Female audit partners and extended audit reporting: UK Evidence

Abdelfattah, T.; Elmahgoub, M.; Elamer, A.

Abstract

This study investigates whether audit partner gender is associated with the extent of auditor disclosure and the communication style regarding risks of material misstatements that are classified as key audit matters (KAMs). Using a sample of UK firms during the 2013–2017 period, our results suggest that female audit partners are more likely than male audit partners to disclose more KAMs with more details after controlling for both client and auditor attributes. Furthermore, female audit partners are found to use a less optimistic tone and provide less readable audit reports, compared to their male counterparts, suggesting that behavioral variances between female and male audit partners may have significant implications on their writing style. Therefore, this study offers new insights about the role played by audit partner gender on extended audit reporting. Our findings have important implications for audit firms, investors, policymakers and governments in relation to the development, implementation and enforcement of gender diversity.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 19, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Sep 15, 2020
• Publication Date: Nov 1, 2021
• Deposit Date: Nov 14, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 24, 2024
• Journal: Journal of Business Ethics
• Print ISSN: 0167-4544
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 174
• Pages: 177-197
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-020-04607-0
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/13741083
• Publisher URL: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-020-04607-0