Linguistic performance and legibility of auditors’ reports with modified opinions : An advanced investigation based on the ISAs on audit reports

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to measure the understandability of the illustrations provided by the International Federation of Accountants in terms of the structural features of international auditors’ reports with modified opinions. Design/methodology/approach – Measurement of the legibility of reports illustrated by the revised ISA 705 and ISA 706. This paper discusses the compliance level of modified auditors’ reports with the linguistic rules. Findings – It was found that the standardized illustrations of modified reports are not fully understandable by users of financial statements. The illustrations of modified auditors’ reports are not compliant with several linguistic rules. Originality/value – This paper provides new original investigation about the linguistic features of illustrations provided by the ISA 705 and ISA 706. This paper discusses the level of unintelligibility of standardized auditors’ reports and the implications for stakeholders.