Identification and Explanation of the Dimensions and Components of Abnormal Audit Fees: Developing a Conceptual Model Using the Meta-Synthesis Method

Fatemeh  Adlnia; Heydar Mohammadzadeh Salteh; Rasoul  Baradaran Hassanzadeh; Ali Akbar  Nonahal Nahr

Authors

Fatemeh Adlnia Department of Accounting, Mara.C., Islamic Azad University, Marand, Iran Author https://orcid.org/0009-0002-9865-3052
Heydar Mohammadzadeh Salteh Department of Accounting, Mara.C., Islamic Azad University, Marand, Iran https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5314-2542
Rasoul Baradaran Hassanzadeh Department of Accounting, Ta.C., Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran Author https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2161-0321
Ali Akbar Nonahal Nahr Department of Accounting, Bos.C., Islamic Azad University, Bostanabad, Iran Author https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5298-4185

Keywords:

Abnormal audit fees, Audit fees, Audit quality, Auditor independence, Auditor–client relationship, Audit pricing, Meta-synthesis, Conceptual model

Abstract

This study aimed to identify and explain the dimensions and components of abnormal audit fees and to develop an integrated conceptual model of their antecedents, relational mechanisms, contextual conditions, manifestations, and consequences using the meta-synthesis method. This qualitative study employed a meta-synthesis design. The study population consisted of scholarly publications addressing abnormal audit fees, unexpected audit fees, audit-fee deviations, audit pricing, and related determinants and consequences. Following systematic identification, screening, eligibility assessment, and methodological quality appraisal, 42 studies were included in the final synthesis. Data were collected through a structured document-review protocol and a researcher-developed extraction form. The extracted findings were analyzed through open coding, constant comparison, conceptual abstraction, categorization, and higher-order synthesis. In total, 1,126 relevant textual units were extracted and progressively transformed into initial codes, non-duplicative concepts, subcomponents, main components, and overarching dimensions. The meta-synthesis generated 684 initial codes, 176 non-duplicative concepts, 61 subcomponents, 28 main components, and seven overarching dimensions. The dimensions included client economic and organizational characteristics, audit engagement and risk characteristics, auditor characteristics, corporate governance and financial reporting, auditor–client economic relationships, audit-market and institutional environment, and consequences and interpretive outcomes. Client economic and organizational characteristics and audit engagement and risk characteristics had the highest evidentiary prevalence. The findings further demonstrated that abnormal audit fees emerge through the interaction of production-related, relational, governance, and institutional mechanisms. Positive abnormal fees may reflect additional audit effort, expertise, complexity, or risk compensation, whereas they may also indicate economic dependence or relational rents. Negative abnormal fees may similarly arise from efficiency and competitive pricing or from lowballing and inadequate resource allocation. Abnormal audit fees should be interpreted as a multidimensional and mechanism-dependent phenomenon rather than solely according to the direction of fee deviation; their implications for auditor independence, audit quality, financial reporting quality, and stakeholder confidence depend primarily on the causal mechanisms generating the abnormal remuneration.

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