M.A. Thesis:

Relationship Characteristics of the audit committee and the audit report lag

Audit report would validate the accounting information and is the basis for the decisions of firms’ interest groups. The purpose of this research is to examine the effect of audit committee features on audit report lag in firms listed in Tehran Stock Exchange. Among audit committee features we chose expertise, independence, size, experience and gender, and to evaluate the audit report lag, we considered the number of days between 12\29 to the time of presenting the audit report. So we used the data from 73 firms listed in Tehran Stock Exchange during 2012 to 2014 (219 firm-year) as the research variables. Then we analyzed the panel data by using a multi variant regression. The research results show that there is a positive and significant relation between the members’ financial expertise and audit report lag. The relation between the members’ gender and audit report lag is also positive and significant but there is a negative and significant relation between the size of audit committee and audit report lag. There is also a significant relation between audit report lag and the members’ independence and their previous experience.

Keywords: Audit Committee, Financial Expertise, Audit Report Lag, Financial Leverage, Firm Growth.