| Abstract [eng] |
In a rapidly changing business environment, financial audit remains one of the most important mechanisms ensuring the transparency, reliability and stakeholder confidence in corporate financial information. One of the significant recent developments in audit practice is the disclosure of Key Audit Matters (KAM) in audit reports, which aims to provide financial statement users with more detailed information about the most significant risk areas identified during the audit. Although KAM disclosure is becoming increasingly prevalent both in Europe and globally, the question remains as to how the operational characteristics, risk structures and regulatory environments of different sectors determine the differences in KAM disclosure in audit reports. The object of the study is KAM disclosure in audit reports of companies operating in different sectors. The aim of the study is to examine how KAM disclosure in audit reports differs across companies in different sectors. The following objectives were set to achieve this aim: to discuss the concept of financial audit and KAM, to analyse the theoretical impact of sector-specific characteristics on KAM disclosure, to develop a quantitative empirical research methodology, and to analyse KAM disclosure in the audit reports of the hundred largest European companies and assess disclosure differences across sectors. The results of the study confirmed all four main hypotheses: a statistically significant relationship was found between a company's sector and the number, intensity, subject matter and level of KAM disclosed in audit reports. In the insurance and banking sectors, the number and intensity of KAM significantly exceed those of the manufacturing and services sectors, while each sector is dominated by different risk areas characteristic of that sector. It was also found that KAM subject matter remained stable and predictable over the 2022–2024 period, confirming the fifth hypothesis. The findings are relevant both theoretically and practically – they may be of use to auditors, management and internal audit committees of audited companies, national public audit oversight bodies and the IAASB, in order to improve KAM disclosure requirements in audit reports and enhance the informativeness and comparability of audit reports across sectors. |
