Audit report lag: Do company characteristics and corporate governance factors matter? Empirical evidence from Lebanese commercial banks

The objective of this study is to investigate the determinants (company specific characteristics and corporate governance factors) of audit report lag (ARL) in a developing country, namely, Lebanon. This paper adds and contributes to the limited literature that investigated the determinants of ARL in the developing Middle East countries through focusing on the Lebanese context. The study is carried out depending on a sample of Lebanese commercial banks operating in Lebanon, covering the period from 2012 to 2017. The researchers used the multiple regression analysis to examine the impact of the explanatory variables on ARL. The results show a significant relationship between ARL and each of bank size, leverage, board independence, board diligence, audit committee (AC) independence, and AC diligence. The regression outcomes reveal that banks with longer ARL are smaller, have higher leverage, their boards and ACs are less diligence, their boards are more independent, and their ACs include less independent and non-executive members.