The rapid digitalization of public administration has transformed auditing environments, especially in emerging economies expanding their electronic governance (e-governance) frameworks. This study identifies and prioritizes the key drivers influencing electronic auditing (e-auditing) development in Iraq over the next decade. Using a mixed-methods design, the research first identifies potential drivers through qualitative interviews and open-ended questionnaires. These drivers were then evaluated and prioritized via a two-round Delphi survey involving a purposive panel of 20 experts, including senior auditors, accounting academics, and IT-audit specialists with over 15 years of professional experience. The analysis identified 19 significant drivers categorized into four clusters: (1) emerging audit technologies, (2) information security and data quality, (3) e-governance and transparency, and (4) professional capabilities. Results highlight that technological innovations, specifically real-time monitoring and machine learning, are the most influential drivers. Furthermore, cybersecurity and transparent governance mechanisms are identified as essential pillars for digital auditing in the Iraqi context. By providing a foresight perspective in a post-conflict, emerging economy, this study offers a unique conceptual framework that integrates e-governance maturity with auditing evolution. The findings provide actionable insights for policymakers and regulatory bodies to modernize auditing practices in high-uncertainty environments.
Ahmed A. Dakheel, Alireza Rahrovi Dastjerdi, Amin Rostami· Journal of Risk and Financia...· 0 citations
The purpose of this study is to examine how common auditors, defined as audit firms jointly serving focal companies and their major customers, are associated with corporate tax avoidance, conditional on managerial outlook. Focusing on an emerging market setting, the analysis investigates whether audit network structures interact with proxy based indicators of managerial optimism and pessimism in shaping tax outcomes.
Using 1,500 firm-year observations, the authors construct an ordinal measure capturing the intensity of common auditor network overlap. Managerial outlook is proxied through observable financial and ownership indicators reflecting firms’ revealed expectations. The empirical strategy relies on fixed effects panel regressions, complemented by propensity score matching (PSM) to evaluate sensitivity to selection on observables.
The fixed effects estimates indicate that the association between common auditors and effective tax rates differs across managerial outlook classifications. However, the PSM results are statistically weaker and largely insignificant, suggesting that the magnitude and strength of these relationships are sensitive to identification strategy and should be interpreted with caution. The directional consistency across methods provides indicative, but not definitive, support for a behavioral conditioning mechanism.
This study contributes to the auditing and behavioral accounting literature by linking audit network interconnectedness with managerial behavioral traits in an emerging market context. By framing common auditor relationships through a behavioral lens, the study offers associative evidence on how managerial outlook may condition auditor–client spillovers in tax planning, while acknowledging the methodological and identification constraints.
Alireza Rahrovi Dastjerdi, H. Sohrabiani· Accounting Research Journal· 0 citations
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