Relationship between Audit Committee Characteristics and Audit Delay

Delay in the publication of the audit opinion is referred to in the literature as audit delay or audit report lag. The literature points out that the longer the delay in release of the audit opinion, the worse for companies, as it may signal the existence of problems in the quality of financial reporting. This study investigates the relationship between audit committee characteristics (CA) and audit delay (AD). The audit committee characteristics analyzed were size, independence and expertise. In addition, variables related to the audited company and the auditing firm were considered in the analysis. The sample was made up of 95 companies listed on BM&FBovespa that have an audit committee and for which information was available on all the variables of interest. Findings indicate an inverse relationship between audit committee characteristics and AD. This indicates that the larger the audit committee and the greater the number of independent members with knowledge of finance, accounting and auditing, the shorter the delivery time of the independent audit opinion. It was also found that relationship between AD and the characteristics of the audited company (size, level of corporate governance and debt) and of the audit firm (size and fees), although positive is not strong.