Les déterminants du délai de signature du rapport d'audit en France

Charles Piot

ACCRA, 2008, vol. 14, issue 2, 43-73

Abstract: This study investigates the determinants of the audit report lag (ARL) among French listed companies. Hypotheses address (1) the required audit effort, (2) the external demand for financial reporting, (3) managerial incentives associated with the disclosure timing of good or bad news, and (4) auditors? expertise and human resources in a context of mandatory joint-auditing. Empirical tests address 290 non financial firm year observations drawn from SBF 120 Index companies during 1999-2001. Multivariate analyses document that the ARL : (1) increases with audit complexity-risk factors (accruals, bankruptcy risk), and marginally with the firm?s growth opportunities, which indicate a lower relevance of accounting numbers to investors, (2) is positively associated with a « good » news as proxied by the relative change in EPS, and (3) decreases with the presence of, or the number of, Big Five auditors, as well as with auditors? industry expertise. Methodological, institutional and conceptual implications of these findings are then discussed.

Keywords: audit report lag; audit effort; financial reporting; governance; Big Five (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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