Tax avoidance and audit report lag in South Africa: the moderating effect of auditor type

Hela Gontara and Hichem Khlif

Journal of Financial Crime, 2021, vol. 28, issue 3, 732-740

Abstract: Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between audit report lag (ARL) and tax avoidance and test whether external auditor type affects this relationship. Design/methodology/approach - ARL is measured as the number of days from fiscal year-end to the date of the auditor’s report, while tax avoidance is measured using effective tax rate. Findings - Using a sample of 45 South African companies over the period of 2010–2013, the authors document that ARL is positively associated with tax avoidance and this relationship remains positive when the company is audited by a Big-4 audit firm and not significant when the company is audited by a non-Big-4. Originality/value - The authors’ findings have important implications for auditors aiming to reduce audit risk as they may consider the impact of tax avoidance and pay more attention to companies with a high degree of tax avoidance.

Keywords: South Africa; ARL; Effective tax rate; Auditor type (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (text/html)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:jfcpps:jfc-09-2020-0197

DOI: 10.1108/JFC-09-2020-0197

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Financial Crime is currently edited by Dr Li Hong Xing and Prof Barry Rider

More articles in Journal of Financial Crime from Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Emerald Support ().