The credibility of financial reporting may be undermined when managers use accounting discretion to alter reported earnings, with possible consequences for investors’ confidence. This study investigates the individual and joint relationships between board and audit committee attributes and earnings management for 49 manufacturing companies listed on the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) from 2012 to 2024. Using an ex post facto panel design, the analysis relies on secondary information extracted from audited annual reports. Earnings management is proxied by the performance-matched discretionary-accrual measure developed by Kothari et al. (2005). Fixed- and random-effects models are estimated, and the Hausman specification test guides the preferred model. Results show negative associations between earnings management and board independence (β = -0.015), board financial expertise (β = -0.012), and board gender diversity (β = -0.009), all significant at p < 0.05, while board size is positively associated with earnings management (β = 0.005, p < 0.05). Taken together, the governance variables are statistically significant (R² = 0.624; F = 27.46; p < 0.001). The evidence highlights the importance of substantive board and audit committee monitoring within Nigeria’s corporate-governance framework (Nurjanah et al., 2025).
Audit committees play an important role in today’s corporate governance systems as they help the board oversee the integrity of financial reporting, the quality of external audits, the effectiveness of internal controls, and, more recently, sustainability and risk reporting. This focused literature review attempts to integrate theoretical and empirical work on corporate audit committees in India and beyond. The review, using seminal works, organizes data on different dimensions of regulatory evolution, applicable theoretical frameworks (agency and resource dependence theories), structural and process characteristics (independence, financial expertise, size, diligence, and diversity), and outcome areas of earnings management, financial reporting, audit, firm performance, fraud and related-party risks, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting. Against the backdrop of Clause 49, the Companies Act, 2013, and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements (LODR), Indian data have been interpreted, while global data analyses focus on the post-Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) and international code-based frameworks (Bédard et al., 2004; Chakrabarti et al., 2008). The synthesis confirms the overwhelming consensus on the role of independence and the presence of accounting/financial expertise in driving audit committees’ effectiveness. The paper outlines a multi-level agenda for future studies at the crossroads of regulation, ownership structure, and widening audit committee roles.
This study aimed to identify the effect of board diversity on financial reporting quality through financial distress in Iraqi banks. It also examined the moderating effect of audit quality on the relationship between financial distress and the quality of financial reports. The study used a sample of 43 banks listed on the Iraq Stock Exchange (ISX) for the period from 2018 to 2023. Data were analyzed using Stata with three stages: ordinary least squares (OLS), fixed-effects model (FEM), and random-effects model (REM). The results showed that board size, chief executive officer (CEO) leadership structure, board independence, and gender diversity significantly reduce financial distress, while multiple directorships, age diversity, and competency diversity have no significant effect. Financial distress was found to negatively affect financial reporting quality and to mediate the relationship between board diversity and financial reporting quality. Additionally, audit quality positively influences financial reporting quality and weakens the negative impact of financial distress on financial reporting quality.
This study empirically examines the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on internal audit quality across Moroccan organizations. A block-wise hierarchical multiple regression is applied to empirical data collected from 203 internal auditors and audit executives operating in listed companies, banking institutions, industrial groups, service firms, and public entities in Morocco. Four functional dimensions of AI are identified and validated as empirically distinct constructs through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses: task automation, real-time data analytics, algorithmic anomaly detection, and AI-based risk mapping. The findings indicate that AI significantly enhances internal audit quality beyond organizational attributes and baseline technological maturity. Specifically, algorithmic anomaly detection, real-time data analytics, and AI-based risk mapping emerge as significant determinants of audit quality, whereas task automation alone yields no statistically significant contribution. Furthermore, results demonstrate that the positive effect of AI maturity on audit quality operates primarily through the actual deployment of these analytical capabilities. This research delivers four principal contributions: It conceptualizes AI as a multidimensional construct whose empirical distinctiveness is systematically validated rather than assumed; It provides one of the first applications of block-wise hierarchical regression to assess the incremental contribution of AI dimensions within the Moroccan setting; It develops and validates the AI-audit maturity score (MAIA-score), a formative index designed to operationalize AI maturity within internal audit departments. It demonstrates that internal audit quality enhancements stem from the combined analytical functionalities of AI rather than from basic automation.
Sustainability strategies such as environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure have become a major concern for companies (Rahi et al., 2024). However, in developing countries like Indonesia, companies have not yet optimally implemented ESG. Therefore, ESG disclosure needs to be thoroughly examined in relation to corporate governance carried out by directors and the role of audit committees in internal oversight from the perspective of stakeholder theory and upper echelon theory. The research subjects were financial sector companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) for three years. Data sources were obtained from audited annual reports and sustainability reports. The study used descriptive analysis and moderated regression. The results show that director size and directors’ narcissism have a positive effect on ESG disclosure. The results of this study can provide input for companies to improve the quality of ESG disclosure through the role of competent directors. The theoretical implication of this study is to strengthen stakeholder theory and upper echelon theory in explaining the factors influencing ESG disclosure. Furthermore, the study has practical implications, namely that directors must be competent and able to work effectively to improve the transparency and quality of ESG disclosure.
