ANALYSIS OF FACTORS INFLUENCING THE TYPE OF AUDIT OPINION

Abstract

The audit of financial statements represents a highly important and indispensable area of accounting, focused on assessing the reliability and fairness of a company’s financial reporting. The purpose of conducting an audit of financial statements is to issue an audit opinion. Therefore, this study aimed to identify factors that may indicate the issuance of either a modified or unmodified audit opinion. The study included 52 companies operating across various industries within the Republic of Serbia over a period of three years. Limitations include the focus on a single country and a relatively small sample. Future studies could include companies from neighbouring countries and increase the number of observed entities. The theoretical implications of this study lie in expanding understanding of the factors influencing the issuance of modified and unmodified audit opinions. Practical implications, on the other hand, reflect the relevance of the results for auditors and company management. The findings indicate a statistically significant relationship between factors such as profitability, liquidity, size, and growth of a company, on the one hand, and the issued audit opinion, on the other.