Finding determinants of audit delay by pooled OLS regression analysis
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to investigate determinants of audit delay. Audit delay is measured as the length of time (i.e. the number of calendar days) from the fiscal year-end to the audit report date. It is important to understand factors that inufluence audit delay since it directly afects the timeliness of financial reporting. The research is conducted on a sample of Croatian listed companies, covering the period of four years (from 2008 to 2011). We use pooled OLS regression analysis, modelling audit delay as a function of the following explanatory variables: audit firm type, audit opinion, profitability, leverage, inventory and receivables to total assets, absolute value of total accruals, company size and audit committee existence. Our results indicate that audit committee existence, protability and leverage are statistically signicant determinants of audit delay in Croatia.
Key words: audit delay, timeliness of corporate reporting, listed companies
Downloads
Additional Files
Published
Issue
Section
License
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
