Prior research has shown that the implementation of ERP systems can significantly affect a firm's business operations and processes. However, scant research has been conducted on the relationship between ERP implementation and the timeliness of external audits, such as audit report lags. While some of the alleged benefits of ERP are closely related to removing impediments contributing to audit report lags, others argue that the complex mechanisms of ERP systems create greater complexity for control and audit. In this paper, we examine the relationship between ERP implementations and audit report lags. The test results indicate that overall, a firm's ERP implementation is negatively associated with audit report lag. However, this negative association is significant only at the fourth and fifth years after initial ERP implementation. These results imply that the use of ERP systems by client firms may help decrease the audit report lag, but it takes time for the full impact of the firms' accounting systems to be realized.

Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) is intended to make analysis easier and faster by enhancing the exchange of financial information. Such benefits from this global reporting standard would stem from more timely, accurate, and transparent financial reporting. This article investigates whether internal control weaknesses (ICWs) in firms have an impact on the timeliness of financial reporting in XBRL format. The results of our analyses show that the filing lags of firms with ICWs are longer than those of firms without ICWs for their first detail tagged XBRL disclosure. The results also reveal that firms with ICWs are more likely to use the grace period in their initial XBRL disclosures. The length of the grace period used by firms with ICWs is longer than that of firms without ICWs. Furthermore, our additional analyses reveal that the XBRL mandate has affected firms’ filing behaviors differently depending on firm characteristics such as firm size. Overall, our findings indicate that the impact of ICWs on the timeliness of financial reporting is greater under the mandated XBRL disclosure.

Previous literature on the engagement quality (EQ) review argues that EQ reviewers should provide more efforts into the review process when fieldwork auditors’ judgments and conclusions on the financial statements are potentially biased. Little empirical study has been done, however, partly due to the confidentiality of the detailed data on EQ reviewers’ audit hours. The purpose of the article is to shed light on the existing literature by conducting an empirical investigation using a unique actual data set available in Korea. The results show that the EQ review hours are positively associated with CEO turnovers, a proxy for the audit risk, which supports the prediction of the theory on the EQ review. Additional analyses show that such results are stronger under (a) the upward earnings management and (b) the forced CEO turnover. The article extends the existing literature on the EQ review process and enhances the understanding of the engagement-level quality control in the volatile audit environment by providing empirical evidence to the analytic discussions on the EQ review.

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