The effect of audit committee and external auditor characteristics on financial reporting quality

Abstract

This study aims to examine the relationship between audit committee characteristics and external auditors’ characteristics (independent variables) and financial reporting quality (dependent variable). Past studies related to the financial reporting quality has limited scope with regard to Malaysian background. The novelty of this research, therefore, is that it accounts for two different dimensions of audits characteristics i.e. audit committee characteristics and external auditors’ characteristics that are examined in the same schema. The study used the sample firms from the Bursa Malaysia, explicitly top 100 performing firms according to the Bursa Malaysia stock exchange. The analysis of annual reports has proven that audit committee (independence, expertise, and diligence) has the prediction capability to financial reporting quality. Although results indicate that industry leader has significant impact on financial reporting quality, but on other side, large audit firms do not have any significant effect on financial reporting quality. This study adds the knowledge of audit committee practices and procedures in accounting literature regarding Malaysian context. The results of this study cannot be generalized because study used top 100 performing firms from Malaysia. The results of this study might be changed if future researches use different set of sample firm