Study on factors affecting audit fees and audit quality through auditors’ perceptions: Evidence from an emerging economy

At the beginning of 2020, the world faced the most frightening threat to the population’s health – COVID-19 pandemic. For this reason, the international institutions, governments of countries and various organizations are forced to use unprecedented restrictive measures in many spheres of activity. As a result, the economies of the countries all over the world are significantly affected and are on the verge of crisis. This paper presents examples of economic consequences of COVID-19 pandemic for different countries of the world and analyzes still few scientific works, which study the influence of pandemic on their economies. The article generalizes the legislative and anti-crisis measures of the Ukrainian Government, as well as the National Bank of Ukraine and other state authorities. It is evidenced that at the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020, Ukraine witnessed a significant decrease in GDP growth rate, reduction of industrial production and electricity production. The financial indicators also underwent significant losses, particularly the unemployment rate increased as thousands and thousands of labor migrants have returned to Ukraine from European and other countries. The article proves the inconsistency and unprofessionalism of such restrictive and regulatory measures. Finally, the necessity is substantiated to combine the methods of market economy and state regulation. The compulsory steps are offered, which would minimize the losses of the state and its population during this economic crisis.

This study investigates the direct and indirect effects of financial capability, financial advice, financial anxiety, and the use of an electronic payment system (EPS) on financial satisfaction. In the current era of digitalization and financial innovations, it seems quite unlikely that an individual remains unaffected by its use. The research was conducted in northern India on individual level using a partial least square structural equation modeling statistical technique to analyze responses collected from a close-ended questionnaire using a 5-point Likert scale. The results show that financial capability, financial advice, financial anxiety, and EPS usage have a direct positive effect on an individual’s financial satisfaction. EPS usage plays a significant mediating role, as all the financial constructs depict a positive effect on financial satisfaction via EPS use. These findings contribute to the literature by offering an understanding of the determinants of financial satisfaction in the context of a low-income developing country, as well as the vital role of using EPS in an individual’s financial satisfaction in today’s digitally driven era. The results of this study could be a useful factor for policymakers and digital service providers for implementation and control.

Acknowledgement
“This paper was supported by Internal Grant Agency of FaME TBU No. IGA/FaME/2019/002”

Financial decision-making through social media blogs and opinions is an area not much explored by the researchers. This study intends to understand the perceived usefulness of social media in financial decision-making amongst individuals and groups based on demographic similarities and social parameters. This paper aims to understand the perception of various subgroups in society within the large population sample. The paper applies Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric tests to examine the proposed research questions from a dataset of 201 individuals residing in two most populated states in Northern India. The analysis reveals the differences between different groups categorized based on generation, financially dependent, educational background, occupation, and geographical location. In terms of social media’s perceived utility in financial decision-making, results suggest that segregated groups based on cohort generation and occupation have significant variations relative to others. Based on the educational context, all other segments, number of financially dependent, geographical location, were found insignificant. The novelty of the paper lies in investigating the perceived usefulness of social media in financial decision-making amongst various homogenous groups based on demographics in a developing country. The study outcomes can be useful for the financial service providers and social media platforms in comprehending consumer behavior to devise an innovative marketing strategy for financial products targeting specific segments through enhanced coordination between them.

Acknowledgment
This paper was supported by Internal Grant Agency of FaME TBU No. IGA/FaME/2019/002.