IFRS adoption and auditing: a review

The purpose of this paper is to review the empirical research literature dealing with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and auditing. The authors identify four main topics related to the effect of IFRS adoption on audit fees, audit market and audit report lag and the influence of auditor choice on IFRS compliance.

For each reviewed stream of research, the authors present its theoretical underpinning and summarize its main results.

Based on 26 empirical studies, the review reveals four main findings. First, IFRS adoption is associated with increased audit fees. Second, IFRS adoption has had an effect on audit market through auditor choice, audit switching and audit market concentration. Third, IFRS adoption has increased audit report lag. Finally, the authors document that audit quality, as proxied by auditor type, may play an important role in enforcing the compliance with IFRS.

For regulators the review highlights that IFRS adoption is associated with several effects dealing with audit cost (audit fees), audit efficiency (audit report lag) and may benefit audit firms with international affiliation compared to local ones and this may inform regulators in settings that plan to adopt IFRS in the future.

This literature review represents a historical record and an introduction for researchers who aim to investigate this topic in the future since the authors provide specific guidance for future research avenues for these reviewed strands of research and other unexplored topics related to auditing and IFRS.