The Relationship between the Auditor's Report Tone and Audit Market Competition

The Relationship between the Audit Report Tone and Audit Market Competition Abstract Purpose – The primary purpose is to investigate the relationship between the tone of the audit report and the audit market competition. Design/methodology/approach – A descriptive-correlational study is conducted based on the published information listed firms on the Tehran Stock Exchange during 2012-2019 with a selected sample of 128 firms. The method used for hypothesis testing is linear regression using panel data. Findings -The results show a positive and significant relationship between the audit report tone and competition in the audit market based on two indicators of auditor's and client’s concentrations. Moreover, to obtain better results using exploratory factor analysis of two variables, the relationship between the tone of the audit report and competition in the audit market was examined. The results showed a positive and significant relationship between the tone of the audit report and audit market competition with factor analysis. Originality/value – Since the present study is conducted in an emerging financial market, like Iran, where the auditing market is highly competitive, determining the relationship between the tone of the audit report and audit market competition can provide useful information for readers. Keywords: audit report tone, audit market competition