The effect of audit team and audit committee performance on the quality of audit

Abstract

The study investigates the impact of audit committee performance (ACP) and audit team (AT) characteristics on audit quality. The research problem emerges when we question whether the characteristics of audit committees (ACs) impact audit quality. Additionally, an inquiry arises regarding the influence of the characteristics of the audit (CAT) team within the audit offices of Iraqi audit firms (AFs) on the audit quality. ACP characteristics include the number of members, independent members, financial and accounting experience of committee members, meeting frequency, and the presentation of financial annual reports (FARs) and auditor’s reports. CAT encompasses the team’s number, experience and industrial specialization (EIS), auditor’s judgment, and time required for audit tasks. We relied on a study (Husain, 2020; Alderman & Jollineau, 2020; Al-taee & Flayyih, 2022) in the study model design. The sample comprises 82 firms from the Iraq Stock Exchange with disclosed financial reports (2021–2022). The results reveal that the presentation of FARs and the industrial specialization and experience of CAT significantly influence audit quality, while other variables show no significant impact.