Relationship between financial distress and audit report delay mediated by audit firm size, auditor expertise in industry and client diversity

Failure to publish financial accounting information in a timely manner affects the level of uncertainty in decision making. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between financial distress and audit report delay by mediating the size of the auditing firm, auditor expertise in the industry and client diversity in companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange. The view of nature and content is cause and effect. The research was conducted in the framework of deductive-inductive reasoning and panel analysis was used to analyze the hypotheses. To collect information, data from 142 companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange in the period 1390-1397 have been used. The results of this study show that financial distress does not have a significant effect on audit report delay. Also, the auditor's expertise in the industry has a negative effect on the relationship between financial distress and delay in the audit report, and the diversity of the client. In addition, the size of the audit firm does not affect this relationship.