Purpose – This study empirically examines the relation between two dimensions of auditor quality, namely auditor industry specialization and auditor reputation and the audit report lag. Design/methodology/approach – The data collection focuses on companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) for the financial year of 2010 and 2011. To ensure data homogeneity and reduce industry bias, this study focuses solely on manufacturing companies identified by the Indonesian Capital Market Directory (ICMD). Findings – This study finds a negative and significant association between industry specialist auditors and audit report timeliness. Companies audited by auditor industry specialists have shorter audit delays. We also find evidence that Big 4 auditors perform significantly faster audit work than their non-Big 4 counterparts. In addition, this study reports a statistically and significant relationship between auditing complexity, companies’ profitability, auditors’ business risk and industry classification and audit report lag. The results show that firms with a large number of subsidiaries and firms experiencing poorer financial performance are found to be associated with longer reporting delays. Moreover, audit report timeliness is found to be faster for companies in the low profile industry sector and owned by family members. Practical implications – Insights drawn from this study may be of assistance to policy makers as they consider the costs and benefits associated with varying levels of audit market concentration as well as providing a snapshot of the level of non-compliance on audit timeliness in Indonesia. Originality/value – This study provides further empirical evidence on the relation between auditor quality and audit report lag using data from a different domestic setting. This study also enriches the auditor quality literature by employing industry specialist and Big 4 auditors as a predictor for the timeliness of audit reports.

Introduction

Alkhatib and Marji (2012) argue that the most reliable source and reference of accounting information available to external users is audited financial statements. One qualitative characteristic clearly articulated with the Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting is relevance. As stated by FASB, concept Statement 2, to be useful financial information must be both relevant and reliable. As stated by Alfredson et al. (2009) “to have relevance, financial information must have a quality that influences users’ economic decision (p. 15)”. To be relevant and of economic value, the financial information contained in the year-end final statement should be disclosed in a timely manner and delivered to users as soon as practicable after the fiscal year-end (Al-Ajmi, 2008; Alkhatib and Marji, 2012). Delays in reporting financial information will clearly impact on the effectiveness of reports. The timeliness of audit reports is becoming an important issue as the timing and delivery of the reports will affect the relevance of financial statements (Dopuch et al., 1986; Field and Walkins, 1991; Jaggi and Tsui, 1999). In related work several studies have shown that postponing the disclosure and publication of the audited financial statements may negatively impact stock market efficiency (Leventis et al., 2005; Alkhatib and Marji, 2012) and market reaction to earnings announcements (Chambers and Penman, 1994) can lead to auditor switching (Mande and Son, 2011). It is well recognised that the timeliness of audit reports is influenced by a number of variables. Prior research on audit report lags have documented that the delay in audit reports can be attributed to specific firm characteristics and complexities (client firm size, number of subsidiaries, client financial condition, foreign operations, and audit fees); audit risk (ownership structures, financial distress indicators, high risk accounts, and modified audit opinion), audit firm attributes (auditor reputation, non-audit fees), and corporate governance (board independence, audit committee independence, frequency of boards and or audit committee meeting). The majority of research in this area remains centred in the US but clearly there is a need to extend this research to a new global reach.