IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v114y2020icp186-197.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Audit committees, female directors and the types of female and male financial experts: Further evidence

Author

Listed:
  • Abbasi, Kaleemullah
  • Alam, Ashraful
  • Bhuiyan, Md. Borhan Uddin

Abstract

Evidence on the association between female directors on audit committees and audit quality is weak. Further, researchers’ failure to identify the types of female and male financial experts may have (a) resulted in the mixed evidence on the relationship between female financial experts on audit committees and financial reporting monitoring, and (b) led them to question male financial experts on audit committees. Thus, we examine whether female directors and the types of female and male financial experts on audit committees are associated with audit quality. Using FTSE 350 firms from 2009 to 2017 and ordinary least-squares regression, this study finds that female directors and female accounting experts on audit committees are positively associated with audit quality. Our results may explain the conflicting evidence on the association between female financial experts and financial reporting oversight and also suggest that firms’ audit quality may increase with female accounting experts on audit committees.

Suggested Citation

  • Abbasi, Kaleemullah & Alam, Ashraful & Bhuiyan, Md. Borhan Uddin, 2020. "Audit committees, female directors and the types of female and male financial experts: Further evidence," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 186-197.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:114:y:2020:i:c:p:186-197
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.04.013
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296320302290
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.04.013?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bin Srinidhi & Ferdinand A. Gul & Judy Tsui, 2011. "Female Directors and Earnings Quality," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(5), pages 1610-1644, December.
    2. Daulatram Lund, 2008. "Gender Differences in Ethics Judgment of Marketing Professionals in the United States," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 77(4), pages 501-515, February.
    3. M. Ezzamel & D. Gwilliam & K. Holland, 1996. "Some Empirical Evidence from Publicly Quoted UK Companies on the Relationship Between the Pricing of Audit and Non-audit Services," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(1), pages 3-16.
    4. Badolato, Patrick G. & Donelson, Dain C. & Ege, Matthew, 2014. "Audit committee financial expertise and earnings management: The role of status," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 208-230.
    5. Michael J. Peel, 2018. "Addressing Unobserved Selection Bias in Accounting Studies: The Bias Minimization Method," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(1), pages 173-183, January.
    6. Habib, Ahsan & Muhammadi, Abdul Haris & Jiang, Haiyan, 2017. "Political Connections and Related Party Transactions: Evidence from Indonesia," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 45-63.
    7. Mark L. Defond & Rebecca N. Hann & Xuesong Hu, 2005. "Does the Market Value Financial Expertise on Audit Committees of Boards of Directors?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(2), pages 153-193, May.
    8. Mahbub Zaman & Mohammed Hudaib & Roszaini Haniffa, 2011. "Corporate Governance Quality, Audit Fees and Non-Audit Services Fees," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(1-2), pages 165-197, January.
    9. Hanwen Chen & Jeff Zeyun Chen & Gerald J. Lobo & Yanyan Wang, 2011. "Effects of Audit Quality on Earnings Management and Cost of Equity Capital: Evidence from China," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(3), pages 892-925, September.
    10. Habib, Ahsan & Muhammadi, Abdul Haris & Jiang, Haiyan, 2017. "Political connections, related party transactions, and auditor choice: Evidence from Indonesia," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 1-19.
    11. Adams, Renée B. & Ferreira, Daniel, 2009. "Women in the boardroom and their impact on governance and performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(2), pages 291-309, November.
    12. Connie L. Becker & Mark L. Defond & James Jiambalvo & K.R. Subramanyam, 1998. "The Effect of Audit Quality on Earnings Management," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(1), pages 1-24, March.
    13. Bilal, & Chen, Songsheng & Komal, Bushra, 2018. "Audit committee financial expertise and earnings quality: A meta-analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 253-270.
    14. Beng Wee Goh, 2009. "Audit Committees, Boards of Directors, and Remediation of Material Weaknesses in Internal Control," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(2), pages 549-579, June.
    15. Gull, Ammar Ali & Nekhili, Mehdi & Nagati, Haithem & Chtioui, Tawhid, 2018. "Beyond gender diversity: How specific attributes of female directors affect earnings management," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 255-274.
    16. Husam Aldamen & Janice Hollindale & Jennifer L. Ziegelmayer, 2018. "Female audit committee members and their influence on audit fees," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 58(1), pages 57-89, March.
    17. Gopal V. Krishnan & Gnanakumar Visvanathan, 2008. "Does the SOX Definition of an Accounting Expert Matter? The Association between Audit Committee Directors' Accounting Expertise and Accounting Conservatism," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(3), pages 827-858, September.
    18. Lueg, Rainer & Punda, Pawel & Burkert, Michael, 2014. "Does transition to IFRS substantially affect key financial ratios in shareholder-oriented common law regimes? Evidence from the UK," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 241-250.
    19. Richard A. Bernardi & Donald F. Arnold, 1997. "An Examination of Moral Development within Public Accounting by Gender, Staff Level, and Firm," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(4), pages 653-668, December.
    20. Jenny Goodwin‐Stewart & Pamela Kent, 2006. "Relation between external audit fees, audit committee characteristics and internal audit," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 46(3), pages 387-404, September.
    21. Garcia-Blandon, Josep & Argilés-Bosch, Josep Maria & Ravenda, Diego, 2019. "Is there a gender effect on the quality of audit services?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 238-249.
    22. Hassanein, Ahmed & Hussainey, Khaled, 2015. "Is forward-looking financial disclosure really informative? Evidence from UK narrative statements," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 52-61.
    23. Graham, John R. & Harvey, Campbell R. & Rajgopal, Shiva, 2005. "The economic implications of corporate financial reporting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1-3), pages 3-73, December.
    24. Huang, Jiekun & Kisgen, Darren J., 2013. "Gender and corporate finance: Are male executives overconfident relative to female executives?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(3), pages 822-839.
    25. David A. Carter & Betty J. Simkins & W. Gary Simpson, 2003. "Corporate Governance, Board Diversity, and Firm Value," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 38(1), pages 33-53, February.
    26. Aobdia, Daniel, 2019. "Do practitioner assessments agree with academic proxies for audit quality? Evidence from PCAOB and internal inspections," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 144-174.
    27. Mark A. Clatworthy & Michael J. Peel, 2007. "The Effect of Corporate Status on External Audit Fees: Evidence From the UK," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(1‐2), pages 169-201, January.
    28. Arun, Thankom Gopinath & Almahrog, Yousf Ebrahem & Ali Aribi, Zakaria, 2015. "Female directors and earnings management: Evidence from UK companies," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 137-146.
    29. Jerry Sun & Guoping Liu & George Lan, 2011. "Does Female Directorship on Independent Audit Committees Constrain Earnings Management?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 99(3), pages 369-382, March.
    30. Dan Dhaliwal & Vic Naiker & Farshid Navissi, 2010. "The Association Between Accruals Quality and the Characteristics of Accounting Experts and Mix of Expertise on Audit Committees," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(3), pages 787-827, September.
    31. Muhammad Ali & Yin Ng & Carol Kulik, 2014. "Board Age and Gender Diversity: A Test of Competing Linear and Curvilinear Predictions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 125(3), pages 497-512, December.
    32. Timothy B. Bell & Monika Causholli & W. Robert Knechel, 2015. "Audit Firm Tenure, Non‐Audit Services, and Internal Assessments of Audit Quality," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(3), pages 461-509, June.
    33. Mitchell A. Petersen, 2009. "Estimating Standard Errors in Finance Panel Data Sets: Comparing Approaches," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(1), pages 435-480, January.
    34. Seetharaman, Ananth & Gul, Ferdinand A. & Lynn, Stephen G., 2002. "Litigation risk and audit fees: evidence from UK firms cross-listed on US markets," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 91-115, February.
    35. Hooghiemstra, Reggy & Hermes, Niels & Oxelheim, Lars & Randøy, Trond, 2019. "Strangers on the board: The impact of board internationalization on earnings management of Nordic firms," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 119-134.
    36. Hyungtae Kim & Byungjin Kwak & Youngdeok Lim & Jaeyoon Yu, 2017. "Audit committee accounting expertise, CEO power, and audit pricing," Asia-Pacific Journal of Accounting & Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(3-4), pages 421-439, October.
    37. Aida Sijamic Wahid, 2019. "The Effects and the Mechanisms of Board Gender Diversity: Evidence from Financial Manipulation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 159(3), pages 705-725, October.
    38. Ghafran, Chaudhry & O'Sullivan, Noel, 2017. "The impact of audit committee expertise on audit quality: Evidence from UK audit fees," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(6), pages 578-593.
    39. Bose, Sudipta & Podder, Jyotirmoy & Biswas, Kumar, 2017. "Philanthropic giving, market-based performance and institutional ownership: Evidence from an emerging economy," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 429-444.
    40. Hsiang-Lin Chih & Chung-Hua Shen & Feng-Ching Kang, 2008. "Corporate Social Responsibility, Investor Protection, and Earnings Management: Some International Evidence," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 79(1), pages 179-198, April.
    41. Zalata, Alaa Mansour & Tauringana, Venancio & Tingbani, Ishmael, 2018. "Audit committee financial expertise, gender, and earnings management: Does gender of the financial expert matter?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 170-183.
    42. Wu, Chloe Yu-Hsuan & Hsu, Hwa-Hsien & Haslam, Jim, 2016. "Audit committees, non-audit services, and auditor reporting decisions prior to failure," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 240-256.
    43. Pamela Kent & Jenny Stewart, 2008. "Corporate governance and disclosures on the transition to International Financial Reporting Standards," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 48(4), pages 649-671, December.
    44. Xie, Biao & Davidson, Wallace III & DaDalt, Peter J., 2003. "Earnings management and corporate governance: the role of the board and the audit committee," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 295-316, June.
    45. Mark A. Clatworthy & Michael J. Peel, 2007. "The Effect of Corporate Status on External Audit Fees: Evidence From the UK," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(1‐2), pages 169-201, January.
    46. Nikos Vafeas, 2005. "Audit Committees, Boards, and the Quality of Reported Earnings," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(4), pages 1093-1122, December.
    47. Gull, Ammar Ali & Nekhili, Mehdi & Nagati, Haithem & Chtioui, Tawhid, 2018. "Beyond gender diversity: How specific attributes of female directors affect earnings management," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 255-274.
    48. Terjesen, Siri & Sealy, Ruth, 2016. "Board Gender Quotas: Exploring Ethical Tensions From A Multi-Theoretical Perspective," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 26(1), pages 23-65, January.
    49. Gopal Krishnan & Linda Parsons, 2008. "Getting to the Bottom Line: An Exploration of Gender and Earnings Quality," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 78(1), pages 65-76, March.
    50. Karen M. Y. Lai & Bin Srinidhi & Ferdinand A. Gul & Judy S. L. Tsui, 2017. "Board Gender Diversity, Auditor Fees, and Auditor Choice," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 34(3), pages 1681-1714, September.
    51. Yuanto Kusnadi & Kwong Sin Leong & Themin Suwardy & Jiwei Wang, 2016. "Audit Committees and Financial Reporting Quality in Singapore," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 139(1), pages 197-214, November.
    52. DeFond, Mark & Zhang, Jieying, 2014. "A review of archival auditing research," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 275-326.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Habiba Al-Shaer & Muhammad Farhan Malik & Mahbub Zaman, 2022. "What do audit committees do? Transparency and impression management," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 26(4), pages 1443-1468, December.
    2. Ayman Issa & Mohammad A. A. Zaid & Jalal Rajeh Hanaysha, 2022. "Exploring the relationship between female director's profile and sustainability performance: Evidence from the Middle East," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(6), pages 1980-2002, September.
    3. Alhababsah, Salem & Alhaj-Ismail, Alaa, 2023. "Does shared tenure between audit committee chair and engagement partner affect audit outcomes? Evidence from the UK," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(2).
    4. Ayman Issa, 2023. "Shaping a sustainable future: The impact of board gender diversity on clean energy use and the moderating role of environmental, social and governance controversies," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(6), pages 2731-2746, November.
    5. Jie Hao & Viet Pham & Meng Guo, 2022. "The Gender Effects of Audit Partners on Audit Outcomes: Evidence of Rule 3211 Adoption," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 177(2), pages 275-304, May.
    6. Abbasi, Kaleemullah & Alam, Ashraful & Du, Min (Anna) & Huynh, Toan Luu Duc, 2021. "FinTech, SME efficiency and national culture: Evidence from OECD countries," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hidaya Lawati & Khaled Hussainey & Roza Sagitova, 2021. "Disclosure quality vis-à-vis disclosure quantity: Does audit committee matter in Omani financial institutions?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 557-594, August.
    2. Masoud Azizkhani & Sarowar Hossain & Mai Nguyen, 2023. "Effects of audit committee chair characteristics on auditor choice, audit fee and audit quality," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(3), pages 3675-3707, September.
    3. Ghafran, Chaudhry & O'Sullivan, Noel, 2017. "The impact of audit committee expertise on audit quality: Evidence from UK audit fees," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(6), pages 578-593.
    4. Alaa Mansour Zalata & Collins Ntim & Ahmed Aboud & Ernest Gyapong, 2019. "Female CEOs and Core Earnings Quality: New Evidence on the Ethics Versus Risk-Aversion Puzzle," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 160(2), pages 515-534, December.
    5. Zalata, Alaa Mansour & Abdelfattah, Tarek, 2021. "Non-executive female directors and earnings management using classification shifting," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 301-315.
    6. Ammar Ali Gull & Ammar Abid & Rashid Latief & Muhammad Usman, 2021. "Women on board and auditors’ assessment of the risk of material misstatement," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 11(4), pages 679-708, December.
    7. Zalata, Alaa Mansour & Tauringana, Venancio & Tingbani, Ishmael, 2018. "Audit committee financial expertise, gender, and earnings management: Does gender of the financial expert matter?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 170-183.
    8. Nguyen, Thi Hong Hanh & Ntim, Collins G. & Malagila, John K., 2020. "Women on corporate boards and corporate financial and non-financial performance: A systematic literature review and future research agenda," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    9. Maria Strydom & Hue Hwa Au Yong & Michaela Rankin, 2017. "A few good (wo)men? Gender diversity on Australian boards," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 42(3), pages 404-427, August.
    10. Muhammad Nadeem, 2022. "Board Gender Diversity and Managerial Obfuscation: Evidence from the Readability of Narrative Disclosure in 10-K Reports," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(1), pages 153-177, August.
    11. Belaounia, Samia & Tao, Ran & Zhao, Hong, 2020. "Gender equality's impact on female directors’ efficacy: A multi-country study," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(5).
    12. Alhababsah, Salem & Yekini, Sina, 2021. "Audit committee and audit quality: An empirical analysis considering industry expertise, legal expertise and gender diversity," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).
    13. Wael Almaqoushi & Ronan Powell, 2021. "Audit committee quality indices, reporting quality and firm value," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(1-2), pages 185-229, January.
    14. Sandeep Goel & Nimisha Kapoor, 2022. "Is earnings management related to board independence and gender diversity? Sector-wise evidence from India," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(4), pages 363-373, December.
    15. Husam Aldamen & Janice Hollindale & Jennifer L. Ziegelmayer, 2018. "Female audit committee members and their influence on audit fees," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 58(1), pages 57-89, March.
    16. Saeed Rabea Baatwah & Adel Ali Al-Qadasi, 2020. "Determinants of outsourced internal audit function: a further analysis," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 10(4), pages 629-659, December.
    17. Hussein A. Abdou & Nouran N. Ellelly & Ahmed A. Elamer & Khaled Hussainey & Hassan Yazdifar, 2021. "Corporate governance and earnings management nexus: Evidence from the UK and Egypt using neural networks," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(4), pages 6281-6311, October.
    18. Ilyass Chaker, 2022. "Les caractéristiques des comités d'audit : Déterminants de la performance financière et de la qualité informationnelle ?," Post-Print hal-03680709, HAL.
    19. Andreas Seebeck & Julia Vetter, 2022. "Not Just a Gender Numbers Game: How Board Gender Diversity Affects Corporate Risk Disclosure," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 177(2), pages 395-420, May.
    20. Harakeh, Mostafa & El-Gammal, Walid & Matar, Ghida, 2019. "Female directors, earnings management, and CEO incentive compensation: UK evidence," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 153-170.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:114:y:2020:i:c:p:186-197. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.