IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eco/journ2/2021-01-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Audit Committee Chair s Legal Expertise and Real Activities Manipulation: Empirical Evidence from Malaysian Energy and Utilities Sectors

Author

Listed:
  • Belal Ali Abdulraheem Ghaleb

    (Tunku Puteri Intan Safiaz School of Accountancy, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Sintok, Malaysia)

  • Shaker Dahan Al-Duais

    (Department of Accounting, Faculty of Administrative Sciences, IBB University, Yemen)

  • Abdulwahid Ahmed Hashed

    (Department of Accounting, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia,)

Abstract

Recent studies claim that improvements in regulations and corporate governance law in different countries are restricting accrual-based earnings management and encouraging managers to shift to real earnings management (REM). However, it is not yet clear whether audit committee directors with legal expertise are associated with higher or lower REM. Thus, this study aims to investigate the relationship between the audit committee (AC) chair s legal expertise and REM in the energy and utilities sectors in Malaysia. The study uses a sample of all energy and utilities companies listed on Bursa Malaysia between 2013 and 2018. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression is applied to analyse the study data. The study finds that AC chairs with legal expertise are positively and significantly associated with REM, suggesting that they have not yet ceased REM practices. The findings add to the corporate governance and earnings management literature, and inform regulators and other readers of financial reports about the monitoring role of the AC chair.

Suggested Citation

  • Belal Ali Abdulraheem Ghaleb & Shaker Dahan Al-Duais & Abdulwahid Ahmed Hashed, 2021. "Audit Committee Chair s Legal Expertise and Real Activities Manipulation: Empirical Evidence from Malaysian Energy and Utilities Sectors," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 11(1), pages 65-73.
    • Handle: RePEc:eco:journ2:2021-01-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econjournals.com/index.php/ijeep/article/download/10258/5556
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.econjournals.com/index.php/ijeep/article/view/10258/5556
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hamdan Amer Al-Jaifi & Ahmed Hussien Al-Rassas & Adel Al-Qadasi, 2019. "Institutional investor preferences," Management Research Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 42(5), pages 641-659, January.
    2. 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.
    3. Aikaterini C. Ferentinou & Seraina C. Anagnostopoulou, 2016. "Accrual-based and real earnings management before and after IFRS adoption," Journal of Applied Accounting Research, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 17(1), pages 2-23, February.
    4. 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.
    5. Abernathy, John L. & Beyer, Brooke & Masli, Adi & Stefaniak, Chad, 2014. "The association between characteristics of audit committee accounting experts, audit committee chairs, and financial reporting timeliness," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 283-297.
    6. Enomoto, Masahiro & Kimura, Fumihiko & Yamaguchi, Tomoyasu, 2015. "Accrual-based and real earnings management: An international comparison for investor protection," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 183-198.
    7. Abernathy, John L. & Herrmann, Don & Kang, Tony & Krishnan, Gopal V., 2013. "Audit committee financial expertise and properties of analyst earnings forecasts," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 1-11.
    8. Norman Mohd Saleh & Takiah Mohd Iskandar & Mohd Mohid Rahmat, 2007. "Audit committee characteristics and earnings management: evidence from Malaysia," Asian Review of Accounting, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 15(2), pages 147-163, April.
    9. Lo, Kin, 2008. "Earnings management and earnings quality," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(2-3), pages 350-357, August.
    10. Xia Chen & Qiang Cheng & Zhonglan Dai, 2013. "Family Ownership and CEO Turnovers," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(3), pages 1166-1190, September.
    11. Ahrum Choi & Jong‐Hag Choi & Byungcherl Charlie Sohn, 2018. "The Joint Effect of Audit Quality and Legal Regimes on the Use of Real Earnings Management: International Evidence," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 35(4), pages 2225-2257, December.
    12. Kwang Hwa Jeong & Seung Uk Choi, 2019. "Does Real Activities Management Influence Earnings Quality and Stock Returns in Emerging Markets? Evidence from Korea," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(12), pages 2834-2850, September.
    13. Daniel Cohen & Shailendra Pandit & Charles E. Wasley & Tzachi Zach, 2020. "Measuring Real Activity Management†," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(2), pages 1172-1198, June.
    14. Kothari, S.P. & Leone, Andrew J. & Wasley, Charles E., 2005. "Performance matched discretionary accrual measures," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 163-197, February.
    15. Saeed Rabea Baatwah & Zalailah Salleh & Jenny Stewart, 2019. "Audit committee chair accounting expertise and audit report timeliness," Asian Review of Accounting, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 27(2), pages 273-306, May.
    16. Swarnodeep Homroy & Aurelie Slechten, 2019. "Do Board Expertise and Networked Boards Affect Environmental Performance?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(1), pages 269-292, August.
    17. Cohen, Daniel A. & Zarowin, Paul, 2010. "Accrual-based and real earnings management activities around seasoned equity offerings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 2-19, May.
    18. Elisabetta Ipino & Antonio Parbonetti, 2017. "Mandatory IFRS adoption: the trade-off between accrual-based and real earnings management," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(1), pages 91-121, January.
    19. Jerry Sun & George Lan & Guoping Liu, 2014. "Independent audit committee characteristics and real earnings management," Managerial Auditing Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 29(2), pages 153-172, February.
    20. Roychowdhury, Sugata, 2006. "Earnings management through real activities manipulation," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 335-370, December.
    21. David Abad & M. Fuensanta Cutillas-Gomariz & Juan Pedro Sánchez-Ballesta & José Yagüe, 2018. "Real Earnings Management and Information Asymmetry in the Equity Market," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(2), pages 209-235, March.
    22. Li, Leon, 2019. "Is there a trade-off between accrual-based and real earnings management? Evidence from equity compensation and market pricing," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 191-197.
    23. Bao, Shuji Rosey & Lewellyn, Krista B., 2017. "Ownership structure and earnings management in emerging markets—An institutionalized agency perspective," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 828-838.
    24. Sarra Elleuch Hamza & Nassira Kortas, 2019. "The interaction between accounting and real earnings management using simultaneous equation model with panel data," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 53(4), pages 1195-1227, November.
    25. Eng, Li Li & Fang, Hanqing & Tian, Xi & Yu, T. Robert & Zhang, Hongxian, 2019. "Financial crisis and real earnings management in family firms: A comparison between China and the United States," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 184-201.
    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. Hasan Mohamad Bamahros & Abdulsalam Alquhaif & Ameen Qasem & Wan Nordin Wan-Hussin & Murad Thomran & Shaker Dahan Al-Duais & Siti Norwahida Shukeri & Hytham M. A. Khojally, 2022. "Corporate Governance Mechanisms and ESG Reporting: Evidence from the Saudi Stock Market," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-20, May.
    2. Sumaia Ayesh Qaderi & Belal Ali Abdulraheem Ghaleb & Abdulwahid Ahmed Hashed & Turki Raji Alhmoud & Hasnah Kamardin, 2023. "Audit Committee Leadership Attributes and CSR Reporting: Evidence from Jordan," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(3), pages 21582440231, August.
    3. Ameen Qasem & Shaker Dahan AL-Duais & Wan Nordin Wan-Hussin & Hasan Mohamad Bamahros & Abdulsalam Alquhaif & Murad Thomran, 2022. "Institutional Ownership Types and ESG Reporting: The Case of Saudi Listed Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-23, September.

    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. Ahsan Habib & Dinithi Ranasinghe & Julia Yonghua Wu & Pallab Kumar Biswas & Fawad Ahmad, 2022. "Real earnings management: A review of the international literature," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(4), pages 4279-4344, December.
    2. Mohamed Khalil & Sandy Harianto & Yilmaz Guney, 2022. "Do political connections reduce earnings management?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 59(1), pages 273-310, July.
    3. Özgür, Arslan-Ayaydin & Thewissen, James & Torsin, Wouter, 2021. "Earnings Management Methods and CEO Political Affiliation," LIDAM Discussion Papers LFIN 2021017, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain Finance (LFIN).
    4. Viana, Jr., Dante Baiardo C. & Lourenço, Isabel & Black, Ervin L. & Martins, Orleans Silva, 2023. "Macroeconomic instability, institutions, and earnings management: An analysis in developed and emerging market countries," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    5. Mujeeb Saif Mohsen Al-Absy & Ku Nor Izah Ku Ismail & Sitraselvi Chandren, 2018. "Accounting expertise in the audit committee and earnings management," Business and Economic Horizons (BEH), Prague Development Center, vol. 14(3), pages 451-476, June.
    6. Li, Leon, 2019. "Is there a trade-off between accrual-based and real earnings management? Evidence from equity compensation and market pricing," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 191-197.
    7. Halabi, Hussein & Alshehabi, Ahmad & Zakaria, Idlan, 2019. "Informal institutions and managers’ earnings management choices: Evidence from IFRS-adopting countries," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(3).
    8. Guilong Cai & Wenfei Li & Zhenyang Tang, 2020. "Religion and the Method of Earnings Management: Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 161(1), pages 71-90, January.
    9. Jiang, Haiyan & Habib, Ahsan & Wang, Snow, 2018. "Real Earnings Management, Institutional Environment, and Future Operating Performance: An International Study," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 33-53.
    10. Galdi, Fernando Caio & Johnson, E. Scott, 2021. "Accounting for inventory costs and real earnings management behavior," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    11. Yang, Jingwen & Hemmings, Danial & Jaafar, Aziz & Jackson, Richard H.G., 2022. "The real earnings management gap between private and public firms: Evidence from Europe," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    12. Singh, Harjinder & Sultana, Nigar & Islam, Ariful & Singh, Abhijeet, 2022. "Busy auditors, financial reporting timeliness and quality," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(3).
    13. Alhadab, Mohammad & Clacher, Iain, 2018. "The impact of audit quality on real and accrual earnings management around IPOs," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(4), pages 442-461.
    14. Bilal Kimouche, 2022. "Accrual-based and cash-based earnings management in Algeria: substitution or complementary," Croatian Review of Economic, Business and Social Statistics, Sciendo, vol. 8(1), pages 1-17, June.
    15. Li, Chihua & Tseng, Yijie & Chen, Tsung-Kang, 2016. "Top management team expertise and corporate real earnings management activities," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 117-132.
    16. Chen, Ching-Lung & Weng, Pei-Yu & Fan, Hung-Shu, 2023. "Exploring the role of excess control rights on real earnings management in family-controlled firms," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    17. Fang, Ming & Francis, Bill & Hasan, Iftekhar & Wu, Qiang, 2022. "External social networks and earnings management," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(2).
    18. Campa, Domenico & Camacho-Miñano, María-del-Mar, 2015. "The impact of SME’s pre-bankruptcy financial distress on earnings management tools," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 222-234.
    19. Al Mabsali, Yousuf Khamis & Hayward, Robert & Eliwa, Yasser, 2021. "Managerial tools used to meet or beat analyst forecasts: Evidence from the UK," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    20. Min Liu, 2020. "Real and accrual-based earnings management in the pre- and post- engagement partner signature requirement periods in the United Kingdom," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 54(3), pages 1133-1161, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Real earnings management; audit committee chair; legal expertise; corporate governance; emerging market.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M21 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Economics - - - Business Economics
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting
    • M42 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Auditing

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:eco:journ2:2021-01-9. 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: Ilhan Ozturk (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.econjournals.com .

    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.