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The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether audit committee characteristics, in particular audit committee size, audit committee activity and audit committee gender diversity, are associated with financial performance in Egyptian banks. The second purpose of this paper is to explore the moderating role of board gender diversity on the relationship between audit committee characteristics and financial performance.

A multiple regression analysis is used to estimate the moderating role of board gender diversity on the relationship between audit committee characteristics and financial performance of a sample of Egyptian banks during the period between 2018 and 2022.

The results indicate that audit committee size has a negative and insignificant effect impact on return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE), respectively. The results also indicate that the audit committee gender diversity has a significant positive impact on ROA and ROE, respectively. Regarding audit committee activity, the number of board meetings has a negative and insignificant effect on ROA and ROE, respectively. Regarding gender diversity as a moderating variable, in general there is a positive effect of gender diversity on the relationship between audit committee characteristics and financial performance.

The study was limited to 20 banks in one country, but it sets the tone for future empirical research on this subject matter. The study also relied on one moderating variable, which is board gender diversity. This study provides an avenue for future research in the area of corporate governance and financial performance in other emerging countries, especially other African countries.

This study provides useful insights for managers and policymakers to better understand which audit committee characteristics can best encourage a company to improve financial performance. Furthermore, regulators should ensure that banks strictly adhere to corporate governance principles to build a strong banking industry capable of achieving economic development.

Banks will benefit equally from valuable qualities across demographic groupings in society by having females on the audit committee and appropriate audit committee meetings. Additionally, if audit committee members are correctly selected, banks with more females in audit committee and suitable audit committee meetings can successfully contribute to strengthening financial performance and social welfare of diverse segments of society. A culture of good banking governance must emerge to improve bank financial stability and, as a result, greater stability and economic growth.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the study is, perhaps, the first to examine the moderating role of board gender diversity on the relationship between audit committee characteristics and financial performance in Egyptian banks. This study adds to the literature by investigating such an issue in a developing economy that operates in a different context than those in developed countries.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of audit report lag in Sub-Saharan African Central Banks. In this case, the determinants were divided into two categories: independent variables and mediating variables. The independent variables, which were generated from board characteristics, included board size, board gender diversity, governor duality, audit committee size and audit committee meetings. The mediating variables were auditing characteristics and they comprised audit mandate, audit approach and audit quality.

The study used data from 192 observations from African Central Banks' financial reports for the period 2000–2016. The data collected were analyzed using path analysis, whereby four regression models were run and tested simultaneously. From the analysis, the study determined total effects and then decomposed the total effects into direct and indirect effects.

The study results indicate that in the case of board characteristics, governor duality and audit committee size were found to have a positive influence on audit report lag. In the case of audit quality, only audit mandate was found to have a negative influence on audit quality in the Central Banks. However, the introduction of mediating variables increased the positive effect of governor duality and audit committee size, while also making board size and board gender diversity have a significant negative effect on audit report lag.

The findings of this paper have implications for the practice and policy of the auditing and governance of Central Banks, which includes designing appropriate governance structures as well as proper auditing strategies.

This is the first study which has examined factors influencing audit report lag in Central Banks. Previous studies on Central Banks' governance have examined the independence and autonomy of the Central Banks, as well as their accounting. This paper extends prior studies by examining the effects of those factors. Another contribution is the study's application of auditing characteristics as mediating variables.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the link between earnings quality, Audit Committees and the Board of companies located in Jordan through the lens of enhancing corporate governance.

The real earnings management (REM) and accruals earnings management models were notably used within the panel data robust regression analysis approach; these were used against certain Audit Committee characteristics (i.e. meeting frequency, amount of Board and Committee participants [both internal and external], size) and Board of Directors.

The former characteristics were found to have a positive relationship with REM, while the latter yielded mixed results: while there was no significant identifiable relationship between Board outsiders and REM, there was a positive relationship identified between Board meetings, Board insiders and Board size and REM. In regard to this study’s limitations, the qualitative data gathered for the Board of Directors through the lens of corporate governance enhancement should have been documented with more detail; furthermore, the study was limited to the study of just one nation.

The data is limited to only a single country. More explanation for Board of Directors need qualitative understandings into corporate governance improvement. The control variables are essentially partial in a developing market context.

The different corporate governance code and guidelines improvements have varied influence on earnings quality. As predictable, boards of directors most effect on earnings quality. Improvements have included most modification to audit committees but through them slight measured effect on earnings quality.

Jordan’s corporate governance improvements expected organised corporate governance practices generally in place amongst its boards, and though invoking considerable modification to audit committees, eventually included slight modification to earnings quality. However, both improved earnings quality.

This particular research appears to be the first to consider both Audit Committee and Board of Directors characteristics in one model; indeed, in this vein, this research is also the first to explore the corporate governance enhancements that initially stemmed from there being zero code or guideline regarding its use, despite it becoming required recently. Hence, the authors can say this study has high originality.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This study examines the association between internal corporate governance mechanisms (i.e. board of directors and audit committee) and the information value of bank earnings. The authors comparatively assess this association across different bank types, Islamic versus conventional banks. The authors also investigate the mediating effect of Shariah governance.

The authors utilize a unique and an international sample of 723 bank-year observations representing 100 listed banks from 16 countries during the period 2007–2015. The authors investigate the characteristics of the board of directors and audit committee (i.e. size and independence) and employ three core analyses for earnings informativeness (i.e. earnings persistence, cash flow predictability and reliability of loan loss provisions). Additional analyses address Shariah supervisory boards’ (SSBs’) size, financial expertise and multiple outside directorships. The authors use the random-effect Generalised Least Squares (GLS) estimation technique and provide several robustness checks and sensitivities.

The authors find that, on average, having large and independent boards (and audit committees) increases the informativeness of reported earnings for banks. Conditional on bank type, our results report strong evidence for differential effects across the two alternative banking systems. In Islamic banks, large and independent board of directors (and audit committees) is positively associated with all measures of information value. There is insignificant evidence for conventional banks. However, SSBs show no significant effect on the reported earnings’ informativeness.

This is the first study, to the best of our knowledge, that empirically and comparatively assesses the information value of reported earnings in association with effective internal governance while recognizing the institutional characteristics of different bank types. The authors offer new insights to policymakers, investors and other stakeholders located within countries operating on a dual banking system. The results could help regulators to improve their rules/guidance related to double-layer governance and financial reporting quality.

The first purpose of this paper is to investigate whether corporate governance mechanisms, in particular the characteristics of the board, audit committee and risk management committee, are associated with the level of disclosure in integrated reports of South African listed firms. The second purpose of this paper is to analyze how integrated reporting (IR) affects the sustainable development goals (SDGs).

This paper uses a mixed methods approach. First, a multiple regression analysis is used to estimate the impact of corporate governance mechanisms on IR practices of a sample of South African listed firms during the period between 2019 and 2021. Using the content analysis method to measure the level of IR, disclosures were measured using a disclosure index consisting of 60 information items developed from the IIRC framework and previous studies. Second, based on a database containing 33 articles in the Meditari Accountancy Research journal with a publication date from 2013 to 2021, a systematic review of the academic literature focusing on IR is conducted to analyze how IR influences SDGs.

The results indicate that board size, board independence and risk management committee independence have a positive effect on IR practices. However, board expertise, board activity, audit committee independence, audit committee size, audit committee expertise, audit committee meetings, risk management committee expertise, risk management committee meetings, risk management committee size and the auditor type are negatively related to IR practices. The results also indicate that IR has an important role in achieving SDGs by relying on integrated thinking that integrates sustainability into the enterprise’s strategy and helps the integration of capitals. In addition, sustainable business models create long-term values.

This study was limited to a sample size of 75 firms, which is country-specific; however, it sets the tone for future empirical research on the subject matter. This study provides an avenue for future research in the area of corporate governance and IR practices in other emerging countries, especially other African countries.

This study provides useful insights for managers and policymakers to better understand which corporate governance mechanisms can best encourage a company to improve IR practices.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is, perhaps, the first to examine the effect of risk management committee characteristics on IR practices. This study provides new insight into the contribution of accounting research toward the achievement of SDGs.

This study aims to examine the link between boards and audit committees and firm performance in Kuwaiti listed firms in the context of recent and extensive corporate governance regulatory reform.

Panel data regression analysis with fixed effects and clustered standard errors of firm performance for 61–97 listed industrial and services firms in Kuwait over a seven-year period. The dependent variables are the returns on assets and equity, the debt-to-equity ratio and leverage and Tobin’s Q and the independent variables comprise board of directors and audit committee characteristics, including size, the number of meetings and the numbers of independent and outside board and expert committee members. Firm size, subsidiary status and cash flow serve as control variables.

Mixed results with respect to the characteristics of the board of directors. Board size and independent and outsider board members positively relate only to Tobin’s Q and insiders only to debt to equity. For audit committee characteristics, committee size, independence and expertise positively relate to the return on equity and committee size and expertise only to Tobin’s Q. Of the five performance measures considered, board and audit committee characteristics together best determine Tobin’s Q.

Data from a single country limits generalisability and control variables necessarily limited in a developing market context. Need for qualitative insights into corporate governance reform as a complement to conventional quantitative analysis. In combining accounting and market information, Tobin’s Q appears best able to recognise the performance benefits of good corporate governance in terms of internal organisational change.

The recent corporate governance code and guidelines reforms exert a mixed impact on firm performance, with audit committees, not boards, of most influence. But recent reforms implied most change to boards of directors. One suggestion is that non-market reform may have been unneeded given existing market pressure on listed firms and firms anticipating regulatory change.

Kuwait’s corporate governance reforms codified corporate governance practices already in place among many of its firms in pursuit of organisational legitimacy, and while invoking substantial change to audit committees, involved minor change to firm performance, at least in the short term. Some firms may also have delisted in expectation of stronger corporate governance requirements. Regardless, these direct and indirect processes both improved the overall quality of listed firm corporate governance and performance in Kuwait.

Seminal analysis of corporate governance reforms in Kuwait, which have rapidly progressed from no corporate governance code and guidelines to an initially voluntary and then compulsory regime. Only known analysis to incorporate both board of directors and audit committee characteristics. Reveals studies of the corporate governance–firm performance relationship may face difficulty in model specification, and empirical significance, given the complexity of corporate governance codes and guidelines, leads in changing firm behaviour and self-selection of firms into and out of regulated markets.

This paper aims to investigate the effects of board characteristics, audit committee and risk management on corporate performance.

Using a sample of 31 Palestinian non-financial listed companies from 2010 to 2016, this study uses a generalized least square method.

The results show that the effects of board ownership, board independence, audit committee meeting, audit committee size, audit committee financial expertise and risk management are positive and significant on corporate performance while the effects of chief executive officer duality and audit committee size are negative and significant on corporate performance.

The results of this paper are important to policymakers, shareholders and directors of companies to make appropriate choices about the board, audit committee characteristics and risk management to protect the interest of different stakeholders, increase the flow of capital and foreign investment into non-financial companies.

This paper fills a gap in the corporate governance literature by investigating the effects of board characteristics, audit committee and risk management on corporate performance in Palestine as one of the youngest stock exchanges in a region that assists in testing the validity of agency theory in a young and small emerging market context.

This paper is the first to investigate the effects of board characteristics, audit committee and risk management collectively on corporate performance in Palestine as prior research on these topics has been investigated separately.

Recent US reforms aimed at strengthening audit committees and their structure grant independent audit committees the responsibility to appoint, dismiss, and compensate auditors. The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between audit committee characteristics and auditors' compensation and dismissals following the enactment of the Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX).

A series of linear and logistic regression models were employed in a unique sample comprising of 2,393 observations.

It was observed that stronger audit committees demand a higher level of assurance and are less likely to dismiss their auditors. Further, an increase was found in auditor independence as measured by reduced board involvement and less dismissals following an unfavorable audit opinion. Overall results suggest that increased audit committee roles and independence after SOX contribute to auditor independence and audit quality.

This research has implications for regulators, auditors, boards and academics. The paper highlights that although all audit committees had to improve as a result of SOX, the remaining variation in audit committee characteristics continue to be important to the demand for auditor and audit quality.

This study is the first to consider the association between audit committee characteristics and its extended responsibilities after SOX.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of board of directors and audit committee effectiveness on the level of internet financial reporting (IFR) disclosure practices.

The sample consists of 152 listed financial companies in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Based on agency theory, the authors posit that board of directors and audit committee effectiveness influence corporate IFR disclosure practice. Content analysis approach, based on an un-weighted index of 35 IFR items is used to measure the level of IFR disclosure. Thus, multiple regression analysis is utilized to analyse the results of this paper.

The results show that board of directors and audit committee effectiveness has significant influence on the level of IFR disclosure.

One potential limitation of this paper is that the sample is drawn only from the GCC listed financial companies. Therefore, the findings cannot be generalized to other than the financial institutions.

The finding(s) highlights the importance of board of directors and audit committee characteristics in corporate governance and in the development of financial markets that foster IFR disclosure.

This paper extends previous IFR disclosure studies by considering both the role of board of directors and audit committee effectiveness score in examining IFR disclosure.