> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.secapi.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# SEC Audit Fees API — Structured Data from Proxy Statements

> Access structured audit fee data extracted from SEC proxy statements (DEF 14A) via API. Track audit, audit-related, tax, and all other fees by company. Get started free at secapi.ai/signup.

Every public company discloses fees paid to its external auditor in its annual proxy statement (DEF 14A). SEC API extracts and structures these disclosures — audit fees, audit-related fees, tax fees, and all other fees — so you can analyze auditor economics, independence risks, and cost trends programmatically.

## Capabilities

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Four fee categories" icon="money-check-dollar">
    Audit fees, audit-related fees, tax fees, and all other fees extracted and categorized from proxy statements.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Auditor identification" icon="building-columns">
    Auditing firm name and PCAOB ID included with every record for easy cross-referencing.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Historical trends" icon="chart-line">
    Track how audit fees change over time for a company — or compare fees across an entire industry.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Independence analysis" icon="scale-balanced">
    Compare non-audit fees to audit fees to flag potential auditor independence concerns.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Quick start

Get Microsoft's audit fees from the latest proxy:

```bash theme={null}
curl -H "x-api-key: $SECAPI_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.secapi.ai/v1/companies/audit-fees?ticker=MSFT&limit=1"
```

```json theme={null}
{
  "ticker": "MSFT",
  "company_name": "Microsoft Corporation",
  "fiscal_year": 2024,
  "auditor": "Deloitte & Touche LLP",
  "audit_fees": 42500000,
  "audit_related_fees": 2100000,
  "tax_fees": 8300000,
  "all_other_fees": 500000,
  "total_fees": 53400000,
  "non_audit_ratio": 0.204
}
```

Compare audit fees across a sector:

```bash theme={null}
curl -H "x-api-key: $SECAPI_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.secapi.ai/v1/companies/audit-fees?sic=7372&limit=20&sort=total_fees:desc"
```

## Use cases

### Auditor independence monitoring

PCAOB rules limit non-audit services. Track the ratio of non-audit fees to total fees to flag potential independence issues before they become problems.

### Audit fee benchmarking

Compare audit fees across peers in the same industry and of similar size to identify outliers — either underinvestment in auditing or excessive fees.

### Auditor change detection

Monitor when companies switch auditors by tracking changes in the auditor field year over year. Auditor changes can signal accounting issues.

### Academic research

Study the relationship between audit fees, audit quality, restatement risk, and other corporate governance factors across the full SEC universe.

## API endpoints

| Endpoint                               | Description                     |
| -------------------------------------- | ------------------------------- |
| `GET /v1/companies/audit-fees`         | Audit fee data by company       |
| `GET /v1/companies/audit-fees/history` | Historical audit fees over time |

## Why SEC API for audit fee data

| Feature                 | SEC API       | Raw EDGAR          | Audit Analytics | Manual      |
| ----------------------- | ------------- | ------------------ | --------------- | ----------- |
| Structured JSON API     | Yes           | No (HTML)          | Yes             | N/A         |
| All four fee categories | Yes           | Yes (unstructured) | Yes             | Depends     |
| Auditor identification  | Yes           | Yes (unstructured) | Yes             | Manual      |
| REST API                | Yes           | No                 | Partial         | No          |
| Historical coverage     | 2004+         | 2004+              | 2000+           | Per-project |
| Pricing                 | Pay-as-you-go | Free (raw)         | \$\$\$          | Labor cost  |

## Get started

<Card title="Get your API key" icon="key" href="/getting-started">
  Start pulling audit fee data in under 60 seconds. 150 free API calls (one-time).
</Card>

* [Executive Compensation API](/seo/executive-compensation-api)
* [SEC EDGAR API](/seo/sec-edgar-api)
* [API Reference](/api-reference)