The Moderating Effect of Ownership Structure on the Relationship between Related Party Transactions and Earnings Quality: Evidence from Saudi Arabia

This paper seeks to investigate how earnings quality is affected by related party transactions (RPTs). The research also examines the impact of ownership structure as a moderating variable on this relationship. Panel data with the firm fixed effects model are utilized in the paper. A sample of 91 non-financial companies listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange between 2018 and 2022 were included, resulting in 429 observations of company performance over that time period. This paper finds that there is a negative association between RPTs and earnings quality. Furthermore, the study found that the adverse effect of RPTs on earnings quality is intensified when there is managerial ownership and institutional ownership as moderating variables. The study’s conclusions are robust and reliable, as the sensitivity analysis results reinforce those of the basic analysis. To the authors’ knowledge, there is relatively little available evidence on the connection between RPTs and their correlation with earnings quality, particularly in the context of ownership structure acting as a moderating variable. Moreover, the study’s findings hold important implications for enhancing earnings quality in developing economies. To the authors’ knowledge, no studies have been conducted in Saudi Arabia thus far to investigate the impact of ownership concentration, institutional ownership, managerial ownership, foreign ownership, and state ownership on the association between RPTs and earnings quality. Therefore, this paper expands the literature by modeling how the interaction between ownership structure and related party transactions may influence earnings quality. In this way, the authors contribute to the body of knowledge by unveiling a more robust control mechanism, particularly in developing economies with ineffective markets for corporate control.