Abstract:
An audit report lag (ARL) is defined as a period from a company’s fiscal year-end
date to the audit report date. The shorter the ARL in releasing audited financial
statements, the greater the usefulness and benefits that users can derive from these
statements. The purpose of this research is to the identify impact of corporate
characteristics on audit delay in Sri Lankan manufacturing companies, listed in
Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE). Further, since IFRS adoption represents a
significant milestone in the accounting discipline in Sri Lanka which can reasonably
expect an impact on audit report lag also, the study extended to investigate the impact
of IFRS adoption also on audit report lag. Accordingly the current study investigated
the influence of corporate size, audit firm statues, CEO duality, ownership
concentration, ownership dispersion, board size and IFRS adoption on audit report
lag.
The data for the study collected from annual audited financial statement of all the
listed manufacturing companies of CSE. Data for the period of nine years from
2008/2009 financial year to 2016/2017 financial year has been collected. Based on
the regression estimate obtain, the study concludes that the audit report delay
influenced by corporate size, audit firm statues, CEO duality, ownership
concentration, ownership dispersion, board size and IFRS adoption
