This paper provides a meta‐analysis of the determinants of audit report lag, defined as the period between a company's fiscal year end and the audit report date. We group the meta‐analyzed studies into three categories: (a) audit and audit‐related determinants, (b) corporate governance‐related determinants, and (c) firm‐specific determinants. We find that audit opinion and audit season variables increase audit report lag, whereas Big 4 affiliation, nonaudit services, and auditor tenure decrease audit report lag. Among the corporate governance determinants, the existence of a financial expert member on an audit committee, and ownership concentration, reduce audit report lag. Finally, an examination of firm‐level characteristics reveals that firm complexity increases audit report lag, whereas profitability reduces it. We employ a meta‐regression technique and identify publication bias. Although we find some evidence of journal quality as a contributor to publication bias, the extent of publication bias from this source is small.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of board of directors (BODs) and management in the decision-making of Shariah supervisory board (SSB) and implementation of their decisions. Design/methodology/approach: The paper implements qualitative case research to explore the influences of BODs and management in the context of Bangladesh. To accomplish the research objective, we collected data from the 17 respondents from the regulators, Shariah supervisory boards, Shariah department executives and Shariah experts from the central bank and Islamic banks of Bangladesh. Findings: This study found that management of Islamic banks indirectly influences the practices and functions of SSB, their decision-making and other activities. However, from either ethical or moral ground, management cannot influence SSB; management does not have legitimate power to control over their activities. Sometimes the BODs and management use the SSB and Shariah executives as a showcase and rubber stamp to accomplish their goals and to maximize profit in either partially or fully. Management assumes that Shariah officers are accomplishing and minimizing their income and hindering business functions without any contributions. Research limitations/implications: The study significantly contributed to the national and global regulatory bodies by providing suggestions that regulatory bodies should be more concerned with the independence of SSB and Shariah executive officers. Besides, the BODs and management should be careful in handling Shariah issues as they were committed to do Islamic banking as per Shariah law. The study has theoretical contributions regarding the stakeholder and legitimacy theories. Originality/value: This is the first research which extends the literature of the Islamic banking and Shariah governance mechanisms in perspective of Bangladesh concerning the influence of BODs and management in the decision-making of SSB and implementation of their decisions.

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the association between International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) effort due to higher levels of material adjustments and audit fees. In addition, this paper tests whether these associations differ between industry specialist auditors and non-specialist auditors.Design/methodology/approach: The authors measure IFRS effort by using differences between local GAAP and IFRS. More specifically, they measure the differences in the balances of accounts that are prepared under IFRS as opposed to the previously used Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) standards. They posit that higher material adjustments and more risk to fair presentation of financial statements require additional accounting and auditing effort (“IFRS effort”).Findings: The authors find that audit fees are higher when accounting standards are more material and complex at an aggregate level. Nevertheless, not all standards are equally complex and/or material and not all individual standards contribute to higher audit fees. In addition, the results show that the positive association between IFRS effort and audit fees is more pronounced when firms are audited by city-level industry specialists than by non-industry specialists.Originality/value: Overall, the results are consistent with the prediction of increasing audit fees for firms requiring higher levels of IFRS effort compared to firms requiring lower levels of IFRS effort. The results contribute to the understanding that not all IFRS are equally complex and, thereby, the standards require different levels of auditor effort. Isolating specific standards based on materiality/risk levels is informative to standard setters for standard setting, standard implementation and post-implementation review of standards.

In this study, we examine the association between interim financing and firm performance in an emerging economy. Prior research shows that firms utilize trade credit to boost their operating performance or market valuation. However, recent research on the relation between trade credit as alternative financing and firm performance provides mixed evidence. Nevertheless, limited research has been conducted in developing economies; hence, we attempt to fill this gap in the present paper. We argue that trade credit may not be attractive to external debt financing as trade credit may not contribute to business growth while external debt financing does. To test our conjecture, we employed ordinary least squares (OLS), firm fixed effects, and random effects regressions. By utilizing 1002 firm-year observations, our findings suggest a negative relationship between trade credit and firm performance. To check and control endogeneity and reverse causality issues we use instrumental variable approach (i.e., Heckman two-stage least squares regression). Our results remain robust through different measures of firm performance and trade credit. Our study provides policy implications and contributions to trade credit and firm performance literature.

Research Questions/Issues: Using insights from agency and signaling theories, we examine the effect on companies' market‐based performance of a unique monitoring mechanism of compliance with a corporate governance (CG) code, that is, independent certification of compliance with a CG code and type of certification provider. Furthermore, we examine the impact of two boundary conditions, family company status and company‐level information asymmetry, influencing the effect of independent CG compliance certification and type of certification provider on the market‐based performance of companies.Research Findings/Insights: Based on 1110 Bangladeshi company‐year observations from 2006 to 2017, we firstly find that independent CG compliance certification is positively associated with companies' market‐based performance. Secondly, we show that CG compliance certification by a chartered secretarial firm is related to higher market‐based performance. Thirdly, we document that family companies attenuate both these associations. Finally, we find that, while company‐level information asymmetry reinforces the association between CG compliance certification and market‐based performance, it weakens the relationship between certification by a chartered secretarial firm and companies' market‐based performance.Theoretical/Academic Implications: Our findings are consistent with the agency and signaling theory that independent certification of CG compliance and this certification by a chartered secretarial firm reduce information asymmetry between managers and external investors by signaling enhanced credibility of reported CG compliance information. However, the roles of CG compliance certification and certification by a chartered secretarial firm to reduce agency conflict and provide credible signals are conditional on two boundary conditions: family company status and company‐level information asymmetry.Practitioner/Policy Implications: This study's findings highlight the economic implications of a unique mechanism for monitoring compliance with an adopted CG code. The findings have significant implications for policy makers and regulators in emerging economies.