scholarly journals Audit committees and financial reporting quality

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Habiba Al-Shaer ◽  
Aly Salama ◽  
Steven Toms
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Audit Committees ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Corporate Governance Mechanisms ◽  
International Comparative Research ◽  
Environmental Disclosures ◽  
International Comparative ◽  
The Uk

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of the volume of environmental disclosures and their quality, with particular focus on the role of audit committees (ACs) and the effects of the Smith report recommendations for the UK Corporate Governance Code. Design/methodology/approach Quantitative large sample analysis of UK FTSE350 companies for the period 2007-2011. Findings Firms with higher quality ACs make higher quality disclosures. Larger firms with block shareholders have greater volume of disclosures, whilst AC quality does not increase disclosure volume. Research limitations/implications Findings are based on evidence from single country and imply further international comparative research. Practical implications ACs mitigate the requirement for prescriptive legislation on narrative accounting disclosures relating to environmental issues. Originality/value The paper contributes to research that has examined the relationship between corporate governance mechanisms, specifically ACs, and the quality of financial reporting by considering voluntary narrative disclosures on environmental matters.

Board and audit committee effectiveness in the post-ASX Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations era

2017 ◽  
Vol 43 (10) ◽  
pp. 1137-1151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maryam Safari
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Earnings Management ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Boards Of Directors ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Audit Committees ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Aggregate Effect

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the corporate governance literature by examining the aggregate effect of board and audit committee characteristics on earnings management practices, particularly in the period following the introduction of the second edition of the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations. Design/methodology/approach This paper begins by embarking on an extensive review of extant empirical research on boards of directors and audit committees. Then, the paper reports on the use of a quantitative analysis approach to specify the relationship between board and audit committee characteristics (introduced by the ASX Corporate Governance Council) and the level of absolute discretionary accruals as a proxy for earnings management. Findings The findings suggest that greater compliance with board and audit committee principles is linked to lower earnings management, indicating that deliberate structuring of boards and audit committees is an effective approach for enhancing a firm’s financial reporting quality and providing support for the efficacy of the second edition of principles and recommendations related to boards and audit committees suggested by the ASX Corporate Governance Council. Practical implications This study significantly extends the literature and has notable implications for financial reporting regulators, as the findings regarding the monitoring role of boards and audit committees should be beneficial for future revisions of corporate governance principles and recommendations. Originality/value This study focuses on the aggregate effect of board characteristics recommended by the Australian Corporate Governance Council on earnings management practices, and the results support the effectiveness of the board and audit committee characteristics recommended by the ASX Corporate Governance Council. New directions for future improvements to the principles and recommendations are identified.

scholarly journals The impact of corporate governance mechanisms on real and accrual earnings management practices: evidence from Jordan

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 1167-1186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lara Al-Haddad ◽  
Mark Whittington
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Earnings Management ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Public Firms ◽  
Corporate Governance Mechanisms ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the impact of corporate governance (CG) mechanisms on real (REM), accrual-based earnings management (AEM) and REM/AEM interaction in Jordan following the 2009 Jordanian CG Code (JCGC). Design/methodology/approach The study used a sample of 108 Jordanian public firms covering 2010-2014. Hypotheses are tested using pooled OLS-regression models. Findings The authors find that both institutional and managerial ownership constrain the use of REM and AEM. In contrast, both independent directors and large shareholders are found to exaggerate such practices, and CEO-duality is found to exaggerate REM only. However, foreign ownership does not appear to have a significant impact. They further find that managers use REM and AEM jointly to obtain the greatest earnings impact. Practical implications The findings have important implications for policymakers, regulators, audit professionals and investors in their attempts to constrain earnings management (EM) practices and improve financial reporting quality in Jordan. Originality/value The authors believe this to be the first Jordanian study examining the relationship between CG mechanisms and both REM and AEM following the introduction of the 2009 JCGC, as well as the first in Jordan and the Middle East to examine board characteristics and REM. Moreover, it is the first to test for the potential substitution of REM and AEM since the 2009 JCGC enactment. As such, the findings draw attention to EM practices and the role of monitoring mechanisms in Jordan.

Audit committee ownership and audit report lag: evidence from Australia

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-125
Author(s):  
Md. Borhan Uddin Bhuiyan ◽  
Mabel D’Costa
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Financial Statements ◽  
Audit Committees ◽  
Financial Reporting Quality ◽  
Audit Report ◽  
Content Type ◽  
External Auditors ◽  
Using Data

Purpose This paper aims to examine whether audit committee ownership affects audit report lag. Independent audit committees are responsible for overseeing the financial reporting process, to ensure that financial statements are both credible and released to external stakeholders in a timely manner. To date, however, the extent to which audit committee ownership strengthens or compromises member independence, and hence, influences audit report lag, has remained unexplored. Design/methodology/approach This paper hypothesizes that audit committee ownership is associated with audit report lag. Further, the author hypothesize that both the financial reporting quality and the going concern opinions of a firm mediate the effect of audit committee ownership on audit report lag. Findings Using data from Australian listed companies, the author find that audit committee ownership increases audit report lag. The author further document that financial reporting quality and modified audit opinions rendered by external auditors mediate this positive relationship. The results are robust to endogeneity concerns emanating from firms’ deliberate decisions to grant shares to the audit committee members. Originality/value The study contributes to both the audit report timeliness and the corporate governance literatures, by documenting an adverse effect of audit committee ownership.

scholarly journals The impact of corporate governance mechanisms and IFRS on earning management in Saudi Arabia

Accounting ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 207-224
Author(s):  
Abdulwahid A. Hashed ◽  
Faozi A. Almaqtari
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Financial Reporting Quality ◽  
Earning Management ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Corporate Governance Mechanisms ◽  
Positive Effect

The current research seeks to assess the influence of corporate governance mechanisms and IFRS adoption on compliance with IFRS, earning management, and financial reporting quality(FRQ). A sample comprises 102 Saudi listed firms for the period spanning from 2014 up to 2019 was used. The study used descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and multivariate analysis to estimate the results. The results reveal that while board size, board meeting and foreign ownership had negative effects on compliance with IFRS, board and audit committee independence exhibited a positive effect. Further, the results demonstrate that there was a sign of earning management under IFRS when a performance magnitude was used. The results also indicate that board and audit committee size, audit committee meeting and managerial ownership had significant negative effects on financial reporting quality however, board and audit committee independence showed a significant positive effect. Importantly, the results found that FRQ under IFRS was better than Saudi GAAP. The present research provides practical implications for policy makers, stock market authority, and academicians. More regulatory and disclosure requirements have to be imposed and financial reporting supervisory board need to be formed. The present research provides a novel contribution to IFRS compliance, earning management, financial reporting quality and corporate governance literature. It has a unique contribution as it attempts to investigate this issue in the context of an emerging economy and a recent IFRS adopter; Saudi Arabia that has special country-specific characteristics. The study also provides an evidence by investigating earning management and financial reporting quality under both sets of accounting standards; IFRS and Saudi GAAP.

scholarly journals The impact of good corporate governance practices on financial reporting quality: Empirical evidence from Jordanian listed companies

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 178-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khaled Erieg Abu-Risheh ◽  
Mo’taz Amin Al-Sa’eed
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Board Of Directors ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Audit Committees ◽  
Financial Reporting Quality ◽  
Good Corporate Governance ◽  
Governance Practices ◽  
The Relationship

The main objective of this paper is to analyze the relationship between the good corporate governance practices on the financial reporting quality of Jordanian listed companies. Specifically, we focus on the board’s independence, board’s transparency, and separate audit committee. A listing of Share -Traded Jordanian Companies was available from the Amman Stock Exchange as of 31 December 2011. A total of (167) company shares were traded as of 31 of December 2011. It was decided to distribute (160) questionnaires to the related external auditors, the expertise members of the Audit Committees, and the Jordanian regulatory bodies that oversight the corporate reporting of those companies, which include the Jordanian Securities Commission, Insurance Commission, and Central Bank of Jordan. The empirical study is realized based on a sample of the companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange. Our research results shows that the good corporate governance practices impact the financial reporting quality, were Independence is considered one of the determinants of the success of financial reporting quality (T = 3.709, 008) and (R= 0.676), in addition to that; the independent variables are able to explain the variance in the dependent variable, a multiple regression test was carried out to test the relationship between board of directors’ transparency, board of directors’ independence, and audit committees, and financial reporting quality (FRQ), they are able to explain nearly 0.805% (R=0.805% P< 0.000) of the variance in financial reporting quality. The correlation analysis allows testing the strength of relationships between several independent variables and one dependent variable, which is the case in this study. The results of correlation analysis shows that the relationships between boards of directors’ transparency, board of directors’ independence, and separate audit committees, and the dependent variable which is financial reporting quality (FRQ), are significant.

scholarly journals Audit committee diversity and corporate scandals: evidence from the UK

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig McLaughlin ◽  
Stephen Armstrong ◽  
Maha W. Moustafa ◽  
Ahmed A. Elamer
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Corporate Fraud ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Corporate Scandals ◽  
Corporate Scandal ◽  
Binary Regression Analysis ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Uk

Purpose This paper aims to empirically analyse specific characteristics of an audit committee that could be associated with the likelihood of corporate fraud/scandal/sanctions. Design/methodology/approach The sample includes all firms that were investigated by the Financial Reporting Council through the audit enforcement procedure from 2014 to 2019, and two matched no-scandal firms. It uses logistic binary regression analysis to examine the hypotheses. Findings Results based on the logit regression suggest that audit member tenure and audit committee meeting frequency both have positive associations to the likelihood of corporate scandal. Complementing this result, the authors find negative but insignificant relationships amongst audit committee female chair, audit committee female members percentage, audit committee qualified accountants members, audit committee attendance, number of shares held by audit committee members, audit committee remuneration, board tenure and the likelihood of corporate scandal across the sample. Research limitations/implications The results should help regulatory policymakers make decisions, which could be crucial to future corporate governance. Additionally, these results should be useful to investors who use corporate governance as criteria for investment decisions. Originality/value The authors extend, as well as contribute to the growing literature on the audit committee, and therefore, wider corporate governance literature and provide originality in that it is the first, to the knowledge, to consider two characteristics (i.e. remuneration and gender) in a UK context of corporate scandal. Also, the results imply that the structure and diversity of the audit committee affect corporate fraud/scandal/sanctions.

scholarly journals Earnings quality across different reporting regimes

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siming Liu ◽  
Len Skerratt
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Earnings Quality ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Listed Companies ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Small Companies ◽  
Small Company ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Income Statement ◽  
The Uk

Purpose Since the UK Companies Act 1981, different reporting standards have developed for different classes of company to reduce the reporting burden on non-listed companies. There are now different regimes for listed, large private, medium-sized, small and micro companies. This strategy raises the issue of whether earnings quality across the different classes of company is comparable. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses the smoothness of earnings to measure reporting quality across the different types of companies from 2006 to 2013, based on 514,000 observations. Smoothness is an indicator of poor quality. Findings The authors find that listed companies have the highest earnings quality, closely followed by small and micro companies. In contrast, large private and medium-sized companies have much lower earnings quality. Overall, the authors find companies which switch between reporting regimes have lower earnings quality. The authors also find that earnings quality is not affected by the small company exemption from audit. Research limitations/implications Companies filing abbreviated accounts are excluded since they do not file an income statement. The recent revisions to UK GAAP (FRS 102 and FRS 105) are not examined due to insufficient data. Practical implications The Financial Reporting Council’s (FRC) strategy of reducing the financial reporting and auditing obligations for small companies seems not to have significantly affected earnings quality. However, the FRC may need to review the reporting requirements of large private and medium-sized companies and also the option of companies to switch between reporting regimes; in these settings earnings quality appears to be weaker. Originality/value The paper studies the effect of earnings quality across the different reporting regimes in the UK. Novel and important features of the study are that the sample covers a wide variety of small and micro companies which have not been analyzed previously; the results are disaggregated by year, for assurance that the results are not driven by a single rogue year; and the authors also address the small company exemption from audit, and the flexibility of non-listed companies to switch between regimes.

scholarly journals ESG disclosure and firm performance before and after IR

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 429-444 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khaldoon Albitar ◽  
Khaled Hussainey ◽  
Nasir Kolade ◽  
Ali Meftah Gerged
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Financial Performance ◽  
Gender Diversity ◽  
Ownership Concentration ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Moderation Effect ◽  
Corporate Governance Mechanisms ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the effect of environmental, social and governance disclosure (ESGD) on firm performance (FP) before and after the introduction of integrated reporting (IR) further to exploring a potential moderation effect of corporate governance mechanisms on this relationship. Design/methodology/approach Ordinary least squares and firm-fixed effects models were estimated based on data related to FTSE 350 between 2009 and 2018. The data has been mainly collected from Bloomberg and Capital IQ. This analysis was supplemented with applying a two-stage least squares (2 SLS) model to address any concerns regarding the expected occurrence of endogeneity problems. Findings The results show a positive and significant relationship between ESGD score and FP before and after 2013, among a sample of FTSE 350. Furthermore, the study is suggestive of a moderation effect of corporate governance mechanisms (i.e. ownership concentration, gender diversity and board size) on the ESGD-FP nexus. Additionally, this paper finds that firms voluntarily associated with IR have a tendency to achieve better firm financial performance. Practical implications The findings of the present study have several policy and practitioner implications. For example, managers may engage in ESGD to enhance their firms’ financial performance by the voluntary involvement in IR, which believed to help investors to rationalise their investment decisions. Likewise, the results reiterate the crucial need to integrate more social, environmental and economic regulations to promote sustainability in the UK. The paper also offers a systematic picture for policymakers in the UK as well as future researchers. Social implications The findings of this paper indicate that IR plays a significant role in the relationship between ESGD and FP, where IR firms seemed to be achieving better FP as compared with their non-IR counterparts. This implies that stakeholders may have played a magnificent effort to encourage firms’ voluntary engagement in IR in the UK. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to explore the potential moderating effect of ownership concentration, gender diversity and board size on the relationship between ESGD and FP and to examine whether firms’ voluntary involvement in IR can lead to better FP after the introduction of IR in 2013 in the UK.

The Audit Committee as Component of Corporate Governance

2021 ◽  
pp. 188-215
Author(s):  
Sana Masmoudi Mardessi ◽  
Yosra Makni Makni Fourati
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Fraudulent Financial Reporting ◽  
Corporate Governance Mechanisms ◽  
Financial Scandals ◽  
Main Component

Recently, numerous financial scandals (WorldCom, Enron, Parmalat, eToys) have shown that plentiful companies produce manipulated financial information. Consequently, regulators have prescribed corporate governance structures to protect investors and to avoid fraudulent financial reporting which are likely to control managers and limit their opportunistic behavior. Thus, there has been much debate over the extent to which corporate governance is playing a crucial role in increasing financial reporting quality from the theoretical perspective of agency theory, signaling theory, and stakeholder theory. This chapter aims at scrutinizing the internal and external mechanisms of corporate governance mainly the audit committee in the Dutch context. Firstly, the authors expose the numerous corporate governance mechanisms. Secondly, they focus on the audit committee as the main component of corporate governance, and they present the theoretical background, the role, and the characteristics of audit committee. Eventually, they exhibit the regulatory background of the Dutch context of the audit committee.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document