The study reported here provides evidence on one assumption that is made routinely in the conduct of an audit -- that the U. S. Postal Service will return to the auditor confirmation requests that are difficult or impossible to deliver. Six hundred confirmation requests were sent to non-existent addressees and/or non-existent street addresses in 95 cities, and the percentage and timing of the returned requests were analyzed. The use of a complete 2x2x2x3 factorial design enabled the impact of four independent variables--size of city, type of recipient, type of postage, and type of "problem" or error--to be assessed for both the percentage of requests returned and the timing of the returns. In this study, 100 percent of the confirmation requests mailed to non-existent names at non-existent addresses were returned as undeliverable by the Postal Service. However, when an existing name (address) was used, some of the requests were delivered, despite the non-existent address (name). Overall, the results suggest that auditors are justified in relying on the U. S. Postal Service to return "problem" confirmation requests.

The article reviews the book "Earnings or Cash Flows: An Experiment on Functional Fixation and the Valuation of the Firm," by A. Rashad Abdel-Khalik and Thomas F. Keller.

We examine the determinants of “audit delay,” the number of calendar days from fiscal year‐end to the audit report date. A descriptive model of audit delay is tested on a sample of 465 companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange from 1977 to 1982. Although several variables included in the model are statistically significant, the proportion of variability in audit delay explained by the variables is low. Descriptive data are presented for variables consistently associated with audit delay over the six‐year period — auditor size, industry classification, existence of extraordinary items, and sign of net income. Some directions for future research are also suggested. Résumé. Les auteurs examinent les déterminants du «délai de vérification», soit le nombre de jours francs qui s'écoulent entre la fin de l'exercice financier et la publication du rapport des vérificateurs. Ils vérifient un modèle descriptif du délai de vérification sur un échantillon de 465 entreprises cotées à la bourse de Toronto, de 1977 à 1982. Bien que plusieurs variables incluses dans le modèle soient statistiquement significatives, la proportion de la variation du délai de vérification expliquée par ces variables est mince. Les auteurs présentent des données descriptives pour les variables associées de façon uniforme au délai de vérification, sur la période de six ans — la taille du cabinet de vérification, la classification du secteur, l'existence de postes extraordinaires et le caractère positif ou négatif du résultat net. Ils suggèrent également certaines pistes de recherche à envisager.

Auditing, Audit delay, Timeliness