Auditor’s Effort Following the Implementation of 2015 Revised Egyptian Accounting Standards: An Evidence from the Nonfinancial Listed Firms on the Egyptian Stock Exchange

Purpose – The current research intends to study and test the effect of applying the revised Egyptian Accounting Standards (EASs) issued in 2015 on the effort exerted by the auditor when auditing the annual historical financial statements.
Design/Methodology – An analytical study of related theories and studies was conducted to derive the main hypothesis of the research. This hypothesis was tested based on the data of a sample of 105 nonfinancial firms listed on the Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX) based on a number of conditions and according to the available data during the period from 2013 to 2022, as the number of observations reached 315 observations for the period 2013-2015 before the actual application of the revised EASs in 2016, and 630 observations for the period 2017-2022 after the actual application of the revised standards, with a total number of 945 firm-year observations.
Findings – A random effect regression model is estimated to test the research hypothesis under the primary analysis, which led to the acceptance of the main hypothesis of the research that the application of the revised EASs issued in 2015, which are consistent with the International Financial Reporting
Standards (IFRS), significantly affects the auditor's effort. It turned out that this effect is positive, as the results indicate an increase in audit fees, as a measure of the auditor's effort, after applying the 2015 revised EASs, in the presence of some control variables that would affect the audit fees. The strength of these results has also been ascertained, as the research has reached, through some other analyzes, results that are highly supportive of the results of the primary analysis.
Originality/value – To the extent of the researcher's knowledge, there is a relative lack of academic studies that dealt with the direct influence of applying the 2015 revised EASs on the effort exerted by the auditor when auditing the financial statements in the financial reporting environment in Egypt. The research concluded with several recommendations that may be of interest to auditors, users and preparers of financial statements, academics, standards setters, and regulators responsible for improving the financial reporting environment in emerging countries including Egypt.