This paper examines audit fees paid by all 126 non-financial companies listed on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange in 2002.
The Danish institutional setting is theoretically interesting because listed companies are required to use two independent auditors, and the liberal regulation of auditor independence facilitates an examination of the association between consultancy fees and audit fees. Our results indicate that de facto joint audits, where both auditors have significant stakes in the audit, reduce audit fees compared with audits where one
auditor is dominant, albeit only for larger companies.