Effect of the auditor’s behavioral and individual characteristics on integrated reporting quality: evidence from European companies

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to consist in examining the effect of the auditor’s behavioral and individual characteristics on the integrated reporting quality, in regard to a sample involving 130 European industrial companies, relevant to the year 2017.Design/methodology/approachThe present study’s adopted methodology rests on the hypothetico-deductive approach. The relevant data applied are analyzed by means of multiple linear regression models.FindingsThe reached results prove to indicate well that both auditor specialization and auditor ethics factors appear to have a significantly positive effect on the integrated reporting quality. Noteworthy, also, is the fact that the audit firm size and auditor behavior have been discovered to have a positive and insignificant effect on the integrated reporting related quality.Originality/valueFaced with the scarcity of studies linking the auditor characteristics and the integrated reporting quality, the present study is elaborated to provide some kind of modest contribution, whereby, the determinants of integrated reporting are distinguishably highlighted