The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the External Auditor’s Effort and His Opinion on the Firm is Going Concern

This study aims to measure the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the effort of an external auditor and his opinion on the going concern of the firm through an applied study of firms registered in the Saudi capital market. The added value of the research is to develop a model to test the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on auditing financial statements by building models to measure the auditor’s effort, and opinion on the firm’s going concern after and before the (Coronavirus) COVID-19 pandemic. The results show that the COVID-19 pandemic is not significantly associated with the external auditor’s effort and opinion on the firm is of concern (OGC). The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted external auditors to step up their risk assessments and scrutiny procedures. Firms’ financial stability, liquidity, and capacity to carry on business operations in the face of the pandemic’s economic uncertainties are all areas which auditors are closely monitoring.