The Impact of Audit Committee Characteristics on Audit Fees: Research in BIST

Concerns about trust, transparency and audit quality emerged globally following major audit scandals in the US, Europe and other regions at the beginning of the 2000s. As a result, reliability of financial information and role of auditing in supporting public revenues, including tax oversight gained increased importance. In response, both international and Turkish authorities began to implement standards and regulations aimed at improving the quality and transparency of independent auditing. Among these, the requirement for companies to establish internal audit committees and publicly disclose audit fees became significant. In Türkiye, Public Oversight Accounting and Auditing Standards Authority (KGK) mandated audit fee disclosures in financial statements starting at the end of 2021 as per a decision published in Official Gazette in 2021. The purpose of this study is to contribute to the literature by investigating how the characteristics of audit committees have an effect on audit fees.