Association between Board of Director Characteristics and the Amount of Voluntary Audit Committee Disclosures

Publication Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

2004

Abstract

This study empirically examines the association between certain director characteristics and the extent of voluntary audit committee disclosure in annual reports. Results suggest that Singapore's publicly traded firms are more likely to voluntarily disclose audit committee related information as: the number of board members increases; different individuals occupy the roles of CEO and board chairperson; and the proportion of independent directors serving on the board increases. Findings, however, fail to show any association between the amount of voluntary audit committee disclosure and the percentage of executive directors' ownership. Documented findings are of interest and benefit to various parties including regulators, corporate governance reformists, and corporate management. For instance, findings imply that a positive by-product of implementing major corporate governance reforms currently championed by corporate governance reformists will be an increase in audit committee disclosures. As a result, there will be less pressure on regulators to develop, introduce, and enforce mandatory audit committee disclosures that may be potentially intrusive to a firm's management.

Keywords

audit committees, board of director characteristics, voluntary disclosure, Singapore, corporate governance, annual reports

Discipline

Accounting | Business Law, Public Responsibility, and Ethics | Corporate Finance

Research Areas

Corporate Governance, Auditing and Risk Management

Publication

International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics

Volume

1

Issue

2/3

First Page

210

Last Page

232

ISSN

1741-802X

Identifier

10.1504/ijbge.2004.005256

Publisher

Inderscience Publishers

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