Does Audit Lag Become a Signal of Going-Concern Audit Opinion?

Abstract

Going-concern opinion is an auditor's opinion based on the client's financial statements, which have financial problems. The company avoids this opinion because it will significantly affect the attitude of investors in the future. This study analyzes various factors that potentially affect the provision of going-concern audit opinions in Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) manufacturing companies during 2017-2019. They are audit tenure, company size, opinion shopping, and audit report lag. The results show that audit tenure, company size, and opinion shopping significantly negatively impact the acceptance of going-concern audit opinion. In contrast, audit report lag is not related to the acceptance of going-concern audit opinion. These research findings indicate that investors should not use the delay of financial statement issuance to the public as a benchmark for a company experiencing financial or operational problems.