BOARD CHARACTERISTICS AND AUDIT REPORT LAG

This study seeks to determine whether characteristics of Members of Board are associated with Audit Report Lag (ARL) among Malaysian Public Listed companies. The punctuality of the audit report is also an indicator that the issued audit report is of excellent quality, benefiting investors and stakeholders in turn (Habib et al., 2018). The audit report delay was at first a measurable external focus point, according to Habib and Bhuiyan (2011), which gradually became a reliable and factual indicator of audit performance. The panel regression analysis reveals that financial expertise is linked to shorter audit report lag. This provides a suggestion to the legislation mandating board financial expert effectiveness in enhancing the punctuality of financial reporting.