Audit Committee Characteristics and Financial Misstatement: A Study of the Efficacy of Certain Blue Ribbon Committee Recommendations

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Abstract
This study addresses the impact of certain audit committee characteristics identified by the Blue Ribbon Committee on Improving the Effectiveness of Corporate Audit Committees (BRC) on the likelihood of financial misstatement. We examine 41 firms which issued fraudulent reports and 88 firms which restated annual results (without allegations of fraud) in the period 1991-1999, together with matched pairs control groups of similar size, exchange listing, industry and auditor type. We find that the independence of the audit committee and whether the committee meets at least four times per year exhibit a significant and negative association with the occurrence of financial reporting restatements. We also document a significant positive association between an audit committee that lacks a member with financial expertise and the occurrence of financial reporting restatements. However, only audit committee independence and the lack of financial expertise exhibit a negative (positive) association with financial reporting fraud. Our results underscore the importance of the BRC's first two recommendations, both of which concern audit committee independence. Our results also highlight the need for financial expertise as a means of strengthening the monitoring and oversight role that the audit committee plays in the financial reporting process.