Thesis (Ph. D.)--Victoria University (Melbourne, Vic.), 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on October 16, 2007) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1984. / Typescript. Vita. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 309-327).

Issues related to the composition of audit committees have attracted significant interest from legislators and regulators in recent years. In my dissertation, I examine one overlooked component of audit committee composition – namely, the presence of female directors on the audit committee. I empirically test to see if there are any differences in the functioning of audit committee when there is at least one female director on the audit committee. My dissertation examines three issues: audit committee diligence, audit pricing and earnings management. The absence of females on corporate boards has become the focus of legislators in some countries. Prior research, in a variety of contexts, suggests that women are in general more conservative in their judgments and decisions. The first part of my dissertation empirically shows that the presence of at least one female director on the audit committee makes the audit committee have more meetings. The second essay empirically examines if there is a positive association between audit fees and the presence of female directors in the audit committee. I posit that having a female director on the audit committee will result in higher audit fees. I find no significant evidence to show that audit fees are higher when there is a female director on the audit committee. The third part of my dissertation empirically examines if there an association between the presence of a female director on the audit committee and earnings management. I find no significant evidence to show that the presence of female directors on the audit committee constrains earnings management. Overall, the results suggest that having a female on the audit committee changes the form – if not the substance – of audit committee functioning.

Very little accounting research exists which investigates specific decision tasks performed by audit committee members. More specifically, little research exists regarding the one decision task which appears to be a primary duty of all audit committees--the decision task of selecting and/or evaluating the external auditor. Since the auditor selection decision is basically an assessment of the tradeoffs between audit quality and audit fees and the determination of audit fees is straightforward, the current study focuses on the assessment of audit quality. The primary objectives of this research project were (1) to identify those factors which affect audit quality, (2) to investigate how those audit-quality factors correlate with audit committee chairpersons' assessments of audit quality, and (3) to determine whether audit committee chairpersons exhibit expert judgment in their audit-quality assessments. To meet these objectives of two-phase study was conducted. In the first phase of the study audit committee chairpersons were asked to rate the impact various factors have on the quality of auditing services. Those factors identified in the first phase to have the strongest impact on audit quality were then utilized in the second phase to develop audit-quality scenarios. The second phase of the study consisted of requesting each audit committee respondent to assess audit quality for 32 individual audit-quality scenarios. Regression analysis was employed in the second phase to represent the cognitive models of the respondents. The Judgmental Analysis (JAN) technique also was used in the second phase to cluster the decision makers into the various decision-making groups which exist. The results of this two-phase study provided data regarding the perceived impact of 15 audit-quality factors on audit quality and how the most important of these audit-quality factors correlate with audit committee chairpersons' audit-quality assessments. The main conclusions of the study were (1) team-specific factors have a stronger perceived impact on audit quality than do firm-specific factors, (2) audit team composition factors are perceived to be the most important determinants of audit quality, and (3) consensus is not obtained regarding audit-quality assessments.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Drexel University, 2008. / Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 65-69).

Contextual experience with the practical application of accounting standards is important for independent audit committee members to effectively monitor managers’ financial reporting estimates and the audits of those estimates. Basic knowledge of accounting standards can be acquired by reading public documents and some degree of information regarding firm-specific application of standards can be obtained from public disclosures. However, real-world, contextual experience may best be obtained through performing or monitoring the reporting tasks themselves. This dissertation investigates how a firm’s (focal firm) financial reporting monitoring activities are affected by its audit committee members’ contextual experiences gained through connections, either as managers or audit committee members, with other firms (links or interlocks). I specifically estimate whether contextual experience with significant judgments and estimates, measured as interlocks with firms that likely performed extensive impairment analyses in the prior year (distressed firms), affects the likelihood of focal firm decisions to write off goodwill after controlling for economic indicators of impairment, managerial incentives to misreport, and ability of managers to exercise discretion. I find that the likelihood of write-off is significantly greater for firms with links to distressed firms than firms without links, consistent with audit committee contextual experience influencing financial reporting outcomes. The distressed firm interlock effect is significantly greater when the contextual experience at the linked firm is in the performance of estimates as a manager in contrast to the monitoring of estimates as an audit committee member. However, in a subset of large firms with ExecuComp data, I find that the overall probability of write-off is decreasing across quartiles of managerial incentives to misreport and received interlocks are only marginally significant in the second quartile, indicating that contextual experience may not be an effective monitoring mechanism when managerial incentives to misreport are high. Combined results suggest that contextual experiences obtained through audit committee network associations do affect focal firm financial reporting outcomes and are most influential when the contextual experience is as a manager, rather than a monitor. However, such monitoring mechanisms appear to be primarily imitative and may not be effective deterrents against managerial misreporting at large firms when managerial equity-based incentives are strong. / text

Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 79-84). Also available online in Scholars' Bank; and in ProQuest, free to University of Oregon users.

The discussion on the extent to which audit committees perform the oversight function of financial governance is important. This is particularly so in the Eastern Cape where the implementation of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) of 1999 has not significantly improved financial management. The deteriorating financial management environment of provincial departments impacts negatively on service delivery and is therefore a matter of great concern to the political administrators at both national and provincial levels. The objective of this study is to determine how effective audit committees are in Eastern Cape provincial departments and how this translates into good financial governance and, ultimately, improved service delivery. To achieve this objective, a literature review of the link between audit committee effectiveness, accountability and corporate governance in the public sector was conducted. It was found that audit committees in the public sector have similar responsibilities to that of the private sector and lack of accountability in the public sector impacts negatively on service delivery. A second literature review was conducted to highlight the current state of public financial management in South Africa and how this has had an impact on financial management in Eastern Cape provincial departments. A qualitative research methodology was applied because the researcher is of the opinion that the research question asked is more interpretive than predictive. An interview survey was conducted in which senior management officials were selected from provincial departments and interviewed using semi-structured questions. The research study concluded, that provincial departments in the Eastern Cape have all established audit committees in line with the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) National Treasury regulations. These committees are however ineffective. Ineffectiveness is as a result of, among other factors, lack of stability in accounting officer and chief financial officer positions. Secondly, senior management have not been made to account for the persistent negative audit outcomes in their departments. The research recommends that the political leadership of the province should ensure stability in leadership, particularly in the position of accounting officer and the chief financial officer.

The continuous failure of South African municipal administration, governance and oversight, renders the effectiveness of the municipal audit committee, questionable. The purpose of this study is to propose a framework for improving audit committee effectiveness in South African municipalities. The purpose was achieved by obtaining an understanding of the factors influencing the effectiveness of the municipal audit committees from municipal stakeholders and audit committee members; further exploring the factors identified from the stakeholders and audit committee members through a literature study and review of best practices; and acquiring input from stakeholders regarding the relevance and completeness of the framework developed, leading to refining of the framework. A constructivist ontology and interpretivist epistemologies were employed to achieve the research objective and a qualitative research methodology was embraced, comprising of focus groups, a literature study and an interview survey. The agency theory was adopted as the grand theory for this study and the resource-based view of the firm theory was applied to the literature, to extend and complement the existing literature on the effectiveness of audit committees. During the first phase of the study, the Interactive Qualitative Analysis method was harnessed for conducting the focus groups and analyses of the data. Purposive sampling was applied to select 15 participants who were stakeholders and audit committee chairpersons of municipalities, to conduct two focus groups. Twenty-five affinities (factors) and 139 sub-affinities (sub-factors) that influence the effectiveness of audit committees were identified, consolidated into five themes. The second phase was to explore the factors identified by the focus groups through a literature study. The findings of the literature study and focus groups were employed to develop the draft framework consisting of a Framework for audit committees and a Framework for municipalities. The development of these two guides led to a third guide for National Treasury, provincial treasuries and SALGA. In the third phase, purposive and snowball sampling methods were used to select participants to semi-structured interviews, followed by the refinement of the framework. Based on the findings, a framework is proposed, comprising factors that can improve the effectiveness of audit committees in South African municipalities. Furthermore, activities that can be centralised to enhance the effectiveness of municipal audit committees are identified, and an improved framework for agency theory is introduced. / College of Accounting Sciences / D. Phil. (Accounting Sciences)