FERF’s 16th Annual Audit Fee Survey finds that the median audit fee for S&P 500 companies is $7.96 million, opinions are evenly split on whether AI is improving audit quality, and there is a growing gap between what finance leaders pay for audits and the strategic value they believe they receive.
MORRISTOWN, N.J., April 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The Financial Education & Research Foundation (FERF), the independent nonprofit research affiliate of Financial Executives International (FEI), today released its 16th Annual Audit Fee Survey and Insights Report, based on 95 finance and accounting professionals and a new benchmark analysis of FY2024 audit fee disclosures for approximately 470 S&P 500 companies. Audits were broadly stable in 2024 — yet a third of organizations are reconsidering their audit firm relationships, AI is reshaping audit methodology with contested results, and CFOs are pressing harder for strategic value from engagements that cost millions annually.
“The 2024 audit cycle was operationally stable, but the data reveal a profession under pressure to evolve. CFOs are paying significant fees, expecting more, and watching closely as AI enters the audit room. The firms that clearly demonstrate how technology translates into value — not just efficiency — will define the next era of the profession.”
— Andrej Suskavcevic, CAE, President and CEO, Financial Executives International and Financial Education & Research Foundation
Audit Fees: What CFOs Are Actually Paying
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Median S&P 500 audit fee: $7.96 million, versus a mean of $12.2 million — a gap driven by outsized spend at the largest issuers.
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Top 25% of companies account for 58.5% of all S&P 500 audit fees paid.
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Fee intensity favors scale: mid-sized companies ($1B–$5B revenue) pay 0.116% of revenue in audit fees; companies above $5B pay just 0.057%.
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RFPs deliver results: organizations that ran a competitive review — even without switching firms — reported fee reductions of 25–30%.
One-Third of Organizations Are Reconsidering Their Auditor
Despite 51% of respondents having worked with their current auditor for more than ten years, long tenure is no longer an automatic endorsement. One-third of CFOs are now contemplating a change, citing rising fees, increasingly transactional relationships, and a perceived absence of proactive strategic dialogue throughout the year.
AI in the Audit: Efficiency Gains, Contested Value
Auditors are deploying AI for journal entry testing, anomaly detection, sample selection, and document review — but opinion is evenly split on whether it has improved audit quality. CFOs want AI to enable deeper business conversations; many instead describe it as enabling faster processing with little change in insight or challenge. Finance functions remain in the early stages of AI adoption, held back by limited internal expertise, cybersecurity concerns, and the absence of governance frameworks.
