Who is this article for?

Users who need to understand audit fee categories, data collection methods, and how to extract and analyse fee information.

SEC Audit Fee subscription is required.

This article explains the audit fee categories collected by Ideagen Audit Analytics, the SEC filing types used as sources, and how to work with original versus restated fees when analysing audit fee data.

1. Audit fee categories

Ideagen Audit Analytics collects fees across six categories, as defined by SEC Final Rule 33-8183:

• Audit Fees - All fees necessary to perform the audit or review in accordance with GAAS, including comfort letters, statutory audits, attest services, consents, and assistance with SEC document review
• Audit-Related Fees - Assurance and related services traditionally performed by the independent accountant, such as benefit plan audits, due diligence for mergers and acquisitions, accounting consultations, internal control reviews, and attest services not required by statute
• Benefit Plan Fees - Fees related to the audit of a company's benefit plans (e.g., 401(k), pension). If disclosed as part of Audit-Related Fees, these are subtracted and collected separately
• Tax Fees - Fees for tax compliance, planning, and advice. Subcategories include Compliance (preparation of returns, claims for refund, payment planning) and Non-Compliance (tax audits, appeals, M&A-related tax advice, employee benefit plan tax services)
• Other Fees - All other auditor fees. Prior to SEC Rule 33-8183 (effective 6 May 2003), this category included tax-related and audit-related fees
• Total Non-Audit Fees - The sum of Audit-Related, Benefit Plan, Tax, and Other Fees

For field-level detail, refer to the Audit Fees data dictionary, available for download from the Audit Fees search page on the platform.

2. Audit fee collection

Audit fees are collected from the following form types:

• N-CSR / N-CSR/A (Item 4)
• Proxy filings - DEF 14A, DEF 14C, DEFM 14A, PRE 14A
• Annual reports - 10-K, 10-KSB, 20-F, 40-F (and amendments)

When fee disclosures appear in multiple filings for the same company and year, Ideagen Audit Analytics prioritises them as follows: N-CSRs over proxy filings, and proxy filings over annual reports. For example, proxy fees replace annual report fees if both disclose comparative fees.

Within proxy filings, a DEF 14A takes precedence over a PRE 14A if their amounts differ.

3. Audit fee types

Ideagen Audit Analytics maintains both original and restated fee records:

• Original fees reflect the amounts disclosed in the company's initial filing for that fiscal year
• Restated fees reflect the latest amounts, incorporating any updates disclosed in subsequent filings (e.g., reclassifications between fee categories, corrected amounts)

If no update has occurred, the original and restated amounts will be identical. The Restated Fees field (0/1) indicates whether the fee record has been updated from its original disclosure.

3.1. Platform

The Audit Fees search defaults to showing restated fees via a checkbox. Uncheck it to see original fee disclosures.

3.2. Data feeds/WRDS

Feed 03 (AUDIT_FEES) contains original fees. Feed 04 (AUDIT_FEES_RESTATED) contains restated fees. Use Feed 04 unless your research specifically requires original (unrestated) values.

Fees are restated when amounts change by more than a few hundred dollars, or when fees have been reclassified between categories (e.g., a portion of audit fees reclassified as audit-related).

4. Multiple rows for the same company and fiscal year

Each row in the Audit Fees database represents a unique combination of company + auditor + fiscal year end. A company may have multiple rows for the same fiscal year when it paid fees to more than one audit firm. For example, a primary auditor and a predecessor auditor during a transition, or a carve-out auditor.

This is expected behaviour, not a data error. To obtain one total per company per year, see the section on extracting a single audit fee per company per year.

5. Subsidiary and parent fee flags

These flags appear when a company has a subsidiary or parent that is also an SEC registrant:

• Fees Include Subsidiaries = Yes - The fee amounts disclosed include fees paid for SEC-registrant subsidiaries. The subsidiary's fees are not collected separately to avoid double-counting
• Fees Included in Parent = Yes - The company's fee information is included in its parent company's filing rather than disclosed independently

In some joint filings where the parent and subsidiary report identical fee amounts, only the parent's fees are collected.

6. Key date fields in audit fee data

The Audit Fees database contains several date fields that serve different purposes:

• Year Ended Date - The fiscal year end date corresponding to the fee disclosure. This is the primary date for aligning fees to a company's fiscal year
• Year Ended - The four-digit calendar year derived from Year Ended Date
• Fiscal Year Ends (Currently Reported) - The company's current fiscal year end month-day, as reported in their most recent filing. This reflects the company's current reporting calendar, not necessarily the period of the fee disclosure
• Source Date - The date the source filing was submitted to the SEC
• Financials Date - The fiscal year end corresponding to the matched financial data (Revenue, Earnings, etc.). When this field is null, no financial match was made for that record

For most analyses, Year Ended Date is the appropriate field for matching fees to fiscal periods.

7. Aggregating audit fee data

Because each row represents a company + auditor + fiscal year end combination, you may need to aggregate to get a single company-year total.

To calculate one total audit fee per company per year:

1. Start with restated fees (Feed 04 in data feeds/WRDS, or the default view on the platform).
2. Group by company identifier (e.g., CIK) and fiscal year.
3. If multiple auditors exist for the same company-year, sum the fee amounts across auditor rows to get the company-year total.

For detailed field names and additional guidance, refer to the Audit Fees search guide and data dictionary.