The Investigation effect of Investment Opportunities on Audit Report Lags

The objective of this study is to evaluate investment opportunities and audit report lags in the Tehran Stock Exchange. Tehran stock exchange listed firms constitute statistical population of the research and the sample was selected imposing conditions of the research variables to 155 firms during 2005-2015. Statistical technique of panel data regression was used to analyze data and test the hypotheses. In this study to measure of investment opportunities has been used two factors, the the ratio of market value to book value stocks and assets growth rate. According to the results, there is a positive and significant relation between the investment opportunities and audit report lags and significant positive relationship exists, the the ratio of market value to book value stocks shows the strongest correlation. High investment opportunities have been perceived to increase audit risk. External auditors, therefore, have to increase the required scope of audit work, which is expected to lead to longer audit report delays.