The impact of the independence of the Audit committee on the Shopping of auditors' opinions in light of market competition: an applied study on a sample of banks listed in the Iraq Stock Exchange

Abstract

    The current study aims to investigate the impact of independence as one of the most important characteristics of the audit committee on the shopping of external auditors' opinions in light of the competition between banks listed on the Iraq Stock Exchange. The researcher used a sample of 32 banks, from whose annual financial data 160 observations were extracted during the period from 2019 to 2023, and using the logistic regression model using the SPSS statistical analysis program to analyze these observations, the results of the hypothesis test showed that there is a statistically significant moral impact between the independence of the audit committee and the shoppting of auditors' opinions, and that competition between banks has no role in this impact, and that the governing variables represented by profitability, liquidity and financial leverage are important in influencing the shopping of auditors' opinions. This study recommended that companies and government agencies in Iraq enhance the requirements for the independence of audit committees and set standards to evaluate their level, and the importance of training audit committee members to improve their understanding of their roles and responsibilities.