Abstract:  

The completion of the audit report of companies is an important factor in determining the timeliness of company annual reports publication. The aim of this article is to report the results of an empirical investigation of factors that affect the timeli ness of audit report in Jordan. The study sample includes 137 firms listed on the Jordanian Stock Exchange. The findings show that for the services sector profitability ratio, type of audit firm, and company size were negatively correlated with audit timeliness, where leverage was the only variable that has a significant correlation. Comparatively, the results for the industrial sector show that profitability ratio, type of audit firm, company size and leverage were all negatively correlated with audit timeliness. In t erms of contribution, this paper is considered original in significance and it is considered among the first to examine audit reports timeliness in Jordan.