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This study aims to compare the usefulness of financial information in the Jordanian finance industry before and after applying eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) as a new regulatory requirement under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Financial information usefulness is measured using the Nijmegen Centre for Economics (NiCE) disclosure index. This index examines IFRS-defined “qualitative characteristics of useful financial information”. These are relevance, faithful portrayal, understandability, comparison and timeliness.

To evaluate the formulated hypotheses, ordinary least squares regression analysis was used on a dataset consisting of 954 observations from the Jordanian financial industry, specifically the banking, insurance and real estate sectors, spanning the period from 2005 to 2022. The content analysis method has been used to quantify the extent of each characteristic of useful information disclosure.

The investigation validates that the utilisation of XBRL generally enhances the usefulness of financial information in terms of its “relevance, faithful representation, comparability, and timeliness”, although no association was found regarding the duration of understandability. To ensure effective adoption of XBRL in Jordan, it is essential to provide suitable infrastructure to XBRL suppliers and offer training to XBRL users.

This research advances the field and may be valuable in areas with minimal XBRL framework usage. This analysis can assist businesses in understanding how XBRL affects financial information quality in the age of technological adoption. The findings help regulators and policymakers monitor Jordanian enterprises’ technological adoption and propose IFRS-XBRL-compliant legislation. This could improve measurement and disclosure while protecting investors and integrity. Thus, this research shows that potential investors in Jordanian enterprises must understand and evaluate electronic financial report data. The findings affect business and policy, so executives, lawmakers and stockholders should evaluate them. As technology advances, practitioners and scholars must recognise XBRL’s potential to improve organisational values and effects. These findings can apply to Middle Eastern (ME) countries with similar institutional, cultural and accounting frameworks.

This study combines agency, signalling and stakeholders’ theories, motivational theories for technology adoption, institutional theories and technological acceptance theories to analyse how XBRL affects financial information. To the best of the author’s knowledge, no other scholarly study has examined how XBRL affects country-level financial information usefulness. This study illuminates XBRL’s country-level benefits and complements firm-level assessments. These are crucial for ME and Jordan’s economic growth. Jordanian data and the existing disclosure index of financial information usefulness are used for the first time to evaluate XBRL.

This study aims to collect new empirical evidence to determine how different forms of ownership structure responded to the recent COVID-19 crisis. In light of this tragedy, it explores the relationship between ownership structure forms (i.e. block-holders, foreign, institutional and family ownerships) and audit quality (proxied by audit fees).

In total, 3,200 firm-year observations for Jordanian enterprises covering the years 2005 through 2020 are used in an ordinary least squares regression with firm-clustered standard error to assess the hypotheses.

The regression results showed that COVID-19 strengthens the association between each type of ownership (i.e. block-holders, foreign, institutional ownership forms) and audit quality. This result reflects the need for high-quality audit services during the pandemic by such owners to improve their business decisions and limit agency-conflict issues. However, the analysis failed to find any effect of COVID-19 when it comes to family ownership. Family-controlled firms may react faster in crisis situations, and correspondingly, they do not bear high audit costs. The extended analysis covering the years 2005–2022 came to the same results.

The results aid authorities in their control and management of the auditing business. The findings have important consequences for policymakers, lawmakers, regulators and the audit profession as they assess the growing issues in an uncertain economic environment. Evidence is provided that may be used to reassure investors and aid authorities as they devise appropriate remedies to the pandemic-triggered economic crisis. The findings may aid in the improvement of legislation that governs Jordan’s auditing industry. Furthermore, the results can be generalized to other Middle Eastern countries.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to empirically evaluate how different types of ownership affect audit quality in response to a dramatic shift in auditors’ working conditions brought on by the global health calamity. In emerging economies like Jordan, this type of analysis allows for preliminary assumptions to be established about ownership status during the COVID-19 outbreak. It adds to the body of auditing knowledge by shedding light on how various kinds of ownership affect responses to adverse events. This assessment is intended to serve as the definitive testimony in the field of accounting regarding the effects of the coronavirus across various corporations’ portfolios.

As organisations rely more on systems to protect their accounting data, it is critical to investigate whether cutting-edge “Accounting Information Systems (AIS)” technologies increase “Accounting Information Quality (AIQ)” in post-Covid-19 era.

The current study examined how Covid-19 modified the expected links between AIS implementation and AIQ factors. To make the “structural model”, a “web-based survey” was used. A “Multi-group Analysis” (MGA) with “AMOS.26” was employed to test the regulating effect. To look at their regression values, the 412 participants from “Family Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises FSMEs” in Jordan who took part in the MGA were split into two groups: those who had a high experience of Covid-19 impact (N = 143) and those who had a low experience of Covid-19 impact (N = 269). The study of 412 completed surveys shows that MGA uses a modified t-test to determine the significant difference between regression coefficients.

The results of the moderation effect confirm that Covid-19 has a substantial effect on AIS adoption and AIQ. All hypotheses about how AIS implementation affects AIQ in post-Covid-19 era were approved. The study finds that adopting AIS is critical for enterprises to maintain successful operations and efficiency.

This model may assist businesses in comprehending the relationship between AIS and AIQ, how it affects it in the current technological adoption phase under extremely unpredictable economic conditions and what characteristics support its widespread usage. This research offered the theoretical underpinning for examining AIS’s ability to improve AIQ among Jordanian family firms. The results can also be applied to other Middle Eastern countries and AIQ, how it affects this relationship during this period of technological adoption under extraordinarily unpredictable economic conditions and what factors support its widespread use. Practitioners and scholars must recognise how AIS can develop organisational values and impacts as the AIS environment grows. This study recommends a holistic AIS-implementation methodology and evaluates organisational implications to address this empirical challenge.

This study investigates whether adopting AIS results in significantly higher AIQ in the post-Covid-19 era. To the best of the author’s knowledge, there have been a few attempts to investigate how AIS influences data quality. Still, there is little evidence of how this relationship has evolved in the aftermath of the Covid-19 tragedy. As a result, much work remains to be done, particularly in analytical decision-making culture, which is critical to the development of the growing economies of the Middle East and Jordan. To address this knowledge gap, the Covid-19 and AIQ criteria were incorporated into the model utilised in this study. This research adds to existing knowledge and may be valuable in areas with low AIS framework frequency.

This study aims to investigate the moderating effect of the COVID-19 epidemic on the relationship between key audit matter (KAM) and auditing quality.

The authors use the ordinary least squares regression on data from 942 firm-year observations of Jordanian non-financial institutions across the period (2017–2022) to test the hypotheses. The authors use content analysis method to measure levels of KAM disclosure.

The investigation’s findings highlight the importance of KAM disclosure in achieving audit quality in line with international standard on auditing no. 701 (ISA-701) requirements. COVID-19 is also found to have a positive relationship with audit quality, further confirming the crisis’s devastating impact on audit complexity and risks and providing evidence for the need for supplementary, high-quality audit services. Due to the correlation between KAM disclosure and increased auditor workload and responsibility, the analysis reveals that the COVID-19 factor strengthens the link between KAM disclosure and audit quality.

This study has the potential to be used as a basis for the creation of a new regulation or standard regarding the reporting of unfavourable events in financial filings. This study’s findings provide standard-setters, regulators and policymakers with current empirical data on the effects of implementing ISA-701’s mandate for external auditors to provide more information on KAM. The COVID-19 crisis offers a suitable setting in which to examine the value of precautionary disclosures in times of economic uncertainty, as well as the significance of confidence interval disclosures and the role of external auditing in calming investor fears. This analysis is helpful for stakeholders, regulatory agencies, standard-setters and readers of audit reports who are curious about the current state of KAM disclosures and the implementation of ISA-701. The results may have ramifications for academia in the form of a call for more evidence expanding this data to other burgeoning fields to have a clear explanation of the real impact of reporting KAM on audit practices.

To the authors’ awareness, this research is one of the few empirical studies on the effect of the COVID-19 crisis on auditing procedures, and more specifically, the effect of disclosures on KAM by external auditors on audit quality. This study’s findings represent preliminary scientific evidence linking the pandemic to business performance. Minimal research has been done on how auditors in developing nations react to pandemic investor protection and how auditors’ enlarged reporting responsibilities affect them. The vast majority of auditing studies have been conducted in a highly regulated system, so this research contributes by examining audit behaviour in a weak legal context.

The purpose of this paper is to provide new scientific knowledge concerning the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on auditing quality as determined by audit fees for both family- and non-family-owned firms in Jordan.

The authors use an ordinary least squares (OLS) regression firm-clustered standard error employing data from 200 Jordanian enterprises between 2005 and 2020 to validate this study's hypotheses.

The regression findings suggest that enterprises run by families are better able to handle crises and spend less on audits. Companies that are not family-owned have to spend the most on monitoring tasks since they need to take extra steps to prevent the agency problem and make their financial statements stand out from their peers in order to attract more investors. Additional analysis that stretched out throughout 2005–2022 came to the same findings.

The findings can be beneficial for authorities to better regulate and supervise the auditing sector. Political leaders, legislators, regulators and the auditing industry can all learn important lessons from the findings as they assess the growing concerns in a turbulent economic situation. The results of this research can, therefore, be utilised to reassure investors and assist policymakers in crafting workable responses to Covid-19's creation of financial problems. After the devastation caused by the coronavirus, these findings may be used to strengthen the laws that oversee Jordan's auditing sector.

In emerging nations like Jordan, where there is a clear concentration of ownership and a predominance of high levels of family ownership, and to the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first empirical study to compare the auditing quality of family-owned versus non-family-owned enterprises. Preliminary insights into the crisis management tactics of family and non-family organisations are provided by this first empirical investigation of the consequences of the Covid-19 crisis on family-owned firms.

The objective of this study is to present novel evidence regarding the impact of the Key Audit Matters (KAM) disclosure requirements of International Standard on Auditing – 701 (ISA) on the auditing profession concerning reimbursement costs in underdeveloped nations, Jordan.

A year-industry fixed-effects OLS regression model has been employed to test the developed hypotheses. The regression analysis of the period from 2005 to 2022 tests the presence of KAM disclosures in Jordanian finance business, while the regression analysis of the period from 2017 to 2022 tests the actual impact of KAM disclosure following the first implementation of ISA-701 in Jordan.

The analysis has verified that the presence and the proportions of KAM disclosures outlined in ISA-701 resulted to significant auditing compensatory expenses. The findings confirmed that KAM disclosures increase auditor workload, responsibility, complexity, and risk, consequently resulting in higher reimbursement expenses.

The findings of this study have the potential to serve as a basis for the development of a novel financial regulatory legislation or a regulated framework for disclosing significant occurrences. This paper provides new empirical evidence to standard-setters and policymakers regarding the requirement of ISA-701 for external auditors to disclose KAM. This study is advantageous for stakeholders, regulatory agencies, standard-setters, and audit report readers who are interested in KAM disclosures and the implementation of ISA-701. The results could inspire the academic community to obtain fresh data from emerging markets to ascertain the impact of KAM disclosure on audit practices.

To the author's knowledge, this study is one of the few empirical investigations into the impact of current additional disclosure rules on the audit profession concerning reimbursement costs. It provides preliminary evidence linking ISA regulations to corporate productivity in Jordan, a developing nation. Little is known about how developing nation auditors react to KAM disclosures' role in stakeholder protection and how their expanded reporting obligations influence them. This study examines audit behaviour in a weak legal setting, unlike most prior studies, which have been done in highly regulated systems.

This study aims to examine the degree of consciousness of forensic accounting (FA) in Jordan. This study surveys practitioners and academicians about their views and thoughts toward the expected role of using FA techniques to detecting and preventing fraud practices and shedding more light on advantages and obstacles of using the FA techniques.

To collect the data, a questionnaire was constructed and distributed to the study population which consists of accounting academics, students and accounting practitioners.

The results of this study show evidence that both students and professionals have a lower level of awareness on the FA concept and its importance. The results also confirm there is a significant correlation between, fraud prevention and detection, advantages of the application of FA, the training courses toward the application of FA and the application of FA in the context of Jordan. It has also been confirmed that there is a number of significant factors hinders this implementation in Jordan.

The findings of this study offer many policy implications for regulators and policymakers on the needed relevant information to address and implement FA in education and practice, thereby activating the FA concept in Jordan.

The primary motivation of this study is driven by the limited and inconclusive research on the FA as a monitoring tool, notably there is a high possibility of fraud and misstatement practices due to the agency conflict. This study is the first of its kind to discuss this topic in the context of Jordan. The need to integrating the accounting education within accounting profession regarding FA becomes an urgent need to develop the awareness level of practitioners when it comes to practice of FA.

Motivated by the disastrous impact of COVID-19 on the world’s economies, the purpose of this study is to examine its effect on the association between auditor industry specialization and external audit fees, referring to two time periods: before and during COVID-19.

A quantitative analysis based on the ordinary least squares regression is performed, using 3,200 company-year observations from 2005 to 2020 in Jordan to test the hypotheses. The qualitative component is a textual analysis of firms’ annual reports that support the quantitative analysis findings.

The analysis confirms there is a direct positive relationship between COVID-19 and external audit fees, confirming the tough consequences of the crisis on audit complexity and risks. While the results show evidence that the relationship between auditor specialist and audit fees is weakened because of COVID-19, the content analysis explained that COVID-19 led to fewer requests for high-quality audit, given the urgent need to report on firms’ financial circumstances. Jordan’s capital market is controlled by family businesses, and the insolvency of several large firms during COVID-19 led auditors to offer their services at low cost.

The findings of this study have serious implications for policymakers, legislators, regulators and the audit profession, as they examine the arising difficulties during a period of economic uncertainty. The findings can help to improve laws that control the auditing industry in Jordan following the damage caused by COVID-19. As well, the outcomes can be extrapolated to other Middle East nations.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the authors believe that this research presents the first evidence on the influence of COVID-19 on the auditing industry.

This paper investigates the application of the product differentiation and shared efficiency approaches to understand the impact of the auditor industry specialisation (IS) on audit fees in relation to Fair Value Disclosures (FVD).

The study uses 1,470 firm-year observations for the period 2005–2018 and is focused on Jordanian financial firms. Two competing theoretical approaches of IS proxied by audit fee-based measures were employed: firstly, the product differentiation approach measured using Market Share-based (MS) measure and secondly, the shared efficiency approach measured using Portfolio Share-based (PS) measure. The paper employs the Ordinary Least Squares regression to test the association between the proportion of fair-valued assets (using fair value hierarchy inputs) and audit fees.

The results suggest that the association between the proportion of fair-valued assets and audit fees is strengthened (weakened) when the client hires specialist auditors identified by MS (PS). This association varied across the fair value inputs. Level 1 assets were found to be only moderated by both scenarios positively (negatively) for MS (PS) experts. The results are robust after controlling the endogeneity of auditor self-selection.

The results provide valuable insights for policymakers into challenges of auditing FVD. These insights present a valuable input for the development of FVD policies and practices as well as providing guidance for updating auditor prices. Additionally, the results provide a foundation for policymakers and regulators to introduce and update fair value auditing practices. The current findings are generalisable to other countries, including the Middle East and North Africa, and are particularly beneficial for those countries which have adopted the fair value model.

This study contributes to the theory by demonstrating the impact of the auditor industry expertise on post-implementation costs of FVD. The novelty of the study lies in introducing principle-based standards requirements of FVD to test the relationship. This approach is based on the IFRS disclosure requirements using data from the Jordanian financial sector to examine this relationship.

This study aims to examine the relationship between auditor industry specialization (IS) and audit fees.

The authors utilize 2,100 firm-year data of Jordanian companies from 2005 to 2018. Two conflicting theoretical approaches of IS were employed: the product differentiation approach, as assessed by market share (MS); and the shared efficiency approach, as evaluated by portfolio share (PS).

Results of the ordinary least squares (OLS) regression support product differentiation (shared efficiency) and show that employing experts' auditors exerts a very substantial and favorable direct impact on audit fees (negative).

This research contributes new empirical data to the auditing literature by examining if IS does influence Jordanian businesses' audit fees. The findings offer useful data for Jordanian officials to examine the auditing industry's difficulties while refining regulations and revising auditor pricing. Additionally, the results offer advice to Jordan's regulatory bodies who oversee the auditing industry. Arguably, results from Jordan may be extrapolated to other Middle Eastern nations.