Audit committee and financial reporting quality: the moderating effect of audit quality

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sana Mardessi
Keyword(s):  
Earnings Management ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Audit Quality ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Moderating Effect ◽  
Real Earnings Management ◽  
Financial Reporting Quality ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose The purpose of this study is to address the impact of audit quality on financial reporting quality proxied by real earnings management. To further clarify the mentioned links, this study empirically assesses the moderating effect of audit quality. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on a sample consisting of 90 non-financial companies that are listed in the Amsterdam stock exchange in AEX all share index over the 2010–2017 period. This study applies a quantitative approach and secondary data as the main source of information for analysis. This paper performs an ordinary least squares regression to examine the moderating effect of audit quality on the relationship between financial reporting quality. Findings Empirical findings demonstrate that corporate governance mechanism, mainly independence members, financial expert and audit committee size has a statistically significant relationship with real earnings management. However, the effect of audit committee meetings on real earnings management is not significant. There is also evidence that audit quality moderates the audit committee – real earnings management links. Originality/value This study extends the existing literature by examining the moderating effect of audit quality on the relationship between financial reporting quality proxied by real earnings management in the Dutch context.

scholarly journals AN INVESTIGATION ON THE EFFECT OF AUDIT COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL REPORTING QUALITY IN PRE AND POST IFRS ADOPTION: EVIDENCE FROM MALAYSIAN COMPANIES

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 25-35
Author(s):  
Citrawati Jatiningrum ◽  
Fauzi ◽  
Rita Irviani ◽  
Mujiyati ◽  
Shahanif Hasan
Keyword(s):  
Earnings Management ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Audit Quality ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Financial Reporting Quality ◽  
Ifrs Adoption ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose of study: This study sought to investigate the effect of the audit committee on Financial Reporting Quality (FRQ), explicitly focuses on the period pre- and post-mandatory IFRS adoption in Malaysia. The Financial Reporting Quality in this study proxied by earnings management. Malaysian. Methodology: The sample study has covered 81 listed companies on Bursa Malaysia, with 567 observations, which examined the time of 2009 to 2015. The relationship was analyzed by statistical multiple regression linear methods and also examined the significance of differences between pre and post IFRS adoption by paired sample t-test. Result: The main finding reveals that the relationship between the audit committee and financial reporting quality after IFRS adoption in Malaysia has more significant. However, empirical evidence showed that the post period of mandatory IFRS evidently no significant difference level of earnings management practice. This result indicates that the IFRS adoption cannot reduce managerial discretion yet and the possibility for EM manipulation for Malaysian companies. Implication/Application: This finding has critical implications for regulators and policymakers, that the consequences of IFRS adoption do not increase the quality of financial reporting when EM practices still continue in the different forms. Novelty/Originality of this study: This study gives empirical evidence that there are differences in relationship level between audit quality and earnings management in the period before and after IFRS mandatory adoption in Malaysia companies.

scholarly journals The effect of audit committee characteristics on financial reporting quality: The moderating role of audit quality in the Netherlands

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 19-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sana Mardessi Masmoudi
Keyword(s):  
Earnings Management ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Audit Quality ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Real Earnings Management ◽  
Financial Reporting Quality ◽  
Moderating Role

The purposes of this study are to shed light, on the one hand, on the effect of audit committee characteristics, namely independent members in audit committee, a financial expert in audit committee, frequency of meetings and audit committee size on financial reporting quality proxied by real earnings management. On the other hand, it aims to investigate the moderating role of audit quality in the relationship between audit committee characteristics and financial reporting quality. The objective is to contribute to the new evidence on the role of audit committee characteristics towards the financial reporting quality with audit quality as a moderator, particularly the appointment of Big 4 company. This study uses the ordinary least squares (OLS) regression to achieve the research purpose by evaluating the data collected from 90 public listed companies from 2010 to 2019 in the Dutch context. The results state that audit committee characteristics have a statistically significant relationship with real earnings management. However, the effect of audit committee meetings on abnormal operating cash flow and discretionary expenses is not significant. There is also evidence that audit quality positively moderates the audit committee and real earnings management links. Lastly, the findings of this study will help professional accountancy bodies and governments to highlight the relevance of earnings management in safeguarding trustworthy financial information, owners’ wealth and to enhance audit committee characteristics in improving audit quality, especially after the enforcement of the Dutch Corporate Governance Code in 2016.

Effective audit committee, audit quality and earnings management

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 138-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inaam ZGARNI ◽  
Khmoussi HLIOUI ◽  
Fatma ZEHRI
Keyword(s):  
Earnings Management ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Audit Quality ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Financial Reporting Quality ◽  
Institutional Setting ◽  
Financial Security ◽  
Content Type

Purpose – A steady stream of literature has examined relationships between audit committee effectiveness, audit quality and financial reporting quality. The purpose of this paper is to connect these various streams of research to provide an empirical evidence from an Arabic emergent country namely Tunisia. This study examines the role of audit committee effectiveness and audit quality on financial reporting quality particularly to mitigate the earnings management in the Tunisian companies before and after financial security law adoption. Design/methodology/approach – The study uses ordinary least squares regression model to investigate the effect of audit committee characteristics, audit quality attributes and the interaction between these two overseeing mechanisms on earnings management for a sample of 29 non-financial listed Tunisian firms during the period 2001-2009. Findings – The results document a substitute effect between the presence of Big Four auditor and effective audit committee in order to reduce the discretionary accruals before the enforcement of law no. 2005-96 dealing with the financial securities. The authors find a complementarity link between the score of audit committee’s effectiveness and auditor industry specialization’s to constrain earnings management. Finally, the findings show a complementary relation between audit committee’s effectiveness and audit tenure, after the passage of the law. Research limitations/implications – This study shows the value of considering the institutional setting in governance research. This paper is restricted to firms in the Tunisia from 2001 to 2009. Future research should investigate this issue in other settings and periods. Practical implications – This study is important to practitioner and academic literature, policy makers and professional accounting bodies as it shows that legislative reforms can enhance companies to adopt good governance practices in emerging countries. The results also give useful information to investors in examination the effect of audit committee characteristics and audit quality on earnings quality. Another interesting practical focus of this study is to assess how successful was the implementation of financial security law in improving audit transparency and support shareholder involvement in the audit process. Originality/value – The results suggested that governance regulation is a substitute for strong governance mechanisms in both the pre- and post-law periods.

Regulatory changes and audit fees: the moderating effect of overlapping directorship and financial reporting quality

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salau Olarinoye Abdulmalik ◽  
Ayoib Che-Ahmad
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Regulatory Reform ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Moderating Effect ◽  
Financial Reporting Quality ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Regulatory Changes ◽  
The Relationship

PurposeThis study examines the contemporaneous changes in the reporting regime in Nigeria by investigating the effect of regulatory changes on audit fees as well as the moderating effect of overlapping directorship and financial reporting quality.Design/methodology/approachThis study utilises a longitudinal sample of 409 firm-year observations, from 2008 to 2013, of nonfinancial companies listed on the Nigerian stock exchange. The study uses the general method of moments (GMM) to control for endogeneity concerns.FindingsThe results reveal that, without the moderating effect of overlapping directorship and financial reporting quality, the relationship between regulatory changes and audit fees is positive but weak, which suggests that regulatory changes drive cost. Similarly, the interaction of overlapping directorship did not reverse the positive relationship, which suggests the perceived risk associated with overlapping directorship. However, the improvement in financial reporting quality reverses the relationship, as evidenced by the negative and significant coefficient on the interacted terms.Practical implicationsThis study provides useful insights about committee membership overlap to regulatory authorities concerning the weakness of the monitoring ability of such committees.Originality/valueThe results of this study contribute to the growing literature on regulatory reform, audit fees and corporate governance. Specifically, the study provides empirical evidence on the effect of committee overlap on audit fees, which, to the best of the researchers' knowledge, has received no empirical attention in the Nigerian context.

The relationship between board leadership structure and earnings management in Asia-Pacific

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 413-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qaiser Rafique Yasser ◽  
Abdullah Al Mamun
Keyword(s):  
Earnings Management ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Financial Reporting Quality ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Leadership Structure ◽  
Board Leadership Structure ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose This study aims to review the growing research area of behavioral corporate governance; it explores the relationship between CEO duality attributes and earning management in the context of Asia-Pacific countries. Over time, the use by boards of chief executive officer (CEO) duality has fluctuated, and the scholarly conceptualizations of the phenomenon have become more complex. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses panel data from 330 firm years from Australia, Malaysia, The Philippines and Pakistan by taking a sample of three years from 2011 to 2013. Findings The results of the analysis reveal that the board leadership structure was not associated with firm performance and financial reporting quality. However, female CEOs impacted negatively on firm performance in Malaysia, The Philippines and Pakistan. Further analyses expose that the firm size was negatively related with performance, whereas established firms in Australia had strong reporting quality. However, large boards assured healthier reporting quality in Australia and Malaysia. Practical implications This paper provides empirical evidence that a unitary leadership pattern has no significant impact on companies in the Asia-Pacific, and it would be of interest to regulatory bodies, business practitioners and academic researchers. Originality/value This paper contributes to the literature on corporate governance and earnings management by introducing a framework for identifying and analyzing moderating variables that affect the relationship between the leadership structure and a firm’s financial reporting quality.

scholarly journals Earnings Management Behavior in Malaysia: The Role of Ownership Structure and External Auditing

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 185-221
Author(s):  
Nor Irdawati Mahyuddin ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Earnings Management ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Audit Quality ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Discretionary Accruals ◽  
Real Earnings Management ◽  
Financial Reporting Quality ◽  
External Control ◽  
Listed Firms

"This paper aims to empirically investigate firms’ earnings management (EM) behaviour, representing an issue in the realm of corporate financial reporting. Specifically, it explores the strategic roles of two common governance elements of ownership (managerial, institutional and family) and external audit in shaping the firms’ EM behaviour based on the two common EM attributes of Discretionary Accruals (DA) and Real Activities EM (REM). The analyses based on 227 survived Malaysian listed firms throughout the sixteen-year period from 2001 to 2016 (3,632 firm-year observations) indicate a dynamic EM behaviour depending on the presence of different ownership structures. Whilst a high percentage of family and institutional ownership mitigates DA, it however does not hold true for REM. Further, this paper also shows that the external control mechanism of audit quality is not significant in mitigating both EM attributes. The empirical results suggest that firms facing different challenges would affect the firms’ financial reporting behaviours in their choice of EM. The paper adds to the growing body of empirical knowledge dealing with the determinants of DA and REM from the lens of an emerging economy like Malaysia. KEYWORDS: Earnings management, discretionary accruals, real earnings management, accrual earnings management, financial reporting quality."

scholarly journals Busy boards and corporate earnings management: an international analysis

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 533-556 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen P. Ferris ◽  
Min-Yu (Stella) Liao
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Earnings Management ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Financial Reporting Quality ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Corporate Earnings ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Reported Earnings

Purpose Because of our limited understanding of the incidence and effect of board busyness globally, the mixed evidence of the effect of board busyness obtained in the USA and the divergence of international patterns of director busyness from that observed in the USA, the author contends that there is a strong need to examine board busyness from a global perspective. The literature, however, does not examine the effect of board busyness on reported earnings quality and certainly does not analyze it internationally. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to examine the effect of multiple board appointments on the quality of a firm’s reported earnings. Design/methodology/approach The research design for this study is empirical. It uses both univariate and multivariate statistical analysis to examine historical corporate accounting, finance and governance data. Findings Consistent with the busyness hypothesis of corporate governance, the author finds that firms with a higher proportion of busy independent directors or busy CEOs manage their earnings more extensively. Further, the findings of this study present that firms with a higher proportion of busy independent audit committee members have poorer financial reporting quality. Using a sample of American Depository Receipts (ADRs), this study determines that the ineffectiveness of busy boards regarding earnings management is mitigated by the listing regulations imposed by US exchanges. Research limitations/implications The author believes that this study offers new and important evidence regarding the debate whether busy directors provide knowledge, skill and corporate connections, or whether they are overextended and, thus, unable to fully perform their monitoring duties. This study shows that firms with busy directors are associated with poorer financial reporting quality and, consistent with the busyness hypothesis, are less effective as managerial monitors. Practical implications This study provides useful guidance regarding board design and the kinds of policies that firms should adopt regarding multiple boarding. Social implications The social implications focus on the public policy implications regarding the importance of effective corporate governance in the reporting of financial wealth, wealth creation and wealth management. Originality/value This is the first study that examines the relation between board/committee busyness and corporate earnings management using a comprehensive set of international firms. Second, the author expands the analysis of audit committee into a new dimension: committee quality as captured by the busyness of its independent members. This study also contributes to the ongoing debate in the corporate finance literature regarding the reputation and busyness hypotheses of multiple directorships.

The effectiveness of audit committees for low‐ and mid‐cap firms

2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (7) ◽  
pp. 623-650 ◽  
Author(s):  
Won Sil Kang ◽  
Alan Kilgore ◽  
Sue Wright
Keyword(s):  
Earnings Management ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Audit Committees ◽  
Financial Reporting Quality ◽  
Governance Reform ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Significant Measure

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the effectiveness of recommendations made by the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) relating to audit committees in Australia, and whether they have improved financial reporting quality for low‐ and mid‐cap listed firms.Design/methodology/approachThe authors examine the relation between characteristics of the audit committee and financial reporting quality for listed companies not mandated to comply with these requirements, i.e. low‐ and mid‐cap firms. For a sample of 288 firms, the authors regress measures of audit committee independence, expertise and activity and size on alternative measures of earnings management.FindingsA significant association is found between all three characteristics and lower earnings management. The significant measure for independence is the proportion of independent directors on the audit committee; for expertise, it is that at least one member of the audit committee has an accounting qualification; and for activity and size, it is the frequency of audit committee meetings.Practical implicationsThe results provide support for the mandatory establishment of audit committees for the top 500 (high‐ and mid‐cap) firms introduced by the ASX and suggest those audit committee characteristics which could improve financial reporting quality for low‐ and mid‐cap firms.Originality/valueThe paper examines low‐ and mid‐cap firms in order to complement previous similar studies done for high‐cap firms. It identifies the effects on financial reporting quality of voluntarily choosing to have an audit committee and of the choice of audit committee characteristics, in the period after substantial corporate governance reform. It includes a new measure among audit committee characteristics, industry expertise, which is required in Australia and is new to the literature.

scholarly journals Audit committee disclosure tone and earnings management

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Habiba Al-Shaer ◽  
Mahbub Zaman
Keyword(s):  
Earnings Management ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Financial Reporting Quality ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Disclosure Tone

PurposeThis paper examines the effect of audit committee (AC) reporting, measured by the tone of audit committee disclosures, in improving financial reporting quality as proxied by earnings management.Design/methodology/approachThe authors focus on the textual properties of AC reports, particularly the tone of AC disclosure, and their impact on financial reporting quality proxied using real and accruals-based earnings management. For additional analysis, the authors use a financial reporting index and matched sample. The analysis is based on a sample of UK FTSE 350 firms.FindingsThe analysis suggests that AC reports are not boilerplate but varied in language. The authors find AC reporting is negatively associated with both real and accruals-based earnings management. In our additional tests, the authors find a positive association between financial reporting quality index and reporting tone.Research limitations/implicationsOverall, this paper provides baseline evidence for future research and policy making and reveals that ACs reporting what they have done increases transparency and impacts on reporting quality.Practical implicationsOverall, this paper suggests that the tone of AC reports seems to convey information that affects the communication function of AC reporting and thereby helps to improve reporting quality.Originality/valueThough the importance of AC disclosures in improving reporting quality is well recognised in policy guidelines and governance recommendations, no study has employed computer-based textual analysis of AC reports and investigated the effect of AC disclosure tone and the role it can play in achieving higher reporting quality.

The relationship between cost stickiness and financial reporting quality in Tehran Stock Exchange

2018 ◽  
Vol 67 (9) ◽  
pp. 1550-1565 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahdi Salehi ◽  
Nasrin Ziba ◽  
Ali Daemi Gah
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Financial Reporting Quality ◽  
Statistical Software ◽  
Testing Hypotheses ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Cost Stickiness

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between financial reporting and cost stickiness in companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange. Design/methodology/approach Data of all Iranian manufacturing listed companies gathered for testing hypotheses during 2010–2016 and R statistical software are employed in order to analyzing data. Findings The results of this study indicate that there is a significant relationship between administrative, sale, material, labor and overhead costs and the financial reporting qualities of the companies under study. Originality/value The study focuses on relationship between financial reporting and cost stickiness in companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange, which is the first study of its type in Iran.

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