This study examines the direct and indirect effects of firm complexity on the accuracy of auditors’ going concern opinion (GCAO), and whether and how auditors’ work stress (AWS) can serve as a mediating variable in such a relationship. We analyzed a sample of 705 firm-year observations from 105 non-financial firms listed on the Egyptian Stock Exchange between 2017 and 2023. Binary logistic regression, OLS regression, and path analysis were employed to test the study hypotheses. The results suggested that firm complexity is negatively associated with GCAO accuracy but positively associated with AWS. Furthermore, a negative relationship was observed between AWS and GCAO accuracy. Finally, the analysis revealed that AWS mediates the relationship between firm complexity and GCAO accuracy. The findings remained robust across various sensitivity tests. Policymakers, audit firms, and investors can benefit from the findings, which emphasize the necessity of AWS mitigation techniques to improve GCAO accuracy and ultimately contribute to transparent financial reporting. This study provides unique evidence from a developing country on how firm complexity can indirectly impact the quality of auditors’ judgments.

This study investigates the influence of artificial intelligence (AI) adoption on the effectiveness of audit planning in the dynamic Egyptian business environment, with a focus on the moderating role of audit firm size. Using a 2 × 2 factorial experimental design, we conducted a field experiment with a purposive sample of 130 auditors, comprising 65 participants from Big 4 firms and 65 from non-Big 4 firms. Our findings confirm a significant positive association between AI adoption and audit planning effectiveness, which was measured across dimensions such as risk identification, efficiency, and clarity. The results further reveal a significant moderating effect of audit firm size, where the positive impact of AI on planning effectiveness is notably more pronounced in large audit firms. These findings, corroborated by sensitivity analyses, provide empirical support for Contingency Theory and the UTAUT. The study contributes to the literature by offering evidence from an emerging economy. It provides critical implications for regulators, audit firms, and accounting educators regarding the integration and governance of AI in auditing.

The joint influence of digital adoption in corporate governance and its impact on external assurance is a critical and emerging nexus in the literature concerning auditing and technological innovation, especially in volatile markets. Building on agency theory and resource dependence theory, this study investigates the nexus between corporate digital transformation (DT) and audit quality (AQ), while examining the moderating role of AC characteristics—specifically size, gender diversity, expertise, and activity—within the Egyptian context. Utilizing a sample of 120 non-financial firms listed on the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) from 2022 to 2024 (360 firm-year observations), the analysis employs Robust Least Squares (M-estimation) and Panel EGLS to ensure resilience against outliers and heteroscedasticity. The empirical findings provide robust evidence that digital transformation significantly enhances audit quality by constraining discretionary accruals, supporting the premise that technological integration improves monitoring and transparency. Moreover, the results reveal that the audit committee acts as a pivotal positive moderator, strengthening the digitalization-audit quality relationship; this impact is most pronounced in firms with larger, more gender-diverse, and financially expert audit committees. While audit committee activity shows a reactive correlation with accruals, its interaction remains essential for continuous monitoring in digital environments. Ultimately, this study offers novel insights for regulators and firms in emerging economies, highlighting that the benefits of technological adoption in financial reporting are maximized only when complemented by robust internal governance mechanisms, necessitating simultaneous investment in digital infrastructure and the fortification of audit committee attributes to ensure sustained audit market efficiency.

1. Accounting conservatism (AC) is an essential attribute of financial reporting quality, conceptually defined as recognizing economic losses more promptly than economic gains (Jadiyappa & Hickman,...

This research aims to study and examine the impact of the auditor's professional assurance regarding the disclosure of greenhouse gases emissions (GHGE) on the quality of their professional judgment regarding materiality. Additionally, it examines the influence of the auditor's professional experience and registration with the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) as determinants of this relationship. The study employs both theoretical and experimental approaches. Based on the basic analysis conducted, this research concludes that the auditor's professional assurance concerning the disclosure of greenhouse gases emissions has a positive and significant impact on the quality of their professional judgment regarding materiality. Furthermore, the research highlights that the nature of this positive and significant effect varies depending on the auditor's professional experience and their registration with the FRA. Furthermore, through additional analysis, this research reveals that both the auditor's professional experience and their registration with the FRA have a positive and significant impact on the quality of their professional judgment regarding the materiality within the main relationship under investigation, when these factors are treated as control variables. Finally, the sensitivity analysis demonstrates a substantial level of agreement between the results of the hypothesis test under the sensitivity analysis and those obtained through the basic analysis.