5. Research Methodology
The current study investigates whether agency costs affect companies’ demand for NAS for manufacturing and
Service Corporation listed on the ASE for the year 2010. This section provides the methods and tools that will be
used by the study to accomplish its objectives.
5.1 Sample of the Study
The population of the study consists of all manufacturing and service companies listed in ASE for the year 2010.
The total number of the companies for the two sectors was 170 companies. The data for non-audit fees were
collected from big 5 companies and non big companies. However, the unavailability of Non-audit fees for some
of the service and manufacturing corporations for the year of the study results in excluding 48 companies. The
final sample of the study consists of 122 corporations for the year 2010.
5.2 Hypothesis
The main hypothesis of the study is:
H1: There is no impact of agency cost on the demand for NAS.
From the above hypothesis number of sub-hypotheses is derived:
H1.1: There is no impact of block holders’ ownership on the demand for NAS.
H1.2: There is no impact of size of the company on the demand for NAS.
H1.3: There is no impact of size of the audit firm on the demand for NAS.
H1.4: There is no impact of performance of the company on the demand for NAS.
H1.5: There is no impact of leverage on the demand for NAS.
H1.6: There is no impact of industry classification on the demand for NAS.
5.3 Model of the Study
The current study employed the following regression equation:
NAS= β0 + β1BLOCK+ β2 COM SIZE + β3 AUD + β4 PERFM + β5 LEV+ β6 IND + ε