A three-year slide in audit fees may be beginning to bottom out. Fees have been dropping for several years now, first as Sarbanes-Oxley work became more routine and then as companies scrutinized expenses in response to the economic crisis.

But a recent CFO analysis of audit and audit-related fees paid last year suggests that the trend has begun to slow. Only three of the top eight audit firms showed a drop in fees charged as a percentage of client revenue in 2009 (see “Firming Up” at the end of this article).

That’s a marked change from an earlier CFO analysis that showed fees dropping dramatically from 2007 to 2008 for all but one (Crowe Horwath) of the top eight firms. (In both cases, the analysis by CFO included only ongoing engagements. Companies that changed auditors — an event that often results in lower fees — were not included.)

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