Theoretical Evolution of Audit Pricing and Review of Research

Abstract

Audit pricing, as a price agreement between the supply and demand of audit services, is the core mechanism reflecting audit costs, risks and quality premiums, and its theoretical evolution and empirical research continue to deepen with the changes in the capital market environment. In this paper, we systematically review the theoretical origin, research paradigm evolution, measurement methodology and core influencing factors of audit pricing, and find that its theoretical foundation covers multi-disciplinary frameworks such as principal-agent theory, risk-oriented auditing theory, signaling theory, etc., and the theme of the research has expanded from focusing on the traditional factors of corporate governance structure and financial risk, to the emerging and complex variables of corporate financialization, digital transformation, and the level of social trust, and the perspective has shifted from single-subject analysis to multi-subject analysis to multi-subject analysis. The perspective has shifted from single-subject analysis to multidimensional interactions, and the methodology has evolved from static correlation test to dynamic causal inference. The study shows that audit pricing is affected by multiple factors such as company characteristics, governance structure, management behavior and firm characteristics, and its consequences involve key areas such as audit quality, capital market signaling, and audit efficiency. Future research can further focus on the reconfiguration effect of digital technology on audit pricing mechanism, the interaction between institutional change and market competition, and the micro-activity path of management heterogeneity characteristics, so as to provide theoretical support for improving the audit pricing system and enhancing the efficiency of resource allocation in the capital market.