Determinants of Audit Report Lag: A Systematic Review across Developed and Emerging Institutional Environments

Purpose: This study systematically reviews the empirical literature on the determinants of Audit Report Lag (ARL), defined as the number of days between a firm's fiscal year-end and the auditor’s report date. It aims to synthesize existing evidence across developed, developing, and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries while identifying research gaps and explaining variations in prior findings. Design/Methodology/Approach: PRISMA-informed systematic literature review protocol was adopted to identify, screen, and evaluate relevant peer-reviewed studies. The selected studies were coded using a structured data extraction framework, and the evidence was synthesized into four major determinant categories: audit quality, corporate governance, firm attributes, and contextual factors. Findings: The review reveals substantial heterogeneity in the determinants of ARL across institutional settings. Differences in regulatory enforcement, governance quality, market development, variable measurement (raw versus abnormal ARL), and empirical model specifications explain much of the inconsistent evidence reported in prior studies. The findings further suggest that ARL reflects both audit efficiency and underlying audit risk and reporting complexity. Implications/Originality/Value: review provides an integrated framework for understanding ARL determinants and highlights important gaps in the literature. It offers a context-sensitive research agenda that emphasizes stronger causal designs and expanded comparative evidence, particularly from GCC countries and other emerging markets, thereby contributing to future research on audit timeliness and financial reporting quality.