Minimum fees for the profession of certified public accountants: In their role as independent auditors professional

This research analyzes the feasibility of establishing a regulation to set a table of minimum fees for Certified Public Accountants (CPA) in Panama, particularly in their work as independent auditors. The study arises from the limited scope of the official fee framework, which does not include all facets and classifies accountants with reference prices far from current reality. This has generated unfair competition, a decrease in professional value, and economic, legal, and operational risks for CPAs. A quantitative approach with a cross-sectional descriptive design is adopted, using a sample of 16 professionals from the accounting sector selected through simple random sampling. The theoretical framework addresses current regulations, CPA obligations, operating costs, professional risks, and practices applied in other countries in the region with regulated fee models. The results show that most respondents believe current regulations do not define adequate fees and that factors such as risk, work complexity, client income, and transaction volume should be considered.