The Impact of Audit Committee and External Auditor Characteristics on Financial Reporting Quality among Malaysian Firms

Abstract

The quality of a financial reporting system is highly dependent upon the mechanism of corporate governance, such as effectiveness of the audit committee, external audit, financial expertise and board structure. This study examines the relationship between audit committee characteristics and external auditors’ characteristics (independent variables) and financial reporting quality (dependent variable). The study used a sample of firms from Bursa Malaysia, explicitly the top 100 performing firms according to the Bursa Malaysia stock exchange. The analysis of annual reports proves that audit committee (independence, expertise, and diligence) has the prediction capability to financial reporting quality. However, results indicate that industry leadership has significant impact on financial reporting quality, but on the other hand, large audit firms do not have any significant effect on financial reporting quality. This study adds to the knowledge of audit committee practices and procedures in accounting literature regarding the Malaysian context. The results of this study cannot be generalized because the study used the top 100 performing firms from Malaysia irrespective of particular industries. The results of this study might be changed if future researches use different sets of sample firms.

Keywords: Audit committee, external auditor, financial reporting quality, Discretionary Accruals