• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
• /
• v.9 no.4
• /
• pp.261-272
• /
• 2022

This study examined the association between key audit matters (KAM) and the cost of debt. Financial records and auditors' reports were used to collect data for the fiscal years 2016 and 2017, which were the first two years after KAM was implemented in Thailand. Samples are listed companies in Thailand, where the financial system is primarily debt-based and external auditors play an important role in maintaining financial reporting quality. The final samples for the two-year period consist of 770 observations. The KAM is measured in three aspects: the number of issues, the number of words, and the readability, while the cost of debt is measured by the ratio of interest expense to total debt. The research finds that the KAM readability is significantly and negatively related to the cost of debt. Meanwhile, the number of issues and words have no significant effect on the cost of debt. The finding suggests that auditors' writing skills play a crucial role in the lending decisions of creditors.