scholarly journals Audit committee effectiveness characteristics and auditor switches involving industry specialists

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 57-65
Author(s):  
Ankita Singhvi ◽  
Nancy Chun Feng

The aim of this study is to investigate the association between audit committee effectiveness characteristics and auditor switches to or from an industry specialist audit firm. This study uses data on auditor changes from Audit Analytics, financial data from North American Compustat, and hand-collected data including audit committee characteristics (such as audit committee chair tenure, the proportion of auditing experts on the audit committee, etc.), the number of audit committee meetings and stock ownership from proxy statements between 2005 and 2011. The results reveal that firms with audit committees that have a large proportion of auditing experts are more likely to choose an industry specialist auditor when the firm switches its auditor. Furthermore, the results also show that the longer the tenure of the audit committee chair is, the more likely that the firm switches from a non-specialist to a specialist auditor. This study adds to the literature by exploring the association between audit committee effectiveness characteristics and auditor switches involving industry specialists. The findings inform regulators regarding the impact that audit committee effectiveness characteristics have on auditor switches involving specialists

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (7) ◽  
pp. 783-807 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim Ittonen ◽  
Emma-Riikka Myllymäki ◽  
Per Christen Tronnes

Purpose This paper focuses on bank audit committees and examines whether audit committee members who are former auditors are associated with the acquisition of audit and non-audit services from their former employers. Design/methodology/approach The study empirically examines a sample of large banks that are included in the S&P Composite 1500. Findings The paper reports significantly lower audit fees and a higher proportion of non-audit fees to total fees when the audit committee chair is an alumnus of the incumbent audit firm. Moreover, additional analysis reveals that these findings are stronger for banks with more earnings management. Research limitations/implications Overall, the findings indicate that audit firms might consider banks using their alumni as audit committee chairs to be less risky or easier to audit, thus requiring relatively less effort from the auditors. The reduced effort required to audit clients with audit firm alumni on their audit committees then has the effect of reducing the audit fees charged. Alternatively, their auditing experience and cognitive proximity might influence the assessment of the need for auditing or the ability to negotiate lower audit fees on the part of audit firm alumni. Originality/value This paper provides empirical evidence of the association between audit firm alumni in influential positions on an audit committee and fees paid to those audit firms in the banking industry. The findings contribute to the literature by suggesting that banks with affiliated former auditors chairing their audit committees not only have significantly lower audit fees but also a higher proportion is spent on non-audit services.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Vadasi ◽  
Michalis Bekiaris ◽  
Andreas G. Koutoupis

Purpose This paper aims to provide empirical evidence of the association between audit committee characteristics and internal audit quality through internal audit professionalization. Design/methodology/approach The investigation of the research question was based on 45 usable responses that were received from a survey of chief audit executives from firms listed on the Athens Stock Exchange and combined with publicly available information from annual reports. Findings The results indicate that audit committee characteristics (independence, diligence through frequent meetings and interaction with internal audit through valuation) influence internal audit professionalization. In addition, they demonstrate that internal audit professionalization is also influenced by CEO duality and firm’s external auditor. Practical implications The findings of this study have implications for audit committees wishing to improve their overall effectiveness, by identifying areas with substantial impact on internal audit quality. Moreover, regulators of corporate governance bodies can also benefit from the results to strengthen audit committee’s efficiency regarding internal audit function oversight. Originality/value The results add to the literature on the discussion of internal audit professionalization and complement the work of other researchers in the field of audit committee’s impact on internal audit quality/effectiveness. This study attempts to fill a gap in the literature on the effect of audit committee characteristics on internal audit professionalization, an element introduced from an institutional theory perspective.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 401 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aon Waqas Awan ◽  
Javed Ahmed Jamali

The aim of the research is to understand the impact of corporate governance on financial performance of listed companies on Karachi Stock Exchange Pakistan. Data was collected from forty two companies from different sectors like, insurance, banking, investment banking, and sugar industries. Study includes variables like profit margin & return on equity as a dependent (profitability) and board size, audit committee, annual general meetings & chief executive office (corporate governance). Using Pooled OLS, the result of the study proved those board size and audit committees have positive relationship with Profit margin and Return on Equity, if any independent variable changes it also stimulus the positively changing impact on Return on Equity (ROE) and Audit Committee (AC). This research offers imminent guidelines to the policy and decision makers in any type of firms to take good decision to set their firms hierarchy system.


Author(s):  
Husam Abu-Khadra

All public companies in the United States are required by the securities and exchange commission (SEC) to have an audit committee. Such enforcement can be attributed to high-profile corporate failures and their connections to nonexistence, ineffective or weak audit committees and governance. Despite the efforts to establish a similar argument and enforcement structure for the nonprofit sector, the internal revenue service (IRS) has not pursued legislation, and no empirical evidence has been established to support any public policy changes. This paper contributes to the literature in this field by being the first study to examine 124,980 nonprofit organizations during the period of 2010 to 2015 to test the association between governance in nonprofit organizations and audit committees. We included fifteen measures from these organizations’ IRS Form 990 filings to formulate the study variables. We found significant evidence that the existence of audit committees improves the governance scores of nonprofit organizations. Our study findings have significant implications for nonprofit executives, policy makers and any other interested parties; these findings act as preliminary evidence to support more proactive policies regarding mandatory audit committees for nonprofit organizations. 


2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nurul Nazlia Jamil ◽  
Sherliza Puat Nelson

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.     


2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed Atef Oussii ◽  
Neila Boulila Taktak

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).


2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Taha Almarayeh ◽  
Modar Abdullatif ◽  
Beatriz Aibar-Guzmán

PurposeThis study examines the relationship between audit committees (ACs) and earnings management (EM) in the developing country context of Jordan. In particular, it investigates whether audit committee attributes, including their size, independence, expertise and meetings, are able to restrict discretionary accruals as a proxy for EM.Design/methodology/approachThe generalized least square (GLS) regression was used to study the association between audit committee attributes and discretionary accruals, as a proxy of EM, for a sample of industrial firms listed on the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) during the period 2012–2020. Data were obtained from the firms' annual reports.FindingsThe regression results indicate that audit committee independence is the only audit committee attribute that seems to improve the effectiveness of ACs, in that it is significantly associated with less EM, while other audit committee attributes that were tested do not show statistically significant associations.Research limitations/implicationsIn emerging markets, like Jordan, ACs may not be an efficient monitoring mechanism; therefore, it can be argued that the prediction made by the agency theory about the role of ACs in mitigating opportunistic EM activities does not necessarily apply to all contexts.Practical implicationsA better understanding of audit committee effectiveness in developing countries could help regulators in these countries assess the impact of planned corporate governance (CG) reforms and to better monitor and enhance the performance of ACs.Social implicationsIn a setting characterized by closely held companies, high power distance and low demand for high-quality CG mechanisms, this study contributes to understanding how this business system operates, and how improving CG mechanisms could be successful in such cultures.Originality/valueThis study investigates the under-researched relationship between audit committee characteristics and EM in developing countries. In so doing, it aims to provide new insights into this relationship within the developing context case of Jordan, including if and how the institutional setting influences this relationship.


Accounting ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 167-178
Author(s):  
Mahfod Mobarak Aldoseri ◽  
Nasr Taha Hassan ◽  
Magdy Melegy Abd El Hakim Melegy

This paper aims to examine the effect of audit committee characteristics on audit report lag, and also explores whether this effect will vary between before and after mandatory adoption of IFRS in Saudi listed companies. Based on a Saudi sample of 388 firm-year observations from 2015 to 2018, the Poisson regression analysis shows that among audit committee characteristics, only audit committee financial experience significantly influences the timing of financial reporting. The result indicates a weak influence of audit committees on timeliness of financial reporting, which is consistent with the results of most of previous studies. On the other hand, the results show a strong impact of the adoption of IFRS on the context of that relationship, where the results show the impact of IFRS on audit report lag, audit committee quality and the association between them.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 175
Author(s):  
Mwafag Rabab’ah ◽  
Omar Al-Sir ◽  
Ali A. Alzoubi

This study aims to identify the impact of the audit committees' properties on the quality of the information of the banking financial reports in the Saudi commercial banks by identifying the effect of identifying tasks and duties, independence, accounting and banking experience and efficiency of the audit committee on achieving the quality of the Saudi banking and financial reports. 110 questionnaires were distributed on the research sample and 105 questionnaires were received and analyzed through ANOVA. Results indicate that the availability of the audit committees' properties affect increasing the quality of the financial reports in the Saudi banking at the level of properties as a whole where the (P) probable value was (0.000 ), which is less than 0.05. It represents the functions and duties of the audit committee, the committee's independence in banks, the availability of the accounting and banking experience for the members of the audit committee and the efficiency of the audit committees at banks. The study recommends more emphasis on the diversity of the experiences of the members of the audit team and thus; the committee can performs its functions in a more efficient and effective way.


2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 163
Author(s):  
Linda Santioso, Emily Janice, Andreas Bambang Daryatno

This research aims to find out and analyze the impact of audit committee financial expertise, audit quality that is proxied by external audit firm size, and profitability on real earnings management. The method used in this research was purposive sampling with a total sample of 59 manufacturing companies listed in Indonesian Stock Exchange (IDX). The type of data used was secondary data acquired through financial statements extracted from www.idx.co.id. Data analysis methods used in this research were classical assumption analysis, descriptive statistical test, f test, t test, and the test of determination coefficient. T test was used to test this study’s hypothesis. Final result of the study showed that audit committee financial expertise and audit quality proxied by external audit firm size do not have any significant effect on real earnings management, while profitability has been shown to have a positive effect on real earnings management.


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