The Relationship between Auditors Stress with Audit Quality and Internal Control Weakness

The present study is concerned about the relationship between auditors' work stress with audit quality, internal control weakness, and the impact of being a primary auditor on the relationship between auditors' work stress and audit quality in listed companies on the Tehran Stock Exchange. The study's statistical sample involves 111 listed firms on the Tehran Stock Exchange from 2012 to 2018, and the Stata Software is used for data analysis. The findings argue that auditors' stressful work environment is likely to deteriorate the quality of audit services. Moreover, we articulate that being the primary auditor plays a moderating role in the association between audit work stress and audit quality. Finally, the results show that job stress does not let auditors understand internal controls to identify material weaknesses and recommend efficient solutions. We expect this study to contribute to practical issues on auditors' work stress and provide some scientific evidence for improving the supervisory policies. We hope this study proposes a quantitative method to contribute to work stress decrease and the system for dealing with the stress reaction.