Reviewing the Literature on Audit Report Lag and Corporate Governance

Abstract

This paper examines the literature on audit report lag (ARL) and corporate governance mechanisms over the years. It zooms the pioneer study in this field till the current year (2011), which is year the paper is written. It visualizes the determinants of audit report lag and also how effective of those charge with governance in assuring the timeliness. By presenting the overview of past literature on audit report lag, it would motivate the researchers to conduct more research in this field. It recommends that a few variables that had been tested in previous studies can be re-examined in the future studies of audit report lag. Also, future study can examine on how ownership structure will influence the audit report lag. Besides that, potential study also may include other factors such as government policy or political issue that also might affect audit report lag.

Keywords: audit report lag, corporate governance, timeliness