Recognition and ranking the effective factors on audit quality via the TOPSIS technique

Audit quality is one of the most important issues in the field of auditing and the capital market. Defining a framework for determining the quality of audit is important so the present study seeks to rank and compare the factors affecting audit quality from the perspective of different groups using a multi-attribute TOPSIS technique. In this research, first, 15 influencing factors were selected as quality indicators using library studies, and then these indicators were analyzed using TOPSIS multi-attribute technique by distributing questionnaires among four groups including: researchers and faculty members, audit institutes, chartered accountants, members of the audit committee, and financial managers of the companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange and they were rated and compared. From the view point of the of researchers and faculty members, auditing institutes, auditing committee members and chief financial managers, the most important effective factors on the audit quality are professional level of the auditor in the industry expertise, number of employed chartered public accountants and quality control score, respectively. The results of index comparison test indicates that from the view point of the four studied groups, there is a sensible difference between 15 abovementioned indicators.