Factors influencing independent audit fees: Multi-group analysis PLS-SEM and moderate mode

This study is conducted to investigate the levels of factors influencing audit fees for clients of Vietnamese garment and textile firms. Data are collected from 186 auditors in independent audit firms in Vietnam. We use PLS analysis on Smart PLS 3.0 and test the scale’s reliability with Cronbach’s Alpha index and the total correlation on the software of SPSS 22.0. The results show that the characteristics of audit firm, customers, auditors, characteristics of the audit and the relationship between the audit firm and customers had positive effects on the audit fee. The moderate role of auditor's age, qualification in the relationship between the auditor's characteristics on the audit fee are also verified. The findings reveal that the higher level the auditors are, and the more experiences the auditors are, the higher the cost of audit fee is. The results of multi-group analysis between auditors and customers group show that auditors believed that the characteristics of customers had the strongest impact on audit fees, whereas the audited clients claim that the characteristics of audits had the strongest impact on audit fees