The Determinants of Audit Report Delay Before and After Applying The International Standards: The Case of Saudi Joint Stock Companies

The aim of the current research is to find out the determinants ofAudit Report Delay (ARL) before and after applying The international standards using the Saudi joint stock companies as the case of this study and the differences between the delay of the audit report before and after the movement to the international financial reporting standards(IFRS) and international standards of auditing (ISA) (in the Saudi business environment). The research goal was achieved through a field study using 85 Saudi joint stock companies over the period 2015-2018. The time length was divided into two parts: two years before the transition to international standards i.e. (2015-2016), and two years after the application of international standards and represented i.e. (2017-2018). A number of 6 independent variables or (determinants) were selected to test their effect on the dependent variable, which was the delay of the audit report before and after the movement to the international standards. The independent variables included (size of the company under review, debt ratio, company profitability, size of the audit office, type of opinion, change of references). The results of the first part of the field study and before the transition to the international standards came to prove the significance effect of only five variables (debt ratio, company profitability, size of the audit office, opinion type, change of references) on the dependent variable. On the other hand, the results of the second part of the field study and after the transition to international standards proved the significance effect of only three variables (company size, company profitability, type of opinion) on the dependent variable. The results of the third part of the field study came to prove that there are significant differences in the delay of the auditing report before and after the movement to the international standards, and that the shift to international standards led to an increase in the delay of the audit report compared to the period before the transition to international standards.