Previous researches have concluded that some factors can affect audit report lag Whitworth & Lambert, 2014; Sultana et al., 2014; Baatwah et al., 2016; Hassan, 2016; Sharma et al., 2017). The factors are firm characteristics and complexity (firm size and firm performance), audit risk (ownership structure, high-risk account, and audit opinion), public accountant office’s attribute (auditor’s reputation), and firm governance (audit committee independence, audit committee meeting, board of directors’ size, and board of directors’ independence). Only a few researches analyze the relationship of auditor’s industrial specialization with audit report lag (Rusmin & Evans, 2017). There is no formal arrangement for the requirements for a public accountant office to be categorized as an industrial specialist, thus, research on auditor’s industrial specialization is interesting. In addition, there is no research on auditor’s industrial specialization in relation to related party transactions on audit report lag.
Many previous researches have been conducted on audit report lag in many countries, including emerging countries, such as Malaysia ( Hosseinzadeh et al., 2014), Jordan (Al Daoud et al., 2014, 2015), Egypt (Khlif & Samaha, 2014), and Indonesia (Rusmin & Evans, 2017). Emerging countries are quite attractive to investors since they are oriented to export and produce products at a lower cost, generating a higher return than advanced countries for the investors. Audit report lag is the main indicator for investors in decision-making since the audit report contains auditor opinion that describes financial statement credibility. Thus, they can quickly adjust their investment preference (Habib & Bhuiyan, 2011). Since auditors specialized in an industry develop their knowledge of such industry specifically, they conduct audits more efficiently. They are expected to complete audit more quickly than non-specialized auditors (Habib & Bhuiyan, 2011).
Angelia Monique and I conducted research that examined the use of industrial specialization auditor, related party transactions, and the use of industrial specialization auditors on firms that disclose high related party transactions. Following the learning curves theory, the researcher predicted that using an industrial specialization auditor to provide audit services where the auditor was used to and familiar with the client’s business processes and risks in industry and related party transaction increased firm efficiency, and the audit would be more efficient and completed more quickly, making the firm to have a shorter audit report lag. In addition, this research proposed specialized auditor to conduct more in-depth examination on related party transaction. Therefore, a firm audited by specialized public accountant office and having related party transaction is predicted to have a longer audit report lag.
This study used 1,897 observations from 353 different firms listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange from 2010 to 2017 as sample. The shortest and longest audit report lags based on the samples were 12 days and 425 days. This shows that there is audit report lag of over a year. The mostly used measurement of auditor’s industrial specialization, that was market share based on audit fee, could not cover most of the firms registered in the Indonesia Stock Exchange (BEI), since not all of the firms disclosed the audit fee (Rusmin & Evans, 2017), thus this research used market share measurement based on total assets. Besides, Indonesia is a developing country with a strong history of military and political connections in the business world (Harymawan & Nowland, 2016; Harymawan, 2018), thus, they tended to do related party transaction. Therefore, Indonesia is a country that is compatible to the research on the influence of auditor’s industrial specialization on audit report lag and the influence of auditor’s industrial specialization in relation to related party transaction on audit report lag. This study used an Ordinary Least Square Regression analysis model.
This research proves that specialized auditors can complete the audit process more quickly. When an auditor gets more specialized, it will get more accustomed to the client’s business operation and risks, thus, it completes an audit more quickly. This research also finds that high related party transaction increases firm efficiency thus, auditor can complete an audit more quickly, and audit report lag gets shorter. Meanwhile, this research does not find any significant relationship between auditor’s industrial specialization in relation to related party transactions and audit report lag. The implication of this study can be used by the firm management as a consideration in selecting the auditors. Theoretically, this research may develop scientific knowledge and become a reference for further researches on auditor’s industrial specialization, related party transactions, and audit report lag. Practically, firm management can use the research results as a reference in choosing a public accountant office specialized in its industry that performs audits effectively and efficiently so as to shorten audit report lag.
Author: Iman Harymawan, S.E., MBA., Ph.D.
Details of the research can be viewed here:
http://journal2.um.ac.id/index.php/jabe/article/view/16888/9452
Monique, A., & Harymawan, I. (2022). The Influence of Industrial Specialization Auditor on Audit Report Lag. JABE (Journal of Accounting and Business Education), 6(2), 10-21.
