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This paper aims to explore how the characteristics of the board of directors (BoD) shape earnings and book value information available to market participants.

The authors investigated the impact of board size, presence of non-executives and role duality as proxies of effective corporate governance on the value relevance of financial reporting for 178 firms on the Kuwait stock exchange in 2013. Regression analysis based on Ohlson’s (1995) valuation model was used to test hypotheses.

The authors found that board size was significantly associated with company value and that Kuwaiti firms with large boards increased the value-relevance of earnings and book value. The influence of role duality was positive although not significant. The presence of non-executives on the board had a negative correlation with market value (not significant).

These findings deliver empirical support for the prediction that the characteristics of the BoD improve the value relevance of financial reporting. Limitations such as small sample size and one-year duration of the study did not negate the basic findings, however. Future studies will use larger samples, longer duration and additional board characteristics.

This study provides empirical support for the hypothesis that board size influences market valuation. This study may benefit managers, investors and other decision-makers.

This study delivers empirical evidence on the impact of board characteristics on the value relevance of accounting information. It will be useful for regulators and market participants monitoring the influence of board characteristics on the value relevance of accounting information.

The study of developed capital markets suggests that information provided in financial statements has lost its value relevance to equity holders. The purpose of this paper is to explore this issue in the emerging market of Qatar.

Following other studies in the literature, the study examines the value relevance of earnings and book values using the price valuation model provided by Ohlson (1995). A total of 215 observations were collected from all firms listed on the Qatari Stock Exchange over a period of five years (2012–2016).

This study suggests that the value relevance of both earnings and book values has noticeably decreased over the sample period. However, its results show that the decline in the value relevance of earnings favored book values.

Like other studies, this one has limitations that suggest areas for future research. For example, in Qatar, like other emerging markets, a lack of data prevents the performance of deep analysis. Additionally, the authors only use Ohlson’s (1995) model as a framework for evaluation. It would be interesting to explore the changes when examining alternative valuation models. Another limitation is that the authors examine only two accounting measures: earnings and book values. Further research could explore changes in the value relevance of other measures, such as cash flow.

These findings provide empirical evidence regarding the value relevance of earnings and book values in an emerging market.

To the authors’ knowledge, this paper provides the first empirical evidence regarding the value relevance of earnings and book values in the emerging capital market of Qatar.

This paper aims to examine the relationship between the level of intellectual capital information voluntarily disclosed in the annual reports of companies listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) and their market and financial performance.

The classical framework developed by Sveiby (1997) and modified by Guthrie et al. (2006) forms the basis for the content analysis of annual reports published by KSE-listed companies in 2013. An intellectual capital disclosure (ICD) index is developed from this material. Two traditional indicators of corporate performance, namely, market-to-book ratio and return on assets are used to assess market and financial performance. Regression models are constructed to examine the association between the level of ICD and corporate performance.

Empirical findings indicate that better ICD has a positive, statistically significant impact on corporate performance. More specifically, the findings suggest that intellectual capital reporting plays a significant role in enhancing market and financial performance.

This study only focuses on intellectual capital information disclosed in annual reports; other means of corporate communication were not considered. Nevertheless, the annual report has stood the test of time as the best source of corporate disclosure.

Given the importance of intellectual capital reporting in enhancing corporate performance, a practical implication of this study is to make managers aware of its positive and significant effect on market and financial performance, which may encourage companies to develop better disclosure policies. An important implication of the findings is that the policymakers and regulators need to encourage listed companies to disclose their intellectual capital information to exploit the associated benefits.

This paper extends the literature by examining the influence of ICD on corporate performance in the context of frontier markets, where economic, social, political and cultural conditions have particular characteristics.

The purpose of this paper is to assess and analyse the level of voluntary disclosure practices in the annual reports of Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) listed firms and explore the association between corporate governance mechanisms and voluntary disclosure practices.

Panel data analysis was undertaken over a period from 2005-2008 with an aim to examine the influence of corporate governance mechanisms on voluntary disclosures made by 52 listed firms in their four years of annual reports. An unweighted voluntary disclosure index has been used for hand-collecting data from annual reports.

The findings show that the mean voluntary disclosure level over the four years is 23 per cent. Four out of eight corporate governance mechanisms examined found to be significantly associated with the level of voluntary disclosure, three negatively, one positively. Cross directorship, board size and role duality are negatively related to voluntary disclosure, while government ownership is positively related to voluntary disclosure. In contrast, the proportion of non-executive directors, family members on the board, the presence of an audit committee and the presence of the ruling family on the board have an insignificant influencer on voluntary disclosure practices.

The study provides an assessment of KSE-listed firm voluntary disclosure practices and its determents and highlights that that corporate governance attributes affect the voluntary disclosure practices of KSE-listed firms.

The findings of this study contribute to the arguments concerning the role of corporate governance mechanisms in improving the level of disclosure and information transparency.

This paper aims to investigate the association between the composition of boards of directors and the choice of external auditor among companies listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) in 2013.

Consistent with prior research, audit quality is represented by two proxies, namely, a Big 4 and Non-Big 4 audit firm. Independence, diversity, interlocks, size and role duality are used as proxies for board composition. To accommodate the dichotomous dependent variable (auditor choice), a logistic regression model is used to test the hypothesized associations between board composition and auditor choice.

After controlling for firm-specific characteristics, results show that independence, diversity and size are statistically significant and increase the likelihood that a KSE-listed company selects a high-quality (Big 4) audit firm. Role duality is also statistically significantly but decreases the likelihood of choosing a Big 4 audit firm.

This research has implications for regulators, shareholders, boards and academics. The paper underlines the importance of the composition of the board in increasing the likelihood of hiring a high-quality audit firm. Regulators can draw upon these results when assessing the effectiveness of corporate governance mechanisms.

This paper is among the first to study the association between auditor choice and board composition using data from the frontier market of Kuwait, thus responding to the call for empirical research into the issue in less-developed markets. Overall, it sheds light on the effectiveness of board composition and provides empirical evidence that it is an important element in the choice of auditors. The findings indicate that board composition may be a mechanism that can promote demand for high audit quality.

This study examines the effects of institutional and government ownership on audit quality in Kuwait. Kuwait provides an interesting regulatory context as listed firms are legally required to appoint two external auditors from different auditing firms. This offers a unique opportunity to examine differentiation in demand for audit quality when there are three potential combinations of auditors: two non-Big 4, one Big 4 and one non-Big 4 and two Big 4.

The sample consists of all firms listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange in 2013. Multinomial logistic regression examines the influence of ownership structure on audit quality. Analyses are controlled for the effect of company characteristics. Control variables are: firm size, complexity, growth, leverage, profitability and industry category.

The results show that institutional ownership is positively related to the number of Big 4 auditing firms that audit a company’s financial statements. This reflects the powerful and influential role institutional investors play in discouraging management from choosing lower-quality providers. In contrast, government ownership has a negative impact on audit quality. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that audit quality is a function of, among other factors, the structure of equity ownership.

Given the importance of audits, knowledge of the determinants of audit quality is of particular interest to regulators, enforcement agencies and investors. The findings imply that different ownership structures have different effects on the demand for audit quality; some structures strengthen it, while others weaken it. The negative relation between government ownership and audit quality raises serious questions about the effectiveness of government in monitoring its investments.

This paper extends the literature by investigating the determinants of the choice of auditors in an emerging market where there is a joint audit requirement. It highlights the important role played by ownership structure in shaping demand for audit quality. A distinguishing feature in previous research is the classification of the audit quality proxy into two choices (Big 4 vs non-Big 4 auditors). However, the regulatory context in Kuwait means that there are three choices. Thus, unusually, a multinomial logistic regression is used for the analysis.

Drawing on market efficiency theory and studies on intellectual capital (IC) disclosure, this study aims to examine if IC information provided in the corporate annual reports of Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) listed companies in 2013 is value-relevant.

The analysis is divided into two parts. First, the level of intellectual capital disclosure (ICD) of KSE-listed companies is examined using the content analysis method. Second, the value relevance of financial reporting is examined empirically using Ohlson’s (1995) valuation model.

The results reveal that ICD is positively and significantly associated with market value, suggesting that greater ICD is valued by KSE market participants, who incorporate it into their valuation models.

Given the importance of ICD in enhancing equity valuation, a practical implication of this study is to make managers aware of its positive and significant effect on equity valuation, which may encourage companies to increase their level of disclosure.

This is the first study of the association between the level of ICD and the value relevance of financial reporting for market participants in Kuwait. It therefore extends and confirms the prior literature by broadening its scope to include frontier markets. Furthermore, it provides empirical evidence in support of recent calls from regulators and professional bodies for information that supplements and complements traditional financial reporting.

This paper aims to examine the influence of corporate governance mechanisms on the extent of intellectual capital (IC) disclosure among companies listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE).

A content analysis approach was used. The association between dependent and independent variables was examined using multiple regression analysis.

The results suggest that corporate governance mechanisms strongly influence the quantity of IC information disclosed in the annual reports of KSE-listed companies. Specifically, companies with larger boards, higher proportions of external directors and higher blockholder ownership are associated with higher levels of IC disclosure.

The findings highlight the effectiveness of corporate governance mechanisms in promoting IC disclosure. They are a useful guideline for regulators, company management and shareholders regarding corporate governance mechanisms that influence the extent of IC disclosure. Given recent Kuwaiti Government initiatives to promote transparency and the informational efficiency of the stock market, this research provides timely empirical evidence in support of these initiatives.

In the frontier market context, the study contributes to a theoretical understanding of the corporate reporting of IC and the relationship between IC disclosure and corporate governance mechanisms. The findings provide empirical support for the theoretical notion that effective corporate governance plays an important role in increasing the extent of voluntary disclosure.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the characteristics of the board of directors and mandatory disclosure compliance (measured by International Financial Reporting Standards requirements) in firms listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) in 2010.

Several characteristics are used to assess the effectiveness of the board of directors: number of members, gender diversity, CEO duality, multiple directorships, the proportion of family members on the board and the presence of a member of the ruling family of Kuwait. Mandatory disclosure compliance is measured using a self-constructed, item-based index. A regression model tested the paper’s hypotheses.

After controlling for firm-specific characteristics, it was found that board size, gender diversity and multiple directorships were positively correlated with compliance, while CEO duality and the proportion of family members on the board were negatively correlated with compliance.

Potential limitations stem from both the nature of the sample and the dataset. The small sample reflects the size of the KSE and the limited timeframe (a one-year period). Nevertheless, this paper provides some interesting insights. A longitudinal study would provide more comprehensive insights into the relationship between the characteristics of the board of directors and mandatory disclosure compliance over time.

The findings highlight the effectiveness of board of directors’ characteristics in promoting mandatory accounting compliance. As disclosure is fundamental for the effective functioning of capital markets and sound investments, a direct implication is that the quality of financial reporting can be improved by taking these characteristics into account.

The paper contributes to the literature on the determinants of mandatory accounting compliance. The findings highlight the importance of the board of directors’ role in enhancing transparency and ensuring the quality of financial reporting. The findings will be particularly valuable to those involved in the appointment of directors, who should be aware of the influence of the configuration and characteristics of the board on compliance.

This study aims to explore the attributes of an effective accounting faculty from the student perspective. It also examines similarities and differences in the perceived importance of these attributes between bachelor’s and associate’s accounting degree students in two public higher education institutions in Kuwait, namely, Kuwait University (KU) and the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET).

A questionnaire was developed to identify ideal accounting faculty attributes. It was administered to a sample of accounting students at the two institutions in the 2014-2015 academic year. Descriptive statistics were collected and independent samples t-tests were run.

The most highly ranked attributes related to instructor characteristics and class delivery. Significant differences were found between KU and PAAET students in the perceived importance of attributes. KU students ranked class preparation and delivery attributes significantly higher than PAAET students. In contrast, PAAET students ranked attributes related to instructor characteristics and evaluation methods significantly higher than KU students.

These findings provide an insight into the attributes of an effective accounting faculty from the students’ perspective. A direct implication is that accounting faculty can incorporate the most important attributes into their course design and delivery. This may improve teaching effectiveness and ultimately student learning.

This research is timely because the College of Business Studies at PAAET has applied for accreditation with the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs. As teaching effectiveness is a major consideration in the process, these findings may help it to enhance its performance and improve the chances of its accreditation application being successful. The study bridges a gap in the literature on teaching effectiveness because there appears very little, if any, research into the attributes of effective accounting teaching.