Examination of the situations that require an opinion other than a positive opinion in independent audit in Turkey: A study on BIST 100

Studies in the literature show how the changes in the financial statements of the audited companies and the characteristic features of the audited company affect the opinion in the independent audit. Studies showing that the statistics of the incomes of independent auditing firms affect the opinion expressed during the independent audit have been conducted mostly in countries such as the EU and the USA. The validity of the discussions on this issue continues in developing countries, such as Turkey. This study examines the situations that require an opinion other than a positive opinion in Turkey according to the BDS 705 opinion standards, which are among the independent auditing standards. In addition to the literature, it was analyzed how the audit opinions given by the companies listed in BIST 100 between the years 2018-2022 were affected during the audit. The purpose of this study is to examine the situations that cause companies listed in BIST 100 to be given opinions other than positive. In the study, a total of 500 company audit reports were considered. These reports were analyzed using content analysis method, which is one of the qualitative research methods. As a result of the examined reports, it was concluded that a positive opinion was given in the audit report of 426 companies and a conditional opinion was given in the audit report of 59 companies. It has been determined that a total of 15 companies have not reached the audit report.