Factors affecting audit fees of Philippine listed non-financial firms

Companies are legally required to audit their financial statements to prove and assure that the data they input are accurate, complete and legitimate. To do so, auditors are hired to assure the fair representation of financial information in all disclosures to be submitted to the Bureau of Internal Revenue and Securities and Exchange Commission. In exchange, the auditors charge a certain amount of audit fee for the assurance services they provide their clients. The amount of audit fee charged to the client would depend on the client-auditor agreement and this brings up a problem on audit pricing because of asymmetric information available. Simply put, the auditor does not disclose the basis of audit pricing to its client when determining the amount to be charged for audit. This study aims to discover the relational factors affecting the level of audit fees in an engagement. The research intends to discover the determinants of audit fees charged by auditors. The researchers decided to test the relation of certain characteristics of the audit client as well as one characteristic of the auditing party to audit fees. The variables tested are auditor brand name, auditee age, auditee industry, auditee size, auditee complexity, auditee profitability, and auditee risk. To test these variables, the researchers gathered supporting evidence using previous studies relating to audit fee determinants. The audit fee determinants were then tested on publicly-listed, non-financial companies in the PSE through panel data regression. Based on the findings, it was found that all independent variables, except for Auditee Profitability, have a significant and positive effect on audit fees charged by auditors. Auditee Profitability was found to have an insignificant effect in the determination of audit fees in Philippine companies. The researchers believe that performance materiality is a reason for the insignificance of auditee profitability

Epidemiological Characterization of Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 Cases from 2009 to 2010 in Baguio City, the Philippines

<div><p>Background</p><p>Baguio City, Philippines experienced its first influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 [A(H1)pdm09] case in May 2009. In spite of numerous reports describing the epidemiological and clinical features of A(H1)pdm09 cases, there are no studies about A(H1)pdm09 epidemiology in the Philippines, where year-round influenza activity was observed.</p> <p>Objectives</p><p>We aimed to investigate the epidemiological and clinical features of A(H1)pdm09 in pandemic and post-pandemic periods.</p> <p>Methods</p><p>Data were collected under enhanced surveillance of influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) from January 2009 to December 2010. RT-PCR was used to detect A(H1)pdm09, following the protocol of the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The reproduction number was computed as a simple exponential growth rate. Differences in proportional and categorical data were examined using chi-square test or Fishers’ exact test.</p> <p>Results and Conclusions</p><p>The outbreak was observed from week 25 to 35 in 2009 and from week 24 to 37 in 2010. The highest proportion of cases was among children aged 5–14 years. The number of ILI outpatients was 2.3-fold higher in 2009 than in 2010, while the number of inpatients was 1.8-fold higher in 2009. No significant difference in gender was observed during the two periods. The clinical condition of all patients was generally mild and self-limiting, with only 2 mortalities among inpatients in 2009. The basic reproduction number was estimated as 1.16 in 2009 and 1.05 in 2010 in the assumption of mean generation time as 2.6 days. School children played a significant role in facilitating influenza transmission.</p> </div

Weekly number of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 cases in outpatients and inpatients, Baguio City, week 18, 2009 to week 45, 2010.

<p>Weekly number of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 cases in outpatients and inpatients, Baguio City, week 18, 2009 to week 45, 2010.</p

A-B. Weekly proportion of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 cases by each age group (A) and weekly ratio of students to non-students, week 21, 2009 to week 37, 2010, Baguio City.

<p>A-B. Weekly proportion of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 cases by each age group (A) and weekly ratio of students to non-students, week 21, 2009 to week 37, 2010, Baguio City.</p