BENCHMARK SURVEY: Canadian Fund Audit Fees Survey

Starting in 2012, Barrington has completed three editions of our pioneering benchmarking survey for US mutual fund audit fees.  These surveys have been well received, and have provided an accurate tool for gaining transparency into how audit fees are determined.

Barrington is now modifying the survey to accurately capture factors that are unique to mutual funds domiciled in Canada.

Canadian fund companies and boards can obtain an accurate comparison of audit fees paid and predicted costs …

The survey seeks to answer this central question, “Are overall audit fees for the fund company within a reasonable range of what other fund companies are paying based on a relative complexity factor?”

To answer that question, we developed a unique predictive model to examine and understand audit costs and cost drivers for dissimilar funds and fund complexes.  Our model, which uses approximately 9,000 data points that we have accumulated since the survey’s introduction, is exceptionally correlated with predicted costs.

… and compare the reasonableness of their firm’s audit fees with that of their peers.

  • Firms can assess the appropriateness of both their overall and individual fund audit fees.
  • Independent trustees can better understand the underlying cost drivers for fund audit fees.
  • Audit Committees and fund management use the data from this survey to confirm or adjust the level of audit fees they negotiate.

This survey was completed in the fourth quarter of 2016; the final report is available only to participants of the survey.

To learn more about Barrington’s pioneering Canadian Fund Audit Fees Survey, please contact:
Hubbard Garber at 617.407.1782
hgarber@barringtonp.com
Tobey Kelly at 781.799.2830
tkelly@barringtonp.com