship. In this study, the financial information of 65 companies listed in Tehran stock exchange during the period of 2006-2015 has been examined. The results from testing the research hypotheses indicated that there is a significantly positive relationship between cash holdings and audit fees, suggesting that higher level of cash holdings requires more audit efforts and in turn, higher audit fees. The other results suggested that both high and low growth opportunities of firms strengthen the relationship. In fact, due to the emergence of agency conflict resulting from cash holdings, their audit becomes difficult, and opportunistic behavior, especially in firms characterized by high growth level, increase managers’ activities toward gaining their goals and maintaining their positions, and finally, audit fees are increased due to auditors’ efforts.