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The study aims at examining whether or not poor macro-economic conditions can lead auditors to change their risk management policies when performing an audit.

The present study is based on a questionnaire distributed to auditors working at the branches of the big four audit firms in Egypt over two rounds under different economic conditions. The responses in each of the two rounds were analyzed to identify any similarities or differences in auditors' behavior when performing analytical procedures under different economic conditions.

Auditors appear to alter their risk management strategies during challenging economic times. The present study results suggest that auditors increase their dependence on non-financial data and information as supporting evidence when assessing audit risk during times of economic difficulties. The findings also show that when the macro-economic trends are declining, audit firms tend to assign the performance of analytical procedures to more experienced audit personnel (i.e. senior auditors, audit managers and partners) with less of this work being done by the audit staff.

The present study is based on a sample of 40 respondents. It is recommended for future research to use a larger sample size as results may differ for a greater sample. The present research did not consider the effect of auditors' specialization in a certain industry on the audit judgment during an audit engagement. Future research would examine the impact of auditors' industry specialization on audit judgments during periods of unfavorable economic conditions. The present study is based on a survey that aims at capturing auditors' perception. Further research would use other research techniques (e.g. laboratory experiment) to examine the effect of the general economic conditions on auditors' assessment of audit risk.

Auditors need to give sufficient attention to the analyses of non-financial information of their audit clients during the performance of the analytical procedures under unstable economic conditions rather than depending solely on financial information. Moreover, audit firms could use a much richer labor mix for audit teams through increasing their reliance on experienced senior auditors, audit managers and partners during periods of deteriorating macro-economic conditions to mitigate risk and improve audit judgment.

This study adds to the scarce literature in developing countries investigating the influence of external economic factors on the audit process. The present research provides information to practitioners and educators about risk management policies that could be considered in case of performing analytical procedures during an audit conducted under poor economic conditions.

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of firm financial and operational characteristics on the level of forward-looking information disclosure (FLID) by Egyptian-listed non-financial companies. The present research also aims to investigate the moderating role of gender diversity on the board of directors.

The sample incorporates the non-financial companies included in the EGX 100 of the Egyptian Stock Exchange (ESE), whose reports were available during the study period from 2013 to 2018. The final sample comprises 49 companies with 294 observations. Statistical analysis is performed using multiple regression analysis.

This study found a significant positive impact of return on assets, leverage, company size and age on the level FLID, while external audit firm type and industry were found to impact the level of FLID negatively. Further, the board gender diversity (BGD) is found to have a moderating impact as it strengthens the effect of financial and operational characteristics on the level of FLID.

The present study has some implications for Egyptian companies, investors in the Egyptian market and regulators in emerging economies, which include paying more attention to BGD when selecting the board members by companies as well as following up the female representation in all the listed companies by regulators.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the moderating role of BGD and its impact on the level of FLID in emerging markets. This extends the disclosure literature as the present study brings new evidence from an emerging market regarding BGD moderating role as early research concentrated on the direct impact of BGD on the level of FLID.