Abstract:
To study 1) the factors which associated with audit time budgets, and the relationship level of each factor associated with audit time budgets of certified public accountants in auditing companies listed in the Stock Exchange of Thailand, 2) the differences of the factors associated with audit time budgets between accountants from big-four and non-big four audit companies. The methodology and approaches of this study apply documentary research, interviews, questionnaires and statistical analysis using correlation and regression analysis at significant level of 0.10. This study classifies factors into five groups : 1) number of transactions, 2) inherent risk and internal control, 3) complexity of client's structure, 4)change in accounting standard and complexity of transaction, and 5) external factor. The study shows that there is a relationship between five groups of factors and the audit time budget. The top three factors that have high correlation with audit time budget are total assets, inventory and total receivable. For big-four audit firms, the result shows that there is a relationship between audit time budget and total receivable, level of internal control, application of unique and complex accounting standard and company only or consolidated financial statement which explain 44.80% of audit time budget. Finally, for non-big four audit firms, the result shows that there is a relationship between audit time budget and total assets and assessment of inherent risk resulting from business types which explain 56.30% of audit time budget. The different result between difference in big-four auditing firms and non-big four auditing firms may come from the difference in audit firms characteristics such as audit technology, varieties of specialists in the firms and training hours or from the different of client base