Determinants of audit report lag: A meta-analysis

This paper provides a meta-analysis of the determinants of audit report lag, defined as the period between a company's fiscal year end and the audit report date. We group the meta-analyzed studies into three categories: (a) audit and audit-related determinants, (b) corporate governance-related determinants, and (c) firm-specific determinants. We find that audit opinion and audit season variables increase audit report lag, whereas Big 4 affiliation, nonaudit services, and auditor tenure decrease audit report lag. Among the corporate governance determinants, the existence of a financial expert member on an audit committee, and ownership concentration, reduce audit report lag. Finally, an examination of firm-level characteristics reveals that firm complexity increases audit report lag, whereas profitability reduces it. We employ a meta-regression technique and identify publication bias. Although we find some evidence of journal quality as a contributor to publication bias, the extent of publication bias from this source is small.