The relationship between the financial statement comparability and the cost of equity capital, and the moderating effect of joint audit on this relationship: An empirical study on listed corporations in the Egyptian stock exchange

The research aims to test the relationship between the financial statement comparability and the cost of equity capital. It also aims to test the effect of activating the joint audit approach and the methods of its application on this relationship as a moderating variable of the relationship, using a sample of non-financial companies listed on the Egyptian stock exchange for a period of six years, 2013-2018.
The results of the study showed a significant negative relationship between the financial statement comparability and cost of equity capital. The results also showed a significant effect for the activating of joint audit on the previous relationship.
As for the methods of applying the joint audit approach, the results showed that there was an insignificant effect of the methods of applying the joint audit on the relationship between the financial statements comparability and the cost of equity capital. Finally, the results of the sensitivity analysis supported the previous results with respect to the first and second hypotheses, using the total accrual as a measure of financial statement comparability. As for the third hypothesis, the results showed a significant effect of the methods of applying the joint audit on the relationship between the financial statements comparability and the cost of equity capital only in the case that one of the auditing firms participating in the audit process has a partnership with one of the big four audit firms.