Purpose – This paper aims to examine the relationship between firm characteristics and incentives for the voluntary formation of audit committees by non-top 500 firms listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). Design/methodology/approach – Data are obtained from a random sample of 224...

Increasingly demanding markets, changes in technology and greater international competition have made the effective management of product R&D together with its associated costs essential. The magnitude of R&D costs are of concern to many companies, potentially inhibiting organizations from...

Mounting evidence indicates that capital markets often apply short-term pressure on firms to gain short-term results by focusing primarily on reported financial performance. As a result of short termism, it has been argued that companies are likely to cut expenditure on R&D which might otherwise...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effectiveness of recommendations made by the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) relating to audit committees in Australia, and whether they have improved financial reporting quality for low- and mid-cap listed firms....