Does Audit Quality Affect Financial Performance? An Application on the BIST Industrial Index

In this study, the effect of independent audit quality on financial performance was investigated. In this context, the number of audit committee members, auditor opinion and audit firm size were used as audit quality indicators, and ROA, ROE and Tobin Q variables were used to measure financial performance. The data set of the research includes the annual data of 123 companies included in the BIST Industrial Index for the years 2015-2021. Linear panel regression analysis method was used to analyse the data. The results revealed that there is no significant relationship between the number of audit committee members and ROA and ROE. However, the study found that there is a significant and positive relationship between the number of audit committee members and Tobin Q. Also, there is no relationship between the auditor's opinion and ROA, ROE, and Tobin Q, and no relationship between firm size and ROA, according to the study. The results also pointed to a significant and negative relationship between audit firm size and ROE and Tobin Q.