scholarly journals Characteristics Of Diligent Audit Committees

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Braswell ◽  
Roger B. Daniels ◽  
Mark Landis ◽  
Chun-Chia (Amy) Chang
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Committee Member ◽  
Agency Cost ◽  
Audit Committees ◽  
Efficiency Gains ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Sarbanes Oxley ◽  
Financial Expertise ◽  
Composition Characteristics

The mounting attention given to audit committees following a series of corporate financial reporting failures has resulted in numerous provisions within Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX hereafter) of 2002. The SOX addresses aspects of the audit committee, including its authority and composition characteristics, but the requirement for minimum meeting frequency for the audit committee member was absent from the final SOX provision despite the recommendations of regulators. Since audit committee activity, or degree of audit committee diligence, is determined by the audit committee itself, we investigate various firm-level and governance attributes that likely influence audit committees choice to meet more often than anticipated. After analyzing a sample of 2,715 firm-year observations spanning fiscal years 1998-2003, we find that audit committee diligence is positively associated with audit committee attributes such as financial expertise, but negatively association with audit committee tenure, suggesting that efficiency gains are enjoyed by audit committees as they become more familiar with firm-specific reporting issues. We also document positive associations between audit committee diligence and both governance and agency cost variables. Finally, we document a significant increase in audit committee diligence in the years following the implementation of the SOX 2002 provisions.

Audit Committee Member Support for Proposed Audit Adjustments: Pre-SOX versus Post-SOX Judgments

2008 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Todd DeZoort ◽  
Dana R. Hermanson ◽  
Richard W. Houston
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Committee Member ◽  
Audit Committees ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Reporting Accuracy ◽  
Sarbanes Oxley ◽  
Public Company

This study examines differences in audit committee member judgments before the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (“pre-SOX”) versus after the act was passed (“post-SOX”) as well as audit committee member perceptions of the effects of SOX. Based on experimental materials administered to 372 public company audit committee members (131 pre-SOX from DeZoort et al. [2003a] and 241 post-SOX), we find that audit committee support for an auditor-proposed adjustment is significantly higher in the post-SOX period. Additional analyses reveal that the effect of SOX differs between audit committee members who are CPAs versus non-CPAs. Specifically, the greater audit committee member support for the proposed adjustment post-SOX is attributable to members who are CPAs. In general, audit committee members in the post-SOX period feel more responsible for resolving the accounting issue, perceive that audit committee members have greater expertise to evaluate the accounting issue, and also are more concerned with reporting accuracy and a need for conservative financial reporting than those in the pre-SOX period. We also find that post-SOX respondents who support the auditor's proposed adjustment have more favorable views of the benefits of SOX, and they believe more strongly that audit committees in the post-SOX period are more conservative and have more power than they did pre-SOX. We discuss implications and avenues for future research.

Did the 1999 NYSE and NASDAQ Listing Standard Changes on Audit Committee Composition Benefit Investors?

2017 ◽  
Vol 92 (6) ◽  
pp. 187-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seil Kim ◽  
April Klein
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Audit Committees ◽  
Financial Reporting Quality ◽  
Difference In Differences ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
Sarbanes Oxley ◽  
Independent Audit

ABSTRACT In December 1999, the SEC instituted a new listing standard for NYSE and NASDAQ firms. Listed firms were now required to maintain fully independent audit committees with at least three members. In July 2002, the U.S. Congress legislated these standards through the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Our research question is whether all investors benefited from the 1999 new rule. Using both an event study and a difference-in-differences methodology, we find no evidence of higher market value or better financial reporting quality resulting from this rule.

scholarly journals An Investigation on the Audit Committees Effectiveness: The Case for GLCs in Malaysia

2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nurul Nazlia Jamil ◽  
Sherliza Puat Nelson
Keyword(s):  
Earnings Management ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Audit Committees ◽  
Financial Reporting Quality ◽  
Financial Expertise ◽  
Monitoring Mechanism ◽  
The Impact

Financial reporting quality has been under scrutiny especially after the collapse of major companies. The main objective of this study is to investigate the audit committee’s effectiveness on the financial reporting quality among the Malaysian GLCs following the transformation program. In particular, the study examined the impact of audit committee characteristics (independence, size, frequency of meeting and financial expertise) on earnings management in periods prior to and following the transformation program (2003-2009). As of 31 December 2010, there were 33 public-listed companies categorized as Government-Linked Companies (GLC Transformation Policy, 2010) and there were 20 firms that have complete data that resulted in the total number of firm-year observations to 120 for six years (years 2003-2009).  Results show that the magnitude of earnings management as proxy of financial reporting quality is influenced by the audit committee independence. Agency theory was applied to explain audit committee, as a monitoring mechanism as well as reducing agency costs via gaining competitive advantage in knowledge, skills, and expertise towards financial reporting quality. The study is important as it provides additional knowledge about the impact of audit committees effectiveness on reducing the earnings management, and assist practitioners, policymakers and regulators such as Malaysian Institute of Accountants, Securities Commission and government to determine ways to enhance audit committees effectiveness and improve the financial reporting of GLCs, as well as improving the quality of the accounting profession.     

Audit committee effectiveness and financial reporting timeliness

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed Atef Oussii ◽  
Neila Boulila Taktak
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Emerging Market ◽  
Listed Companies ◽  
Audit Committees ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Governance System ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Financial Expertise ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether there is any relationship between the effectiveness of an audit committee and the financial reporting timeliness of Tunisian listed companies as proxied by external audit delay (AD). Analysis focuses on five audit committee characteristics: authority, financial expertise, independence, size and diligence. Design/methodology/approach Empirical tests address 162 firm-year observations drawn from Tunisian listed companies during 2011-2013. Findings Multivariate analyses indicate that audit committees with members who have financial expertise are significantly associated with shorter AD. Thus, the results suggest that audit committee financial expertise contributes to the improvement of financial statements’ timeliness. Research limitations/implications The audit committee attributes examined in this study were based on DeZoort et al. (2002) framework. There could be other aspects of audit committee effectiveness such as audit committee tenure and audit committee chair characteristics, which were not addressed in the present study. Thus, future research may consider and examine these other components of audit committee effectiveness. Practical implications Findings have managerial implications. Companies can re-look into how to further improve audit committee composition in order to enhance the timeliness of financial reporting. The issues of audit committee effectiveness and timely reporting also affect regulators and policy makers since they need to play a role in the establishment of effective audit committees and the improvement of financial reporting timeliness. Originality/value This study is one of few that have examined the impact of audit committee effectiveness on ADs in an emerging market country. Findings lend credence to the belief that audit committee members’ financial expertise enhances the quality of financial reporting by firms in a North African market criticized for the lack of maturity of its corporate governance system (Klibi, 2015; Fitch Ratings, 2009).

The Effects of Corporate Governance Experience and Financial-Reporting and Audit Knowledge on Audit Committee Members' Judgments

2001 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 31-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Todd DeZoort ◽  
Steven E. Salterio
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Committee Member ◽  
Audit Committees ◽  
Corporate Management ◽  
Senior Member ◽  
Conflict Situations ◽  
Ability Tests ◽  
Board Director

Interest in audit committees as part of overall corporate governance has increased dramatically in recent years, with a specific emphasis on member independence, experience, and knowledge. This paper reports the results of a study investigating whether audit committee members' corporate governance experience and financial-reporting and audit knowledge affect their judgments in auditor-corporate management conflict situations. A sample of 68 audit committee members completed an accounting policy dispute case and several knowledge and ability tests. The results indicate that, as expected, greater independent director experience and greater audit knowledge was associated with higher audit committee member support for an auditor who advocated a “substance over form” approach in the dispute with client management. Conversely, concurrent experience as a board director and a senior member of management was associated with increased support for management. Collectively, these findings have a number of implications for practice and research. The results provide justification for calls that audit committees be composed completely of independent directors. The results also support auditor concerns that varying knowledge levels lead to systematic differences in audit committee member judgments in disputes between auditors and management.

Busyness, Expertise, and Financial Reporting Quality of Audit Committee Chairs and Financial Experts

2014 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 59-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul N. Tanyi ◽  
David B. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Negative Association ◽  
Audit Committees ◽  
Financial Reporting Quality ◽  
Committee Chairman ◽  
Committee Chair ◽  
Financial Expertise ◽  
Reporting Process

SUMMARY We investigate how the number of audit committee chair positions and other audit committee financial expertise positions held by the audit committee chairman and the audit committee financial experts affects their ability to oversee a company's financial reporting process. We argue that these two audit committee roles are vital to the functioning of the audit committee and that their over commitment affects audit committee oversight and the firm's financial reporting quality. We observe a significant negative association between financial reporting quality and the number of audit committee chair positions and other audit committee financial expertise positions held by the audit committee chairman. We also find a significant negative association between financial reporting quality and the number of audit committee chair positions and other audit committee financial expertise positions held by audit committee financial experts. Firms with busy audit committee chairs or busy financial experts have significantly higher levels of abnormal accruals, and are more likely to meet or beat earnings benchmarks, which is consistent with the busyness hypothesis. This adverse effect, nonetheless, does not extend to nonaudit committee chairs and nonaudit committee financial experts. We interpret these results to indicate that the busyness of the audit committee chair and financial expert weakens the monitoring and oversight role that audit committees play in the financial reporting process.

Corporate Governance and Internal Control over Financial Reporting: A Comparison of Regulatory Regimes

2009 ◽  
Vol 84 (3) ◽  
pp. 839-867 ◽  
Author(s):  
Udi Hoitash ◽  
Rani Hoitash ◽  
Jean C. Bedard
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Internal Control ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Section 404 ◽  
Sarbanes Oxley ◽  
Material Weaknesses ◽  
Financial Expertise ◽  
Financial Expert ◽  
Section 302

ABSTRACT: This study examines the association between corporate governance and disclosures of material weaknesses (MW) in internal control over financial reporting. We study this association using MW reported under Sarbanes-Oxley Sections 302 and 404, deriving data on audit committee financial expertise from automated parsing of member qualifications from their biographies. We find that a lower likelihood of disclosing Section 404 MW is associated with relatively more audit committee members having accounting and supervisory experience, as well as board strength. Further, the nature of MW varies with the type of experience. However, these associations are not detectable using Section 302 reports. We also find that MW disclosure is associated with designating a financial expert without accounting experience, or designating multiple financial experts. We conclude that board and audit committee characteristics are associated with internal control quality. However, this association is only observable under the more stringent requirements of Section 404.

Evaluating Financial Reporting Quality: The Effects of Financial Expertise vs. Financial Literacy

2002 ◽  
Vol 77 (s-1) ◽  
pp. 139-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda McDaniel ◽  
Roger D. Martin ◽  
Laureen A. Maines
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Financial Literacy ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Audit Committees ◽  
Financial Reporting Quality ◽  
Financial Reports ◽  
Business Press ◽  
Financial Expertise

Audit committees evaluate financial reporting quality as part of their corporate oversight responsibilities. Given this responsibility, the national stock exchanges now require all audit committee members to be financially literate and at least one member to have financial expertise. In light of recent debates over this requirement, we provide evidence on how experts and literates differ in their evaluations of financial reporting quality. Results suggest that experts' evaluations of financial reporting quality are more strongly associated with their assessments of characteristics underlying reporting quality (e.g., relevance) espoused in Statement of Financial Accounting Concepts No. 2's framework than literates' evaluations. Additionally, literates are more likely than experts to identify concerns about reporting treatments for business activities that are prominent in the business press or are distinguished by their nonrecurring nature, while experts are more likely to raise concerns about reporting treatments for less prominent, recurring activities. This same pattern occurs in the ratings of the quality of the reporting treatments for specific financial statement items with respect to elements underlying reporting quality (e.g., neutrality); literates (experts) assess the quality elements for the reporting treatments of prominent and nonrecurring items (less prominent and recurring items) comparatively lower than experts (literates). These results suggest that including financial experts on audit committees is likely to change the structure and focus of audit committee discussions about financial reporting quality, and may affect the committee's overall assessment of the quality of a company's financial reports.

scholarly journals Pengaruh karakteristik komite audit terhadap fraudulent financial reporting

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 255-264
Author(s):  
Gading Ruchiatna ◽  
◽  
Pratana Puspa Midiastuty ◽  
Eddy Suranta ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Evaluation Model ◽  
Audit Committees ◽  
Z Score ◽  
Fraudulent Financial Reporting ◽  
Financial Expertise ◽  
Quantitative Descriptive ◽  
Accounting Expertise

Purpose : This study aimed to prove whether audit committees were proxied financial expertise and meetings related to fraudulent financial reporting. Research methodology: This type of research was quantitative descriptive with an evaluation model of Beneish M-Score and Altman Z-Score in predicting fraudulent financial reporting. The sample in this study was non-financial companies listed on the Stock Exchange with an observation period of 2010-2018. The technique of taking samples with purposive sampling obtained the number of observations 551. Data processing was done via SPSS through logistic regression. Results : The results of the study showed that the characteristic of the audit committee that influence the fraudulent financial reporting is financial expertise possessed by the members of the audit committee, while the number of audit committee meetings has no effect on the fraudulent financial reporting. Limitation: This study only used a sample of non-financial companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange in 2010-2018 and met the criteria. The dependent variable fraudulent financial reporting measured through the Beneish M-Score and Altman Z-Score models. The independent variable was financial and or accounting expertise from the members of the audit committee and the Audit Committee Meeting. Contribution: Investors can consider this research in making decisions to be more careful in investing, as well as a reference for further research. The results of this study are expected to provide an overview and understanding of the role of the audit committee in suppressing fraudulent financial reporting using the Beneish M-Score and Altman Z-Score. Keywords: Fraudulent financial reporting, Audit committee characteristics, Leverage

Evidence on the relation between audit committee financial expertise and internal audit function effectiveness

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed Atef Oussii ◽  
Neila Boulila
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Work Experience ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Committee Member ◽  
Internal Audit ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Certified Public Accountant ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Internal Audit Function ◽  
Financial Expertise

PurposeThe purpose of this paper aims to investigate whether the source of audit committee accounting expertise influences the internal audit function (IAF) effectiveness in the Tunisian setting.Design/methodology/approachIn the analysis, the authors conduct a survey of chief internal auditors from Tunisian listed companies. Then, a multivariate regression analysis is performed in order to analyze the relationship between audit committee financial expertise and IAF effectiveness.FindingsThe findings of the present study show that audit committee accounting financial expertise is most likely to be positively associated with the implementation of internal audit report recommendations. The authors also find that only financial expertise gained from accounting education and experience (e.g. an audit committee member with experience as a certified public accountant, auditor, chief financial officer or chief accounting officer) is associated with a stronger implementation of IAF recommendations, but not financial expertise gained from work experience in finance positions.Practical implicationsThese results may have implications for regulatory bodies. They can provide a better understanding of the role of the audit committee expertise in monitoring internal audit processes. The major contribution of this study is that the audit committee's oversight role is strengthened if the committee members have accounting and auditing expertise.Originality/valueThe study extends prior literature by providing evidence that the source of audit committee accounting financial expertise enhances internal audit effectiveness beyond the outcomes it has on financial reporting quality. The study also contributes to the ongoing debate in the corporate governance literature concerning the definition of the financial expertise of audit committee members.

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