Auditing in times of social distancing: the effect of COVID-19 on auditing quality

Albitar, Khaldoon; Gerged, Ali Meftah; Kikhia, Hassan Yahia; Hussainey, Khaled

doi:10.1108/ijaim-08-2020-0128

Cited by 181 publications

(214 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…1. Introduction COVID-19 pandemic has had considerable economic and financial effects worldwide and is considered the toughest challenge since the Great Depression (He and Harris, 2020;Goodell, 2020;Albitar et al, 2020a;Amankwah-Amoah, 2020). Managers are facing challenging decisions regarding their social and ethical behaviour during the pandemic, and they need to respond proactively to protect their employees and customers (Levy, 2020).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Recent research investigating the effect of COVID-19 pandemic has mostly focused on market reactions (Erdem, 2020;Mazur et al, 2020;Salisu and Vo, 2020;Hossain, 2020) and provided theoretical perceptions of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on financial markets, banking and insurance companies, CSR, auditing and government and public sector (Goodell, 2020;Donthu and Gustafsson, 2020;Albitar et al, 2020a;He and Harris, 2020;Levy, 2020). Other work has focused on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on environmental awareness, sustainable consumption and social responsibility (Severo et al, 2020) and the effect of environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) disclosures on corporate financial performance during the COVID-19 crisis (Broadstock et al, 2020).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Do assurance and assurance providers enhance COVID-related disclosures in CSR reports? An examination in the UK context

Albitar

Al‐Shaer

Elmarzouky

2021

IJAIM

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Purpose The COVID-19 pandemic has been adding pressures on companies to commit to their social and ethical responsibilities. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting is the main tool through which companies communicate their social behaviour and the need for credible information is censorious during the crisis. This paper aims to measure the level of COVID-19 disclosures in CSR reports by using an automated textual analysis technique based on a sample of UK companies and investigate whether the level of disclosure is enhanced for companies that subject their CSR reports to an assurance process. Design/methodology/approach The study sample consists of FTSE All-share non-financial listed companies. The authors use a computer-aided textual analysis, and we use a bag of words to capture COVID-related information in the CSR section of the firm’s annual reports. Findings The results suggest that the existence of independent external assurance is significantly and positively associated with the provision of COVID-19 information in CSR reports. The authors also find that when assurance is provided by Big 4 accountancy firms, the disclosure of COVID-related information is enhanced. Furthermore, large companies are more likely to disclose COVID-related information in their CSR reports that are externally assured from top-tier accountancy firms, suggesting that assurance could be a burden for smaller firms. Overall, the findings suggest that assurance on CSR reports provides an “insurance-like” protection that mitigates the risks and signals the management’s ethical behaviour during the pandemic. Practical implications The study approach helps to assess the level of corporate engagement with COVID-19 practices and the extent of related disclosures in CSR reports based on the COVID-19 Secure Guidelines published by the UK government. This helps to emphasise how companies engage and communicate COVID-19-related information to stakeholders through CSR reports and ensure a safe working environment during this pandemic. Managers will need to assess the costs and benefits of purchasing assurance on CSR disclosures, giving the ethical signal that assurance sends to the market and protection that it covers during the crisis. Originality/value This paper provides a shred of unique evidence of the impact of the existence of external assurance and the type of assurer on the disclosure of COVID-related information in CSR reports. To the best of authors’ knowledge, no study has yet investigated the corporate disclosure on an unforeseen event in CSR reports and the role of CSR assurance in this respect.

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confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

Do assurance and assurance providers enhance COVID-related disclosures in CSR reports? An examination in the UK context

Albitar

Al‐Shaer

Elmarzouky

2021

IJAIM

Self Cite

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“…However, the relationship between audit costs and decreased audit quality is confined to recession because of the marginal cost pressures. Finally, Albitar, Gerged, Kikhia, and Hussainey (2020) prove that social distancing due to the COVID-19 pandemic can affect audit costs, which negatively impact audit quality. Thus, based on some of the previous studies, there is no definite conclusion on whether audit costs positively or negatively affect audit quality.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

The effect of audit cost, information technology, and auditor's competence on audit quality during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Indra¹,

Gamayuni

Syaipudin

2021

JTAKEN

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The Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) is endemic in Indonesia and affects many sectors, including the economic and government sectors. During the COVID-19 pandemic, BPK, as the government’s external auditors, continued to carry out the audit to maintain accountability for state finances despite budget refocusing and large-scale social restrictions (Pembatasan Sosial Berskala Besar, PSBB). This study aims to determine the significance of audit costs due to budget refocusing, IT utilization, and auditor competence on audit quality during the work from home (WFH) policy. This study processed questionnaire data from 70 auditors from three representative offices of BPK in provinces under three different categories, namely A, B, and C. The research data was processed using SmartPLS software to analyze data with measurement models and structural models with a 90 percent confidence level. Data processing shows that the effect of audit costs and the use of information technology on audit quality during the COVID-19 pandemic has a feeble and insignificant effect; thus, the hypothesis is not supported. Meanwhile, the competence of auditors has a significant effect on the quality of audit results; ergo, the hypothesis is supported.

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“…In Sweden, 19 out of 443 multinational articles (43%) were on new research areas, with 13 of them being on economics, management and accounting; 4 on materials science; 1 on earth and planetary sciences; and 1 on veterinary sciences. In the most popular fields of economics, management and accounting, studies have been conducted on the impact of infectious diseases on the tourism industry [71], audits [72], public budgets [73], and public capital markets [74].…”

Section: Knowledge Expansion Through Intercountry Research Collaborationmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of Global Collaboration on COVID-19 Research during the Pandemic in 2020

Kim

Cho

2021

Sustainability

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In response to the COVID-19 crisis, which has become a severe threat to the health and sustainability of human life, scholars have published numerous research results. Although the importance of international research collaboration has been highlighted as a means of overcoming this global crisis, research on this particular problem has been lacking. Therefore, this study focused on the response of academia to COVID-19 by examining the collaboration between international research, and its impact. This study extracted data from Scopus, sampling articles and reviews published in 2020. By analyzing scenarios by country and international research collaboration based on data on authors’ nationalities and the research areas of documents, this study revealed that the United States and China contributed the most. In all countries, most research was conducted on medicine. European and American countries demonstrated significant interest in the social sciences and Asian countries in the life sciences. Furthermore, some countries, including Belgium and Pakistan, extended their research interests through international research collaboration. The results of this study highlight the importance of international research collaboration across various areas by overcoming the regional imbalance in intercountry collaboration and the concentration on a limited scope of subjects.

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Auditing in times of social distancing: the effect of COVID-19 on auditing quality

Cited by 181 publications

References 39 publications

Do assurance and assurance providers enhance COVID-related disclosures in CSR reports? An examination in the UK context

Do assurance and assurance providers enhance COVID-related disclosures in CSR reports? An examination in the UK context

The effect of audit cost, information technology, and auditor's competence on audit quality during the COVID-19 Pandemic

A Review of Global Collaboration on COVID-19 Research during the Pandemic in 2020

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