Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services

The following table sets forth the aggregate fees for professional service provided by our independent registered public accounting firm, Ernst & Young LLP, for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016:



	For the Year Ended December 31,
	2017				2016
	The Company		Ares Funds		The Company		Ares Funds
	(Dollars in thousands)
Audit fees(1)	$	3,319	$	7,841	$	3,363	$	6,739
Audit-related fees(2)	701		2,538		—		2,704
Tax fees(3)	101		324		70		221
All other fees(4)	18		—		—		—
Total	$	4,139	$	10,703	$	3,433	$	9,664


(1)	Audit fees consisted of fees for services related to the annual audit of our consolidated financial statements, reviews of our interim consolidated financial statements on Form 10-Q, SEC registration statements, accounting consultations and services that are normally provided in connection with statutory and regulatory filings and engagements.


(2)	Audit-related fees consisted of fees related to financial due diligence services in connection with internal controls readiness assessment, attestation services and agreed‑ upon procedures, as well as acquisitions of portfolio companies for investment by funds managed by the Company and the Ares Funds.


(3)	Tax fees consisted of fees related to tax compliance and tax advisory services.


(4)	All other fees consisted of advisory services related to regulatory matters.

In accordance with our audit committee charter, the audit committee is required to approve, in advance, all audit and non‑audit services to be provided by our independent registered public accounting firm, Ernst & Young LLP. All services reported in the Audit, Audit‑related, Tax and All other categories above were approved by the audit committee. Our audit committee charter is available on our website at www.aresmgmt.com under the “Investor Resources—Corporate Governance” section.

PART IV.

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