| Abstract [eng] |
54 pages, 12 tables, 10 figures, 29 references. The main purpose of this master's thesis is to analyze the theoretical aspects of the auditor's conclusions, to assess the quality of financial reporting of companies listed on the Nasdaq Baltic market for the period 2019-2024, based on the analysis of the types of auditor's opinion. The work consists of three main parts: literature analysis, research and its results, conclusions and recommendations. The literature review discusses the theoretical and regulatory aspects of the auditor's report. The first part examines the characteristics of the quality of financial reporting and their impact on the auditor's report, in order to reveal the links between the quality of financial statement information and the type of auditor's report. It is emphasized that an unqualified auditor's opinion indicates higher quality, while modified opinions may signal possible distortions or risks in financial reporting. The theoretical aspects of the audit, are analyzed later. The essence of the independent auditor's conclusions for users of financial reporting is studied. The structure of the auditor's report, its regulation are analyzed. Its components and requirements that ensure the consistency, comparability and informativeness of the auditor's conclusions are described. The current legislation and International Standards on Auditing (ISA) are used. The empirical part of the work conducted a study of the quality of financial reporting of companies listed on the Nasdaq Baltic stock market, based on the analysis of auditor's conclusions for the period 2019-2024. A total of 278 auditor's opinions were analyzed, collected from publicly available financial statements. The study assessed the distribution of auditor's opinions, their dynamics by period and sector. An analysis of the probability of a modified opinion was also performed. In order to identify possible relationships between the type of auditor's opinion, the sector of activity and the financial year, the Chi-square test was applied. The results of the study revealed that the majority (93.5 percent) of auditor's conclusions were unqualified, and modified opinions accounted for a relatively small proportion. This indicates that the majority of the analyzed companies prepare their financial statements in accordance with accounting standards. The quality of their financial reporting is high. The analysis of the distribution of auditor's opinions by sector determined that modified auditor's opinions were most common in certain sectors, for example, in the food, beverages and tobacco, construction and materials, industrial goods and services and real estate sectors. Meanwhile, in some sectors (e.g. banking, energy or telecommunications) no modified opinions were found at all. The statistical results of the study showed that the type of auditor's opinion is not statistically significantly related to either the company's sector of activity or the financial year. Summarizing the results of the study, it is concluded that the quality of financial reporting of companies listed on the Nasdaq Baltic market is high in the analyzed period. The auditor's opinion remains a reliable tool for assessing financial information. It is proposed that future studies assess the quality of financial reporting in greater detail by analyzing not only the type of auditor's opinion but also the main audit matters. They would allow the identification of the most significant areas of audit risk. It is also recommended to expand the analyzed period. This will help assess long-term trends in the distribution of auditor's conclusions and possible changes in the quality of financial reporting. Since the study was limited, it is proposed to conduct future studies using broader information, for example, to analyze the audit process or the corporate governance structure. |
