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This paper aims to examine the effect of the auditors’ burnout determinates on audit quality and performance. It also analyses whether the demographic characteristics of gender, age group, education and job positions affect auditors’ decisions for burnout, audit quality and performance.

A questionnaire was distributed on a sample of auditors in the top ten auditing firms in an emerging market including the Big 4. Factor analysis, correlation matrix and structural equation modeling were used for the analysis of the collected data and testing the developed hypotheses.

The results show that burnout has negative consequences for both the auditor and the auditing firm. While good organizational climate has a negative significant association with audit quality, nonethical decisions and audit performance, role clarity has positive significant association with the audit quality and performance and has an insignificant association with nonethical decisions. Also, turnover intention has significant positive association with nonethical decision, audit quality and performance.

This research is among the first to focus on auditor’s burnout determinates on audit quality and performance in an emerging market characterized by different socioeconomic, political and cultural factors compared with those of developed markets. Auditors, regulators and professional policymakers can benefit from the results of this research.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of audit committee characteristics on firm performance. In particular, the authors employ the random-effects variant of the Hunter–Schmidt meta-analyze procedure to analyze the effects of key audit committee attributes, namely audit committee independence, audit committee expertise, audit committee size, audit committee meeting along with big four impact on firm performance. The authors hope to gain a better understanding of the function of audit committees in enhancing firm performance and to uncover potential discrepancies in prior findings due to varying economic levels or performance metrics.

This study uses the Hunter–Schmidt method to conduct a meta-analysis of 39 previous studies published between 2012 and 2022 to investigate the relationship between audit committee characteristics and firm performance.

The results indicate that audit committee independence, expertise, size and affiliation with the big four have a significant and positive effect on firm performance, while audit committee meetings have a non-significant effect. Furthermore, findings suggest that companies should carefully consider the contextual factors that may impact the effectiveness of their corporate governance structures, such as economic level, when designing and implementing governance mechanisms.

This study is significant as it is the first to combine and analyze previous research on this topic and highlights the importance of certain audit committee characteristics in enhancing financial reporting quality and corporate governance.

The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced new challenges for auditors to provide high-quality audits. These challenges pose interesting questions about the ability of auditors to obtain audit evidence and ensure appropriate conclusions. In response to these questions, this paper aims to examine how self-efficacy affects the auditors’ effort and performance during COVID-19 and how remote audit proficiency helps them respond to these challenges, as reflected in more effort and high-quality performance.

To test the hypotheses, this study used a quantitative approach in which 193 Saudi auditors were surveyed and partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data.

The authors demonstrated that self-efficacy is positively associated with the perceived audit effort and performance during the COVID-19 crisis. The results also showed that remote audit proficiency plays a significant role during COVID-19 as it can help auditors exert more effort and perform audit activities effectively. This study also found that remote audit mediates the association between self-efficacy and both effort and performance during COVID-19. These results are also asserted under several robust analyses.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, these findings provide the first evidence on the effect of COVID-19 on auditors and have implications for both theory and practice.

The purpose of this paper is to accentuate whether audit quality or other variables matter for the performance of companies in Greece.

This study examines the effect of audit quality on firm performance using data of 75 companies listed in the Athens Exchange in Greece and covering the period 2018–2021. Panel data analysis is applied. The independent variables are audit quality, the size of firms, their age, leverage, liquidity and efficiency ratios. Seven alternative measures of performance are used, including, among others, return on assets and return on equity. Stock returns and risks are used too.

The results provide evidence of a positive relationship between financial performance and audit quality. The opposite is the case for stock returns and risk. On the other explanatory variables, age has a clearly negative relationship with financial performance. The opposite is the case for liquidity and efficiency. The size factor also has some sort of a positive correlation with financial performance, whereas the opposite correlation concerns the leverage ratio.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine the relationship between audit quality and firm performance with data from Greece.

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 study is to look at the direct relationship between audit quality, earnings management (EM) practices and company performance, as well as the indirect influence (mediation) of EM practices in the relationship between audit quality and company performance. It offers empirical evidence from the Jordanian market, which is considered an emerging market.

The population of this study is represented in Jordanian service companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE), with a total of 344 company-year observations. Furthermore, panel data analysis was used in this study, and data for the study were acquired from yearly reports as well as the ASE’s database.

Based on generalized method of moments model, the present findings demonstrate that the size of the audit firm and the tenure of the audit firm have a positive and negative influence on EM practices, respectively, but that industry-specialist audit firm has a negative and insignificant effect. EM practices have a negative impact on two company performance proxies (ROA and ROE), but have no effect on earnings per share (EPS). Furthermore, the size of the audit firm has a positive and significant influence on the performance proxies of the company [i.e. return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE)]. The presence of an industry-specialist audit firm has a positive and significant influence on two proxies of company performance (ROE and EPS), but a negative and significant impact on ROA. An audit firm’s tenure has a negative and significant impact on two performance proxies (ROA and EPS), but a positive and significant impact on ROE. Then, EM practices either fully or partially mediate the relationship between audit quality proxies and company performance as assessed by ROA, ROE and EPS.

The current study’s limitation is that it only searched in Jordanian service companies listed on ASE from 2012 to 2019 to meet the study’s objectives; thus, the authors recommend that future work investigate the study model for other sectors, whether in Jordan or other emerging markets such as the Middle East and North Africa. Another limitation of this study is that the study models lack important variables, which may affect EM and company performance, such as corporate governance and ownership structure characteristics; as a result, the authors recommend that future work includes such variables in future research models to have more explanations in this context.

Analysts, investors and other strategic decision makers may use the findings of this study to improve the efficiency and efficacy of Jordan’s financial market. These findings will enhance policymakers’ willingness to establish appropriate regulations, which might improve Jordan’s financial market performance and efficacy. These findings may help investors make better judgments by using audit quality proxies and EM indicators, which can forecast business success.

First, this study distinguishes itself from prior studies through establishing a new research model, by investigating the mediating effect of EM in the relationship between audit quality and company performance. It provides empirical evidence from the Jordanian market; hence, it increases the body of the knowledge in this context. Second, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to look into the link between audit quality, EM and company performance together; hence, the model of this study is developed using agency theory and information asymmetry theory. Third, the current study adds new evidence to the role of audit quality and EM in companies, as well as how audit quality and EM practices affect company performance in emerging markets such as Jordan.

New public management (NPM) has transformed the public sector auditing context, although in quite different ways. Further, investigations into NPM’s impact on public sector auditors and audit institutions have been largely unconnected, with the exception of the critical examination of performance audits. We investigate the question of how public sector auditors’ roles and activities have changed as a result of NPM and later reforms.

We examine and synthesise public sector audit research examining reforms since the year 2000. The research presented considers changes to external and internal public sector audits as well as the development of public sector audit institutions – known as supreme audit institutions (SAIs).

Considerable changes have occurred. Many were influenced by NPM, but others have evolved from the eco-system of accounting, auditing and public sector management. External auditors have responded to an increase in demand for accountability. Additional management and governance techniques have been introduced from the private sector, such as internal auditing and audit committees. NPM has also led to conflicting trends, particularly when governments introduced competition to public sector auditing by contracting out but then chose to centralise to improve accountability. There is also greater international influence now through bodies like the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) and similar regional bodies.

NPM reforms and the eco-system have impacted public sector auditing. Sustainability reporting is emerging as an area requiring more auditing attention; auditors also need to continue to develop better ways to communicate with citizens. Further, research into auditing in non-Western nations and emerging technologies is also required, especially where it provides learnings around more valuable audit practices. Empirical evidence is required of the strengths and weaknesses of SAIs’ structural variety.

The phenomenon of corruption requires extra handling to achieve zero corruption. The purpose of this paper is to examine the integrated governance, risk management and compliance (GRC) implementation, the quality of internal audits and management's commitment to improving the ability to detect corruption and its impact on the company's financial performance.

This paper used primary and secondary data. Financial statement data and survey results from participants in 69 state-owned companies were analyzed using the Partial Least Square method.

There was a positive and significant effect of the integrated GRC implementation, quality of internal audit and management's commitment to increasing the organization's internal capability in detecting corruption. However, the failure to detect corruption mediates the effect of management commitment on financial performance. Besides, the organization's three internal factors could be better because their functions could be more optimal and require further improvement.

State-owned companies are continuing to be restructured, so these results can be helpful for now. However, they must update continuously with developments related to the composition and classification of state-owned companies.

Organizations can improve their ability to detect corruption in the workplace by using an early warning system such as the integrated GRC, internal audit quality and a high commitment from management.

To the author's limited knowledge, empirical research on integrated GRC implementation, internal audit quality and management commitment are still rare if they improve the detection of corruption ability. It uses the factors that cause corruption in the fraud hexagon to analyze the financial performance.

This paper aims to assess the effects of external governance mechanisms on the performance of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Togo.

Using annual time series data from a sample of 30 MFIs during the period 2011–2015, the authors apply panel data econometrics in their estimations.

The results indicate that the notation by a rating agency positively and significantly affects the financial return of MFIs. The quality and the regularity of the audits negatively and significantly influence the financial performance (measured by return on assets and operating self-sufficiency) but favorably and significantly influence social performance (increased number of active borrowers (NAB) and reduced size of loans). Furthermore, supervision increases the amount of individual loans but decreases the NAB, which means deterioration in social performance. Overall, this paper shows that external governance mechanisms significantly affect the performance of Togolese MFIs, but with varying effects depending on the mechanism considered.

The sample size of 30 MFIs is small, and the geographic coverage of the study is restricted to MFIs operating in the city of Lomé, Togo. The authors did not have access to the information regarding the portfolio at risk at 30 days, even though it is a measure of financial performance. Likewise, we did not have access to the appendices to the financial statements for the calculation of prudential ratios. This method, which consists of asking the institutions using a questionnaire if they comply with prudential standards, may be biased because this study cannot verify the authenticity of the responses given that the standards are quantitative.

The study findings advocate that improving the financial and social performance of MFIs requires improving the quality of external governance mechanisms. MFIs should then pay close attention to well-functioning external governance mechanisms.

As MFIs are key social actors in a society, all mechanisms that contribute to their efficiency benefit society.

This study contributes to the corporate governance literature by showing that external governance mechanisms influence performance. These external mechanisms are complementary disciplinary measures to internal governance mechanisms and other tools.

This paper aims to review 68 archival studies on the impact of audit committees (ACs) on firms’ consequences [(non)financial reporting, performance and audit quality] in European firms.

Applying a stakeholder agency-theoretical framework, the author differentiates between three categories of AC variables: presence; composition; and resources, incentives and diligence.

The author finds that AC composition, (non)financial reporting and audit quality are dominant in the literature review. Other inputs or outputs are either too low in amount or yielded heterogeneous results, hindering clear tendencies. However, there are indications that financial expertise is positively related to financial reporting and audit quality, in line with agency theory and European regulatory assumptions.

In the discussion of potential future research, the author emphasizes, among others, the need for the recognition of innovative and sustainable AC variables, inclusion of moderator and especially mediator variables and reaction to endogeneity concerns by advanced regression models.

As the European Commission currently discusses extended regulations on AC duties and composition, this literature review highlights the huge impact of financial expertise on financial reporting and audit quality. In view of the increased monitoring duties of sustainability reporting, both business practices and regulatory bodies should increase the sustainability expertise of ACs.

This analysis makes useful contributions to prior research by focusing on attributes of AC and their impact on firms’ outputs in the European capital market, based on a differentiation between mandatory one-tier/two-tier systems and the choice model. The findings support the promotion of European evidence-based regulations, such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive.