Abstract:

The value relevance of the audit function has been discussed by a number of researchers, examining its actual role as a guarantor of the reliability of corporate financial statements (El Badlaoui et Cherqaoui, 2023). In fact, the audit performs an indispensable economic function in serving the public interest by reinforcing trust and confidence in financial reporting (Monroe and Woodliff, 1994; Institute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales, 2008; El Badlaoui et al., 2023). Consequently, with the collapse of giants like Enron and WorldCom, innumerable changes have commenced in the guiding construction of statutory auditing since the enactment of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act in 2002, with the goal to reinstate confidence in the audit of financial statements (Howieson, 2013; Baker et al., 2014).