Key audit matters: A preliminary survey on relations with the corporate governance. An analysis in the Italian institutional setting

Abstract

The intention of this study is to investigate the interaction, if any, between the external auditor and corporate governance of the client company, trying to figure out if a relationship exists between the quality of corporate governance and the quantity of the KAMs disclosed. Taking into account both the mentioned results (explaining the existence of a relationship between corporate governance and the audit process) and the change introduced by the ISA 701 (introducing KAM), the intention of this study is to conduct a preliminary investigation in order to understand if, after controlling for some specific variables affecting the accounting quality, there is a relationship between the quality of the corporate governance (meant as board composition) and the amount of disclosed KAM in the audit report