This study first explores the relationship between abnormal audit fees and audit quality, and then analyzes the impact of audit quality on initial public offering (IPO) pricing in the Chinese market using a sample of 1119 firms over the period from 2006 to 2012. The results of various regressions find that the association between abnormal audit fees and audit quality is asymmetric, depending on the sign of the abnormal audit fees. Also, the relationship between abnormal audit fees and IPO pricing is asymmetric. For the full sample, abnormal audit fees are irrelevant to audit quality and long-term performance but they are negatively related to IPO underpricing. Similarly, for observations with negative abnormal audit fees, abnormal audit fees are unrelated to audit quality and IPO pricing. By contrast, for observations with positive abnormal audit fees, abnormal audit fees are negatively associated with IPO underpricing, while abnormal audit fess are positively related to audit quality and long-term performance. Our findings suggest that abnormally high audit fees reflect audit efforts, which do not impair the audit quality. Therefore, regulators should pay more attention to the risks of negative abnormal audit fees.