FACTORS AFFECTING AUDIT REPORT LAG: A RESEARCH ON FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS IN TURKEY

Abstract

Audit reports are of critical importance for financial information users who will make decisions using financial statements. Because information users rely on audit reports to determine whether the financial statements in question reflect the current state of the business in a realistic way. At this point, preparing and publishing the audit reports of the enterprises in the fastest way without delay will help the information users to shape their decisions. In this context, the aim of the study is to determine the factors affecting the audit report lag. In line with this purpose, the effect of the factors such as return on assets, auditor opinion, audit firm change, presence of subsidiaries, number of board members and number of female board members on the publication time of independent audit reports of 54 financial institutions has been tried to be determined. The results of the study are, a statistically significant and negative relationship was found between the audit report lag and the return on assets, the number of members of the board of directors and the change in the audit firm, and a statistically significant and positive relationship with the auditor's opinion, presence of subsidiaries and the number of female members of the board of directors.