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Exploring the Trend and Current Scenario of Audit Fees in

Bangladesh: Evidence from the Cement Industry

Habibur Rahman Moni

Department of Humanities and Business, Khulna University of Engineering & Technology, Khulna

(9203), Bangladesh

DOI:

https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2025.910000624

Received: 18 October 2025; Accepted: 05 November 2025; Published: 19 November 2025

ABSTRACT

This study demonstrates the trend and current scenario of audit fees in the listed companies of the cement industry

in Bangladesh. The analysis uses 68 firm-year data from Bangladeshi listed cement companies, spanning the

period from 2011 to 2020. The results indicate that the non-Big-4 affiliated firms dominate the cement industry's

audit market. From 2013 to 2018, the audit fees incurred by businesses in this sector showed an increasing trend,

and in the last two years, they have decreased. Furthermore, the audit fees incurred by Bangladeshi cement

companies are far less than those suggested by the ICAB’s minimum audit fee schedule. This shows the trend

for increased demand for lower audit fees in this industry, which ultimately leads to lower quality audits.

Key Words: Audit Fees, Corporate Governance, Firm Size, Audit Firm, Financial Reporting, Audit Market.

INTRODUCTION

In almost every corporation, a conflict between two parties (owners and management or shareholders and

management), called the agency problem, has resulted in the appointment of auditors(Panda and Leepsa, 2017).

Ordinarily, auditors are appointed to comment on their assessments on whether management's financial

statements present an accurate and fair picture of the statements (Etim et al., 2020). The money paid to auditors

in return for the audit and other professional services they provide is referred to as audit fees (Al Ani et al., 2024).

The economy of Bangladesh, a South Asian country, is said to be dominated by family-dominated firms (Sunon

et al., 2022). The last few decades have observed phenomenal growth in a family-dominated business. In

Bangladesh, as in many other developing nations, the legal and regulatory systems are weak. This leads to a

concentration of ownership, underdeveloped capital markets, insufficient shareholder activity, as well as

ineffective implementation and overseeing of current legislation (Siddiqui, 2010).

In Bangladesh, the auditor's compensation or fee is determined at the annual general meeting (AGM) of the

company, or in any other way that the meeting decides (Company Act, 1994). Since the audit report is the only

tangible component of the auditors' service and their work is rarely visible, the client should exercise extreme

caution when determining the proper audit fees (Ask & Holm, 2013). For the purpose of determining an optimal

audit fee, the fee-setting process should be fully understood by both clients and auditors (Kwon et al., 2021).

The ICAB (Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh) , which regulates the auditing industry in

Bangladesh, has the authority to set minimum audit fees that must be paid, considering the size of the specific

business. The "Fees Schedule," published by ICAB in 2016, serves as the foundation for establishing minimum

fees for audits and other professional services provided by chartered accounting firms (Hania et al., 2024).

LITERATURE REVIEW

According to the International Standards on Auditing (ISAs), the sum paid for the auditor's services and financial

statement certification is known as audit fees (Dogui et. al., 2014). The audit fees levied by a Chartered

Accountant firm or auditor are dependent upon the time expended, the required type of services, and the number

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND INNOVATION IN SOCIAL SCIENCE (IJRISS)

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of personnel engaged during the audit process (El-Gammal, 2012).

Karim and Hasan (2012) observed that although audit fees show a significant upward trend in nominal terms,

the real audit fee is, in fact, declining, taking into account the growing number of the clientele and their changing

purchasing power. Additionally, they found that, in both developed and developing nations, the four largest,

internationally renowned audit firms hold the largest market shares; however, this is not the case in Bangladesh.

The tendency of paying lower audit fees by clients in Bangladesh is the primary reason why the audit market of

Bangladesh is primarily controlled and dominated by firms not affiliated with the Big-4, as concluded by

Siddiqui (2017). Besides, the number of Big-4 affiliated audit firms in Bangladesh is extremely negligible (Belal

et al., 2017). The ICAB declared a minimum audit fees schedule in 2016 with a view to improving the audit

environment and ensuring the highest quality audits with the greatest level of professionalism(ICAB, 2016).

Khan, Muttakin, and Siddiqui (2015) found a sharp contrast in auditing practices among Bangladeshi family-

dominated firms. While most tend to pay significantly lower fees for lower-quality auditors, family-dominated

firms involved in export industries do the exact opposite, paying comparatively more for higher-quality auditors

than even non-family-dominated firms (Khan et al., 2015).

Hossain and Sobhan (2019) discovered that the number of independent directors on the board adversely impacts

the amount of audit fees. Musah (2017) found that the key variables having an impact on audit fees in Ghana are

client size, auditor size, and client profitability. Saifuddin and Mohsin (2016) found a strong and favorable

correlation between audit fees and the size of the auditors' clientele.

In an empirical study, Haque et al. (2019) found a positive correlation between corporate governance, firm size,

and leverage, and audit fees and audit quality in Bangladesh's insurance sector.

Factors that were previously studied are now working differently. Gunn et al. (2019) report a clear decrease in

audit quality within BIG 4 engagements. They identified this as a significant problem, noting that quality is

worsening despite the higher fees charged by these firms. Hien et al. (2019) found that both internal and external

factors contribute to a favorable impact on audit quality. It is essential to deliver desired quality reports to boost

market confidence. Because audit quality can affect market confidence, investors, controllers, and corporate

governance are constantly worried about it.

Reza and Towfiquzzaman (2021) found that the respondents believed that audit quality was strong and that

internal control and an external team manager's audit review had the greatest impact on audit quality.

Additionally, it was shown that the clients and assignments of a firm have an adverse impact on the audits'

quality.

Major works on audit fees around the world, including Bangladesh, are conducted to determine the variables

influencing the fees for audits. A review of existing literature reveals a gap, as no studies were found that analyze

the trends and current landscape of audit fees in any Bangladeshi industry. In this study, the trend and current

situation of audit fees in the cement industry of Bangladesh are analyzed to determine whether the audit fees are

increasing or decreasing over time and check whether the companies pay at least the ICAB's proposed minimum

audit fees. For this study, the last ten years' data on audit fees are taken into consideration for analysis.

Research Objectives

The main purpose of this study is to illustrate the current state and recent trends in audit fees paid by listed

cement companies in Bangladesh. The specific objectives of the research are outlined below.

1.To show the trends in audit fees within Bangladesh's cement industry.

2.To visualize the state of Bangladesh's cement industry at present.

3.To find out whether the businesses are paying the ICAB-mandated minimum audit fees schedule.

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Only secondary data sources from cement industry listed firms on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) were used

in this study, and two interviews were conducted for this study. There are seven listed cement companies in

Bangladesh. Data from each of the seven listed cement businesses in Bangladesh has been collected and

examined for the purpose of the study.

This study is qualitative in nature and also takes into account numerical data, i.e., audit fees. The study was

conducted using two interviews and relevant data from the annual reports of the seven DSE-listed cement

companies in Bangladesh for the ten years from 2011 to 2020.

The data gathered for the study aims to picture the current scenario and recent trends of audit fees in Bangladesh,

and for this purpose, the cement industry has been taken as a sample industry to examine and fulfill this objective.

Two firm-year data are excluded due to unavailability. A total of 68 firm-year data are collected and analyzed

for this purpose.

Basic Issues in Audit and Assurance:

Assurance

In an assurance engagement, a practitioner (often a chartered accounting company) provides an opinion to boost

the targeted users' trust about the measurement or assessment of a subject matter against the criteria (e.g., laws

and standards) (Farooq and Villiers, 2020).

A statutory audit is a key example of an assurance engagement in Bangladesh (Rahman, 2015). In Bangladesh,

a statutory audit has long been the most significant kind of assurance service. This is because all businesses that

are registered with the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies (RJSC) are required by Bangladeshi law to undergo

a statutory audit (Yapa and Azam, 2017).

A statutory audit is fundamentally designed to allow the auditor to offer an opinion on whether the financial

statements fairly present the company's position, in line with the established financial reporting framework

(Assurance Study Manual, 2017).

In an audit of a company, the following three parties are involved:

1. The users (e.g., shareholders)

2. The responsible party (the board of directors)

3. The Practitioner ( e.g., the chartered accountant firm)

Before the audit concludes successfully and the auditor's opinion is issued, there are a number of steps involved.

The steps include getting the engagement, planning, carrying out processes, evaluating and completing, and

reporting are the steps in a formal audit (Assurance Study Manual, 2017).

In Bangladesh, the auditor's opinion is usually expressed in terms of the 'true and fair view', which implies

reasonable assurance.

Why is assurance important?

The primary advantage of assurance is that the information's intended users receive independent, expert

verification (Hamill et al., 2022). Other parties may get more confidence from an assurance report, which would

be advantageous to the company.

Having an independent third-party review the statements can help prevent errors or fraud and also reduce the

chance of management bias (Ilori et al., 2024). The presence of an assurance report highlights the information's

pitfalls so that users are aware of them. Assurance assists in ensuring the quality of the measurement and

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evaluation of financial performance and position (Kiptoo et al., 2021). In addition, it enhances the image of

businesses and even countries, making investors delighted to make investments in a country with a robust

assurance provision culture (Uyar et al., 2022).

Current Big 4 Affiliation Status in Bangladesh

The international accounting networks KPMG, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, and PwC are known as the Big Four

because they are the four biggest professional accounting services networks in the world (Shore and Wright,

2018). The four popular networks are often grouped together for several reasons: the Big 4 Firms are perceived

to be equivalent in their capacity to provide their clients with a broad variety of professional support services,

and they are all around the same size as the rest of the market with respect to both earnings and manpower (Boyer

and Pannese, 2020).

Bangladesh has an emerging economy, and Big 4 international accounting firms are operating here with affiliated

chartered accountants' firms. The current status of Big 4 firms operating in Bangladesh is shown in Table 1:

Table 1: Big4 Affiliation Status in Bangladesh

Name of the Firms

Local Affiliation

KPMG International

Rahman Rahman Huq ( Since 1 January 2007)

Deloitte

Nurul Faruk Hasan & Co. ( Since December 2018)

Ernst & Young (EY)

✓ A. Qasem & Co. (January 2015 to February 2021)

✓ Islam Hoque Hanif & Co. ( Since September 2021)

PwC

Working independently and providing only consultancy services.

Audit and Professional Fees

Auditors are paid for their services rendered to their clients. The amount of professional fees charged by a CA

firm or an auditor for their services is determined based on the time spent, the nature of service required (such

as statutory audit, internal audit, consultancy, taxation), etc., and the total number of manpower required to

conduct the audit program(El-Gammal, 2012). A reasonable amount needs to be paid as professional fees in

order to ensure the quality of the services provided by the professionals (Chang et al., 2023).

ICAB, which governs the country's auditing profession, issued the ‘Fees Schedule’ in 2016, which is often

considered as the basis of charging minimum audit and professional fees for the services rendered by the

chartered accountant firms operating in Bangladesh (ICAB, 2016). As my concerned industry for this study is

the cement industry, which belongs to a manufacturing company, the fees schedule prescribed for publicly listed

manufacturing companies as per ‘ICAB Fees Schedule 2016’ is in Appendix 1.

Audit Fees Set up Procedure of a CA firm:

The previous ten years have seen a significant change in auditors' emphasis on professional skepticism,

independence, objectivity, and audit quality. Due to the new circumstances, auditors now have more duties due

to the significant risks involved, the frequency of anomalies, unethical behavior, etc (DeZoort and Harrison,

2018). In light of the stated, ICAB developed a fees schedule for the various client groups that is appropriate for

the type and volume of audit work needed, depending on a number of factors (ICAB, 2016).

To know whether a chartered accountant firm follows the Fees Schedule to charge the professional fees for their

services prescribed by the ICAB, an interview has been conducted with a Director of a reputed CA firm of

Bangladesh. Over the interview, he mentioned the following:

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The Fees schedule is not being followed by most of the audit firms and the clients, since it is not mandatory to

follow. Most of the clients demand services at a cheaper price. Setting charges as per the schedule may result in

losing the client, or the existing client may shift to other firms, and lowballing is a common practice in our

country to obtain a new client. So, if our firms set fees as per the schedule, we may lose potential clients.”

In a non-big-4-dominated audit environment, a lack of demand for quality audit works, and the voluntary

requirement of following the Fees Schedule have contributed to this situation and caused the trend of not

following the minimum audit fees as prescribed in the Fees Schedule. Lowballing (i.e., charging fewer audit fees

to obtain an audit) is a common practice in Bangladesh to obtain potential clients. One of the senior managers of

a chartered accountant firm said:

“Mutual discussion between a firm and a client is the main procedure of setting charges for any services to be

provided because in most cases, engagements are obtained through the internal linkage between partners and

clients”.

Descriptive Analysis

Figure 1 shows the trends of audit fee payment in this industry. As illustrated in Figure 1, audit fees of the

cement industry in Bangladesh have not shown a particular trend in the last decade. Figure 1 depicts that audit

fees paid by companies in this industry varied from time to time. Total audit fees paid by all the companies

have risen maximum of BDT 9.37 million in 2018 and abruptly fallen to BDT 4.74 million in 2019, and

became the lowest of BDT 4.31 million in 2020 in the last 10 years of the industry. The audit fees incurred by

the companies of this industry remained somewhat stable from 2013 to 2016.

Figure 1: Trend of audit fees of the Cement Industry from 2011 to 2020.

The cost of auditing financial accounts in Bangladesh is much lower for businesses (clients). Big Four accounting

firms are generally known worldwide for charging significantly higher audit fees because they are perceived to

deliver the highest quality audit services (Asthana et al., 2019; Campa, 2013). However, in Bangladesh, audit

fees may be significantly lower than in other countries—both developed and developing—due to a combination

of lower demand for high-quality audit work and the absence of fully fledged Big Four firms, except for some

affiliated firms (Khan et al., 2015).

Table 2: Average audit fees of the Cement companies from 2011-2020.

Company Name

Average Audit Fees (BDT)

Aramit Cement Limited

84,000

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Confidence Cement Limited

4,91,294

Heidelberg Cement Bangladesh Limited

6,80,000

Lafarge Holcim Bangladesh Limited

23,16,400

Meghna Cement Mills Ltd

1,45,632

M. I. Cement Factory Ltd.

24,27,486

Premier Cement Mills Limited

2,95,750

As depicted in Table 2, Aramit Cement paid the lowest average audit fees of only TK 84,000. In the past ten

years. M.I. Cement Factory Ltd (Crown Cement) paid the maximum average audit fees, amounting to BDT

23,16,486 during the period of 2011 to 2020. Lafarge Holcim Bangladesh Limited holds the second position in

respect of paying the maximum average audit fees in the cement industry in Bangladesh in the last decade.

Table 3: 2020 scenario of audit fees of the Cement Industry in Bangladesh.

Particular

Amount (BDT)

Client

Year

Audit Firm

Maximum Audit

Fees

17,75,000

Lafarge Holcim

Bangladesh Ltd

2020

Hoda Vasi Chowdhury &

Minimum Audit

Fees

1,20,000

Aramit Cement

2020

Shafiq Basak & Co

Average Audit Fees

6,15,893

Table 3 shows the scenario of audit fees of the Cement Industry in Bangladesh. The listed cement companies in

Bangladesh paid an average of TK 6,15,893 in audit fees during the 2020 period. Lafarge Holcim paid the highest

audit fees in 2020. Aramit Cement paid TK 1,20,000 in 2011, which falls below the starting point of audit fees

(TK 3,50,000) for manufacturing companies as in the ICAB-prescribed ‘Fees Schedule’.

Actual Audit Fees and Minimum Audit Fees 2020:

The cement business is a relatively fast-growing industry in Bangladesh that is expanding gradually with rising

building and construction activity. Nevertheless, audit fees paid by all listed companies of the cement industries

are below the minimum audit fees calculated as per the Fees Schedule proposed by the ICAB, as depicted in

Table 4. Table 4 shows the minimum audit fees as per ICAB’s Fees Schedule and actual audit fees paid in 2020,

and the dispersion between them:

Table 4: Minimum vs Actual Audit Fees in 2020.

Company Name

Minimum Audit

Fees in 2020 (As Per

ICAB Fees

Schedule)

Actual Audit

Fees Paid In

2020

Deviation

(Minimum-

Actual)

% of Minimum

Audit Fees Paid by

the Clients

Aramit Cement Limited

11,76,388

1,20,000

10,56,388

10.2%

Confidence Cement

Limited

13,69,960

3,12,500

10,57,460

22.8%

Heidelberg Cement

14,03,640

9,00,000

5,03,640

64.1%

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Bangladesh Limited

Lafarge Holcim

Bangladesh Limited

35,00,000

17,75,000

17,25,000

50.7%

Meghna Cement

Mills Ltd

13,95,098

1,56,250

12,38,848

11.2%

M. I. Cement

Factory Ltd.

35,00,000

7,47,500

27,52,500

21.4%

Premier Cement

Mills Limited

35,00,000

3,00,000

32,00,000

8.6%

As shown in the above Table 4, Premier Cement Mills Limited paid the lowest percentile (Only 8.6%) of

minimum audit fees that are required to pay to follow the ICAB Fees Schedule. Premier Cement also holds the

maximum deviation (more than 3 million) of audit fees between the minimum audit fees and actual audit fees in

2020. Table 4 indicates that Aramit Cement Limited and Meghna Cement Mills Limited paid only 10.2%, 11.2%

respectively, of the minimum audit fees in 2020. In the period of 2020, Lafarge Holcim Bangladesh Limited paid

the maximum audit fees, which are also below the minimum audit fees calculated as per the prescribed Fees

Schedule of ICAB. Heidelberg Cement Bangladesh Limited paid the maximum percentile (64.1%) of minimum

audit fees in the period of 2020.

This situation can be explained by legitimacy theory. Legitimacy theory states that businesses constantly work

to shape how society views them, with the goal of being perceived as 'legitimate' in the eyes of the public. The

companies of the industry have done an audit of their financial statements as they are required to do as per the

existing company act to make their activities legitimate, but in the case of audit fees, they are paying much lower

than the minimum audit fees calculated as per the Fees Schedule of ICAB.

Dependency on Big-4 firms by the Cement Industry in Bangladesh:

Bangladesh’s audit market is predominantly controlled by firms that are not affiliated with the Big Four

(Siddiqui, 2017). This aligns with our research findings about the cement industry in Figure 2, where an analysis

of 68 firm-year observations showed that only 6 (8.8%) were audited by Big Four-affiliated firms in the last

decade. Consequently, a vast majority (91.2%) of cement companies are being audited by non-Big Four-affiliated

firms. This situation can be largely attributed to the lower demand for high-quality audit reports within the

country.

Figure 2: Market position of audit firms in the cement industry (2011-2020)

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Findings

The key findings of our research are the following:

• This study finds that the Bangladeshi cement industry's audit market is highly dominated by non-Big-4

affiliated firms. Over the previous ten years (2011-2020), non-Big-4 affiliated firms have audited almost

91% of businesses in this sector.

• Audit fees paid by the companies of the cement industry have risen maximum in 2018 and abruptly fallen

in 2019, and become the lowest in 2020 during the last decade of this industry.

• This study also finds that audit fees paid in 2020 by all of the listed companies of the cement industry in

Bangladesh are below the minimum audit fees calculated as per the ‘Fees Schedule’ prescribed by the ICAB.

If all the companies follow the Fees Schedule, their audit fees will increase in 2021.

• Only two of the listed companies were found to show separately the statutory audit fees and other audit fees

for a few years. Confidence Cement distinguished statutory audit fees in the annual report years of 2011 to

2016, and Lafarge Holcim distinguished the statutory audit fees in the annual report years of 2011 to 2017.

The rest of the remaining companies have not separately shown the statutory audit fees. This can be the case

because the exact statutory audit fee has become a matter of privacy for a company and the audit firm.

RECOMMENDATIONS

• The ICAB's Fees Schedule, which establishes minimum fees for audits and other professional services

provided by the auditors in practice or CA firms, should be adhered to to maintain the auditors' objectivity

and give an accurate assessment of the clients' statements.

• The ICAB should implement stricter monitoring policies and arrange awareness programs to ensure

auditors’ independence safeguards and fair compensation practices that align with audit quality standards.

• Compliance with various policies, including corporate governance guidelines and sustainability reporting

requirements, must be closely monitored, and any violations should be addressed promptly and

appropriately.

• The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) must consistently and effectively oversee the quality of auditors'

work, and this council should put earnest effort into creating a sound and reliable audit environment in

Bangladesh.

Limitations And Further Scope Of The Study:

Humans are not free from errors. Like the works of other researchers, this study has some limitations that pave

the way for future research.

Only the cement sector is selected for this study. This may not picture well the whole audit fees scenario in

Bangladesh. Potential future researchers may choose and include more companies and industries to show a more

comprehensive picture of the audit fees scenario in Bangladesh. A study showing the contrast between two

industries of two different countries can provide some interesting insights. Future researchers might also look

into the audit fees setup procedure in Bangladesh.

CONCLUSION:

The study's primary goal is to present the current scenario and trends of audit fees paid by the listed cement

companies of Bangladesh. All of the companies of the cement industry are paying below the minimum audit fees

criteria of the ICAB, and the audit market in Bangladesh is highly dominated by the non-Big-4 affiliated firms.

Although the trend of audit fees of this industry showed a rising trend at the beginning of the last decade, it

became the lowest in 2020.

Different stakeholders place significant importance on the audit fees that the auditors charge for their services.

Various stakeholders have a vested interest in the audit fees charged for the audit work. Since a financial

statement audit is obligatory for all companies as per the Companies Act 1994, all companies need to appoint

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auditors for the audit of the financial statements, and hence, emphasis must be placed on the standard

of the audit work. Reasonable audit fees must be paid to the auditors with the intention of ensuring the quality

of the audit work they complete. If not, the audit work's quality may be compromised. Following the ICAB's

audit fees schedule is necessary for companies. This ensures the quality of the auditors' work, which helps to

create a sound and improved audit environment.

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APPENDIX 1:

Minimum Audit Fees schedule for publicly listed manufacturing companies (ICAB, 2016) :