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The focus on corporate governance has increased after the financial collapses of several banks worldwide, such as Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic Bank in the USA, and the failure of the Lebanese banking sector. This study examines the impact of audit committee (AC) characteristics on financial performance and investigates the moderating effect of ownership concentration (OC) on the associations between AC characteristics and profitability.

The current research is carried out based on 211 Lebanese banks’ annual reports, focusing on the period from 2012 to 2021. The ordinal least squares (OLS) and the hierarchical multiple regression analysis were adopted to test the study’s hypotheses.

The outcomes reveal that AC size, AC frequency of meetings, and banks’ size (control variable) positively affect financial performance; however, OC does not moderate the associations between the AC characteristics and banks’ profitability.

According to the researcher’s knowledge, no prior study has investigated the moderating effect of OC on these associations. Moreover, the current study contributes to the literature that documented mixed and inconsistent results regarding the direct associations between AC characteristics and financial performance.

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of technology readiness (TR), perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU) on the adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) by accounting and auditing students. The moderating role of gender is also examined in this research.

The data of this study was collected through a questionnaire filled by 330 accounting and auditing students enrolled in the Lebanese private universities during the academic year 2021–2022. The hierarchical multiple regression analysis was conducted to test the study’s hypotheses.

The results show that TR and PU affect positively the adoption of AI; however, PEOU has an insignificant impact on the students’ decision to adopt AI. The outcomes also reveal that males tend more to adopt AI than females and gender moderates the associations between TR, PU, PEOU and adoption of AI.

The results of this study suggest that accounting educators should adjust the curricula of the accounting programs and prepare students to be well equipped with technological skills through training them on AI software.

According to the researcher’s knowledge, this study is the first that examines the moderating effect of gender on the associations between TR, use perceptions and AI adoption by accounting and auditing students. Besides, this research is the first that investigates the antecedents of AI adoption by students in Lebanese private universities. Furthermore, this study contributes to the limited literature that addresses this contemporary and vital issue in the Middle East.