Research On Determinants And Consequences Of Audit Reporting Lags

Audit latency is one of the few quantitative indicators that can be used to quantify auditing efficiency(Bamber et al 1993).This is directly related to the timeliness of information disclosure in corporate financial statements(Givoly and Palmon,1982).The audit delay refers to the number of days between the balance sheet date and the date of signing of the audit report(Ashton,1987).As the audit delay increases,the value of the information passed by the audited audited financial report will gradually decrease.At the same time,the shorter the audit delay,the more timely the audit report.Longer audit delay means that listed companies have serious lag in obtaining revenue information,so investors will choose other potential and costly alternative channels to obtain the required financial information(Knechel and Payne,2001).This behavior weakens the value of the annual report to investors to a certain extent and weakens the value of the audit.Whittred and Zimmer(1984)found that financially troubled companies exhibited a long delay in auditing in the first three years of business failure.This phenomenon was discovered by information users in the future accounting information disclosure days,making creditors and analysts And financial information users such as regulators can expect that the company has fallen into or is in financial trouble.Therefore,the study of the factors that influence the audit delay can effectively help investors discover the abnormal business signs of the company in time,and thus help them make correct investment decisions.In addition,by analyzing the reasons for the long delay in the audit report,it is helpful to clarify the different responsibilities of the company and the firm in the delay of the audit report and promote public understanding of the structure and role of the audit.This article takes a total of 14549 sample data of the A-share listed companies on the Main Board during the period 2011-2016,uses descriptive statistics to make a brief analysis of the sample data,and then tests the listed company's complexity,audit risk,and auditor industry expertise through multiple regression analysis.On the basis of the impact of audit report delays,the impact of audit delay on non-standard audit opinions and financial restatements was examined.This study finds that:(1)Compared with companies with lower audit risk or complexity,companies with higher audit risk or complexity have longer delays in audit report delays.(2)Hiring industry professionals with auditors The listed company can reduce the delay of its audit report.(3)The longer the audit delay,the greater the possibility of non-standard audit opinion and financial restatement.This study helps us to understand the determinants of delays in audit reports and the impact of long-term delays on listed companies.It helps investors and regulators to provide a clear understanding of the determinants of the timeliness of financial information in China.The consequences of delaying the release of this information are equally important.Finally,this article enriches the research on audit markets in China.