Earnings management : do attendance and changes of audit committee members matter?

Purpose: This paper aims to examine the association between new audit committee characteristics – attendance of audit committee members at meetings and changes of members through the demission or appointment of members of the audit committee during the year – and earnings management. Its objective is to contribute new evidence that extends studies on audit committee characteristics in reducing earnings management. Design/methodology/approach: The sample comprises 370 observations obtained from the annual reports of 74 companies listed on the Muscat Securities Market for the years 2008-2012. The panel data are analysed using a fixed effects model to validate the hypotheses and model. Findings: This study finds a negative association between earnings management and members’ attendance at the audit committee meetings. Additionally, there is a positive significant relationship between earnings management and changes to members through demission or appointment. Originality/value: This study broadens the scope of audit committee characteristics by providing empirical evidence of the relationship between new audit committee characteristics and earnings management and may assist policymakers and regulators in determining ways to enhance audit committee characteristics and improve financial reporting quality.