As can be seen in Table 7, non-Big 4 clients’
firms with unqualified opinion with explanation and
with qualified opinion also pay higher audit fees than
those with unqualified opinion. The results are
significant at 1 and 10 percent, respectively, and
rejects the third hypothesis (H3) stating that non-Big
4 audit clients with modified financial reports pay
lower audit fee than those with unqualified financial
reports. Thus, non-Big 4 auditorsalso quote high
audit fees for firms that have uncertainties and/or
going concern problems. The economic dependence
does not affect auditor’s independence for both of
Big 4 and non-Big 4 auditors. However, there is no
significant difference in audit fees between
unqualified opinion and disclaimer of opinion.