The sixth annual MAPI survey on audit fees found that the average revenue of 83 companies increased from FY2009 to FY2010 while their average audit fee fell. As a result, the average audit fee/revenue ratio fell. There was considerable variation in the audit fee/revenue ratios across these companies, of which about a third can be explained by differences in company size.

Other key findings include:

• There was a slight decline in the average hourly audit fee and the number of hours billed for the audit between 2009 and 2010;
• The average cost of internal work and the average cost of external assistance increased;
• A greater intensive reliance on internal resources generally contributes to lower external audit costs;
• A large majority of responding companies are "satisfied" or "highly satisfied" with their audit fees and services provided by their auditor; and,
• Many companies are looking to increase their reliance on work done by their Internal Audit group to reduce future audit costs.