The collapse of big companies like Enron in the US has been generally diluted confidence in the world’s capital
markets. Concern has focused on auditing practices, and particularly on the independence of external auditors.
Therefore, question has been raised about how an auditor with a statutory responsibility to shareholders of the
company can handle a commercial relationship with the company’s management and stay at the same time
independent (Beattie & Fearnley, 2010).
External auditors are important for shareholders because they add credibility to the financial statements. The
non-audit services (NAS) have the potential to impair independency of external auditors. The current study tries
to investigate whether agency costs affect companies’ demand for NAS for manufacturing and service
corporation listed on the ASE for the year 2010.