AUDITING IN TIMES OF CRISIS:

A STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF THE SARS-COV-2 PANDEMIC CRISIS ON AUDIT QUALITY

Abstract

Given the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on the world economy, this paper aims to understand the influence of the crisis on the quality of auditing of Brazilian companies listed on B3. For a sample of 268 companies, the accounting data for the first three quarters of 2019 and 2020 necessary to measure the quality of the audit were obtained. To compare the results, we used mean and regression tests with panel data. The mean test results indicate that the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic crisis negatively impacted audit quality, and this result was supported by panel data regression. From the result found, it is possible to infer a loss in the quality of accounting information and, consequently, in the quality of the audit, specifically during the SARS-CoV-2 crisis, not refuting the established research hypothesis. The finding suggests that managers may be prone to manipulation of their results, mainly because it is an unstable world moment and the disclosure of their results can have an impact on the financial market. The research can contribute to the literature, in the role of consolidating the effects of adverse events in studies related to audit quality that enable a gain in informational quality, and, therefore, that can mitigate informational asymmetry.