The impact of corporate governance mechanisms and IFRS on earning management in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The current research seeks to assess the influence of corporate governance mechanisms and IFRS adoption on compliance with IFRS, earning management, and financial reporting quality(FRQ). A sample comprises 102 Saudi listed firms for the period spanning from 2014 up to 2019 was used. The study used descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and multivariate analysis to estimate the results. The results reveal that while board size, board meeting and foreign ownership had negative effects on compliance with IFRS, board and audit committee independence exhibited a positive effect. Further, the results demonstrate that there was a sign of earning management under IFRS when a performance magnitude was used. The results also indicate that board and audit committee size, audit committee meeting and managerial ownership had significant negative effects on financial reporting quality however, board and audit committee independence showed a significant positive effect. Importantly, the results found that FRQ under IFRS was better than Saudi GAAP. The present research provides practical implications for policy makers, stock market authority, and academicians. More regulatory and disclosure requirements have to be imposed and financial reporting supervisory board need to be formed. The present research provides a novel contribution to IFRS compliance, earning management, financial reporting quality and corporate governance literature. It has a unique contribution as it attempts to investigate this issue in the context of an emerging economy and a recent IFRS adopter; Saudi Arabia that has special country-specific characteristics. The study also provides an evidence by investigating earning management and financial reporting quality under both sets of accounting standards; IFRS and Saudi GAAP.