Arguments associated with the promotion of audit committees in many countries are premised on their potential for alleviating weaknesses in corporate governance. This paper provides a synthesis and evaluation of empirical research on the governance effects associated with audit committees. Given recent policy recommendations in several countries aimed at strengthening these committees, it is im...

We investigate the agency costs of corporate ownership structure and the role of audit committees in mitigating their effect. Using China as a laboratory, where audit committees are voluntary, we study the demand for and value relevance of audit committees conditional on the various agency costs of corporate ownership. Audit committees complement existing internal governance systems by reducing...

In this paper, I examine possible reasons behind observed differences in audit committee composition and activity. The governance structures of audit committees appear to be sensitive in meeting the monitoring and litigation risk needs of the parent firm. However, boards with stronger CEOs also have a higher probability of placing insiders and interested directors on their audit committees than...

the study objects for investigating the possibility of activating both audit committee and board of directors for restricting the practices of earnings management phenomenon. to achieve this objective, a questionnaire had been developed and self-administered for a selected sample consists of 123 auditors working in jordan based on the simple random sampling method. the study first hypothesis is...

This paper tests whether companies engage in opinion shopping and examines the role of audit committees when auditors are dismissed (1996-98). There are three findings. First, US companies strategically dismiss when incumbent auditors are more likely to issue unfavorable audit opinions compared to newly appointed auditors. I estimate opinion shopping motivates 17% of auditor dismissals, and I f...

Since 1999 regulators have attempted to improve the monitoring of financial reporting by exerting significant pressure on firms to appoint accounting financial experts (AFEs) to their audit committees. Yet, many firms have been reluctant to do so, which has made these firms more prone to financial reporting problems. We examine appointments of AFEs to the audit committees of S&P 1500 firms duri...

The study objects for investigating the possibility of activating both audit committee and board of directors for restricting the practices of earnings management phenomenon. To achieve this objective, a questionnaire had been developed and self-administered for a selected sample consists of 123 auditors working in Jordan based on the simple random sampling method. The study first hypothesis is...