Corporate governance and compliance with AAOIFI governance standards by Islamic banks

Abstract

PurposeThis study aims to examine the effect of the main corporate governance characteristics on compliance with accounting and auditing organisation for Islamic financial institutions’ (AAOIFI) governance standards’ (GSs) disclosure requirements by Islamic banks (IB) that adopt AAOIFIs’ standards in Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan, Oman, Syria, Sudan, Palestine and Yemen.Design/methodology/approachThe sample consists of 486 bank-year observations from 2009 to 2017.FindingsThe findings reveal that compliance with AAOIFIs’ GSs’ disclosure requirements is positively influenced by the audit committee (AC) independence, AC’s accounting and financial expertise and industry expertise, auditor industry specialisation, IB’s size and IB’s listing status. On the other hand, it is negatively influenced by the ownership concentration.Research limitations/implicationsThis study has only examined compliance with AAOIFI’s GSs’ disclosure requirements and has focussed on one major sector of the Islamic financial institutions (which is IB).Practical implicationsThe findings are useful for various groups of preparers and users of IBs’ annual reports such as academics and researchers, accountants, management of IBs and some organisations.Originality/valueWhile the study of the AAOIFIs’ standards has grown contemporary with considerable contributions from scholars, however, the majority of these studies are descriptive in nature. Indeed, the existing literature that has explored the determinants of compliance with AAOIFI’s standards is in the early research stage. To the best of the knowledge, there is a paucity of empirical research testing this issue.