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Audit committees’ social capital and financial reporting quality

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  • Nieves Carrera
  • Tashfeen Sohail
  • Salvador Carmona

Abstract

We draw on social capital theory to examine the relationship between audit committee (AC) members’ social capital and financial reporting quality. Using US data for the period 2001–2010, our results suggest that non-AC directors’ social capital does not appear to be relevant to financial reporting quality. As far as AC members are concerned, our findings show a negative relationship between their social capital and financial reporting quality, suggesting a ‘dark side’ to social capital. Specifically, we find that sitting in multiple ACs (centrality) has a negative impact on reporting quality only for those AC members designated as financial experts. When other proxies for social capital are considered (connectedness, brokerage position and strong ties), our results show that the quality of financial reporting significantly decreases with the social capital of non-financial experts sitting in the AC. We contribute to prior research by: (i) relying on social capital theory, which is widely neglected in accounting research, (ii) using multiple metrics to capture the complex dimensions of social capital, and (iii) discriminating between the effects of financial and non-financial experts’ social capital on reporting quality. Our results suggest policy-makers might wish to limit financial experts’ multiple directorships as well as assess the actual contribution of non-financial experts to AC effectiveness.

Suggested Citation

  • Nieves Carrera & Tashfeen Sohail & Salvador Carmona, 2017. "Audit committees’ social capital and financial reporting quality," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(6), pages 633-672, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:acctbr:v:47:y:2017:i:6:p:633-672
    DOI: 10.1080/00014788.2017.1299617
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    Cited by:

    1. Shahanif Hasan & Aza Azlina Md. Kassim & Mohamad Ali Abdul Hamid, 2020. "The Impact of Audit Quality, Audit Committee and Financial Reporting Quality: Evidence from Malaysia," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 10(5), pages 272-281.
    2. Charl de Villiers & Matteo La Torre & Vida Botes, 2022. "Accounting and social capital: A review and reflections on future research opportunities," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(4), pages 4485-4521, December.
    3. 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.
    4. Yosra Mnif & Imen Slimi, 2023. "Former auditors on the audit committee and earnings management: Evidence from African banks," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(2), pages 2383-2420, June.
    5. Caglio, Ariela & Dossi, Andrea & Van der Stede, Wim A., 2018. "CFO role and CFO compensation: an empirical analysis of their implications," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 88296, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Ghafran, Chaudhry & O'Sullivan, Noel & Yasmin, Sofia, 2022. "When does audit committee busyness influence earnings management in the UK? Evidence on the role of the financial crisis and company size," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    7. Achraf Haddad & Anis El Ammari & Abdelfattah Bouri, 2021. "Impact of Audit Committee Quality on the Financial Performance of Conventional and Islamic Banks," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-24, April.

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