- Chief Compliance Officer and VP of Legal Affairs, Arrow Electronics
By 
Maria L. Murphy2022-10-05T14:35:00
Total audit fees increased in fiscal year 2021 as the number of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) registrants reached its highest total in six years, according to the latest annual report.
Audit Analytics’s 20th annual review of audit and non-audit fee trends at public companies found total audit fees grew 3.3 percent from 2020, to $18.9 billion. Primarily driving the increase was the larger number of registrants at 7,133, the most since 7,150 were included in 2015.
New accounting standards for revenue, leases, and credit losses have become effective in the past three years, requiring significant changes to registrants’ accounting and financial reporting processes and controls. These changes increase audit complexity and require more audit hours (and higher audit fees).
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Average audit fees paid to external auditors by Securities and Exchange Commission registrants reached record totals in fiscal year 2022, according to the latest annual study.
Deloitte was the only Big Four audit firm to net positive in new public company clients in 2022, while Marcum saw the largest overall gains a year removed from losing 110 clients, according to the latest annual study.
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