The Impact of the Information Content of “Key Audit Matters” Paragraph Related to the Valuation of Investments Using Fair Value on the Quality of Investment Decision an Experimental Study on the Investors in Egypt

The objective of this research is to study and analyze the impact of the existence of “Key Audit Matters” paragraph related to the valuation of investments using fair value in the audit report on the investor’s reliance on audit report, investment decision and confidence in this deci-sion. The researcher relied on a sample of 95 financial analysts, inves-tment managers and investment analysts (in a position to take invest-ment decisions) in different sectors in Egypt.The researcher designed a 2X2 between subjects experiment to investigate the impact of the disclosure of the “Key Audit Matters” parag-raph in the audit report on the investors’ reliance on audit report, invest-ment decision and confidence in this decision and whether these impac-ts will differ with the different experience levels of investorsThe researcher relied on nonparametric tests to test the research hypotheses and found no significant impact of the “Key Audit Matters” paragraph on the investor’s reliance on audit report, however unexpectedly, the investor’s investment and confidence in investment decis-ion have decreased significantly in the case of the existence of “Key Audit Mattesr” paragraph in comparison with its nonexistence in the audit report. The statistical results didn’t change after the inclusion of investor’s experience as a moderating variable.Accordingly, the researcher recommends the application of the new international auditing standard ISA 701 in Egypt in order to increase di-sclosure and transparency levels and reduce information, expectation and communication gaps, also, the researcher recommends conducting training sessions for investors and auditors in Egypt to make them aw-are of the modifications in the audit report and the new international au-diting standard.