Abstract: Data asset has become an important strategic resource of enterprises, and the disclosure of data asset information of enterprises has been widely concerned by the society. Taking the listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from 2007 to 2021 as research objects, this paper examines the impact of data asset information disclosure on auditor pricing. The findings show that the disclosure of data asset information can reduce audit costs. The mechanism research reveals that data asset information disclosure can alleviate corporate financing constraints, drive corporate technological innovations, improve corporate reputation, and increase the work investment of auditors, thereby reducing their business and audit risks, so that ultimately lowering audit fees. The expansion analysis shows that the reducing effect of data asset information disclosure on audit costs is more significant in enterprises with high investor attention and high internal control quality. Therefore, the relevant departments should do a good job in top-level design and actively engage in market transactions of data elements; enterprises should establish a reasonable data asset management system as soon as possible; auditors should adapt to the development trend of the data element market and actively explore new methods for auditing data assets.

Key words: data assets, information disclosure, audit fee, audit risk, information asymmetry