Relacionamento entre os serviços extra auditoria e a independência do auditor: estudo das empresas cotadas na Euronext Lisbon

Abstract

The competition and evolution of the audit market have led to the growing provision, by audit firms, of a diverse range of services other than audit services, so-called non-audit services. The financial scandals that occurred at the beggining of this century launched the discussion about the impact of these services on the auditor's independence.

Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to examine the effect of the non-audit services, of entities listed on the Euronext Lisbon, on the auditor's independence. For that, we tested a possible relationship between non-audit fees and audit fees.

The results indicate that there is a positive relationship between non-audit fees and audit fees. However, when considering the effect of the simultaneously determination of these fees by common factors, this relationship no longer exists.

Hence, one may conclude that both fees for non-audit and audit services are simultaneously determined. In addiction, we found no evidence that the author's independence is affected by the non-audit services.