Disclosure of auditor risk assessments in expanded audit reports

Purpose This rich descriptive study examines auditors' client risk assessment (i.e. “key audit matters”/critical matters) disclosures in expanded reports of 328 Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 350 companies. The compares auditor-identified risks with corporate identified committee reports, terms number and type risks. research also variation between individual Big 4 firms. In addition, the auditor ranking their disclosed. Design/methodology/approach manually content analyses a sample FTSE-350 companies 2015 year-ends. Findings Audit committees identify more than auditors (23% risks). However, audit-committee-identified are similar (80% similar), as Only ten (3%) rank importance Research limitations/implications Sample is restricted to one year, jurisdiction, large-listed audited by auditors. Practical implications provides important insights for regulators, users financial statements identifying influences on disclosure Originality/value paper mobilises institutional theory interpret findings. findings suggest that may demonstrate mimetic behaviour similarity