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Grammatical Errors, Financial Reporting Quality, and Audit Engagement Risk

Blake Canziani et al.

Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory2026https://doi.org/10.2308/ajpt-2024-064article
AJG 3ABDC A*
Weight
0.50

Abstract

SUMMARY We examine whether grammatical errors (GEs) in financial reports provide a timely signal of the reliability of firms’ financial information. Consistent with the notion that GEs capture the time, effort, and resources devoted to financial filings, we find that GEs are more common when firms have less time to prepare their financial reports and, importantly, that they are positively associated with the likelihood of a future restatement and the discovery of an internal control weakness. We also document a positive association between GEs and auditor effort. Collectively, our findings suggest that GEs provide a credible signal of financial reporting quality and audit engagement risk. JEL Classifications: M40; M41; M42.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.2308/ajpt-2024-064

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@article{blake2026,
  title        = {{Grammatical Errors, Financial Reporting Quality, and Audit Engagement Risk}},
  author       = {Blake Canziani et al.},
  journal      = {Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.2308/ajpt-2024-064},
}

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Grammatical Errors, Financial Reporting Quality, and Audit Engagement Risk

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.