The Impact of Audit Quality on the Relationship between Corporate Characteristics and the Level of Sustainability Disclosure in Saudi-listed Firms

This study examines the relationship between bank characteristics (size and age) and the level of sustainable disclosure and the effect of audit quality as a moderating variable on this relationship by bringing evidence from banks listed in the Saudi financial market during the period 2014-2018. The results indicated that the size of the bank does not affect the level of sustainability disclosure in Saudi banks. Meanwhile, we found that bank age has a significant impact on the level of sustainability disclosure. We also find that audit quality does not affect the relationship between bank characteristics (size and age) and the level of sustainability disclosure. The results of this study can provide valuable information to regulatory and supervisory bodies and standard setters and give an idea of the extent of the Kingdom’s readiness to adopt the IFRS sustainability disclosure standards, which may ultimately help improve the level of sustainability disclosure.