Board committees and earnings management

Abstract

Following the international effort of strengthening corporate governance, this study investigates the impact of Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendation (GCPR 2009) on the credibility of accounting information. By investigating 138 companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX), this study demonstrates that the independence and activities of the board and sub-committees are negatively associated with earnings management represented by the discretionary accruals. The results of this study provide useful guidelines to policy makers, practitioners and academics