A SHAP-Based Nonlinear Analysis Approach to Audit Identification of Patient Capital

Patient capital, with its strong financial capacity and risk prevention advantages, safeguards high-risk innovative enterprises and also influences auditors’ professional judgment. Using a sample of Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed companies from 2011 to 2024, this paper investigates whether auditors can recognize the risk prevention effects of patient capital and thereby reduce audit pricing. The findings reveal that patient capital significantly reduces audit fees. Mechanism tests show that patient capital lowers audit pricing by reducing auditors’ business risk and audit risk. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that the inhibitory effect of patient capital on audit pricing is more pronounced in firms with low ownership concentration, high market competition, and those undergoing digital transformation. Further SHAP-based nonlinear analysis demonstrates that auditors’ risk perceptions of the two types of patient capital differ fundamentally: debt capital exerts governance effects only within a certain leverage range, and pushes pricing upward beyond the threshold, exhibiting a “threshold response” pattern; equity capital exhibits diminishing marginal effects as scale expands, displaying a “safety cushion” pattern. This study enriches the research on the economic consequences of patient capital investment and the determinants of audit pricing, providing a reference for auditors to identify the advantages of patient capital.