Does female director expertise on audit committees matter for carbon disclosures? Evidence from the United Kingdom

Abstract

We investigate whether accounting and non-accounting female financial experts on audit committees influence carbon disclosures. Based on a sample of listed firms from the United Kingdom for 2009–2015, our findings show that non-accounting female experts on audit committees increase carbon disclosures. Our results support the view that non-accounting female experts possess greater business knowledge and are skilled in foreseeing the impact of management’s decisions, thus, enhancing carbon disclosures. Furthermore, our results are robust to alternative estimation techniques and endogenous concerns. We also find that firms in less carbon-intensive industries benefit from higher carbon disclosure in the presence of female non-accounting experts on audit committees. This study contributes to the recent research on corporate governance and carbon disclosures. Further, it extends recent studies identifying the specific characteristics of female directors that enhance environmental disclosures. Moreover, we respond to the calls for research on the personal attributes of directors and carbon disclosures by examining whether the accounting and non-accounting expertise of female directors on audit committees affects carbon disclosures.