Earnings Conservatism and Audit Committee Financial Expertise

Using an Australian sample of 494 firm-year observations, this study finds that accounting financial expertise is the primary type of expertise that influences earnings conservatism, rather than nonaccounting financial expertise. The association between accounting financial expertise and conservatis...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sultana, Nigar, Williams, Mitchell
Format: Journal Article
Published: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia 2013
Online Access:http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/acfi.12042/full
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/62840
Description
Summary:Using an Australian sample of 494 firm-year observations, this study finds that accounting financial expertise is the primary type of expertise that influences earnings conservatism, rather than nonaccounting financial expertise. The association between accounting financial expertise and conservatism holds only when the accounting financial expert(s) on audit committees is (are) independent. Overall, results suggest that audit committee accounting financial expertise is important in recognising the asymmetrical timeliness of losses. Findings provide a better understanding of the dynamics between audit committee financial expertise and earnings conservatism and demonstrate the importance of accounting financial expertise in improving financial reporting quality.