Abstract:
The objective of this research is to study the presentation of key audit matters (KAMs) in auditors' reports and to study the relationship between investor reaction to the communication of key audit matters in the auditor's reports. The samples used in the study are listed companies on the Stock Exchange of Thailand and the Mai Stock Exchange during the period of year 2016 - 2019. The researcher measures investors reaction by abnormal trading volume and cumulative abnormal returns. The researcher uses descriptive statistics to study the preliminary characteristics of the samples and employs multiple regression analysis to examine relationships and research hypotheses. The results show that the auditors reports of the samples show an average of KAMs is 1.86. Most of them (63%) express KAMs in a descriptive form and the remaining (37%) present in tabular form. According to hypothesis testing for investors reaction to the number of KAMs and to KAM format, investors reaction as measured by abnormal trading volume are statistically negatively related to the number of KAMs. But the results do not find the relationship with the KAM format. However, measuring investors reaction by cumulative abnormal returns, the researcher does not find the relationship between investors reaction and the number of KAMs, and the relationship between the investors reaction and the KAM format.