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Audit Committees and Financial Reporting Quality: Evidence from UK Environmental Accounting Disclosures

Lookup NU author(s): Professor Habiba Al-ShaerORCiD, Dr Aly SalamaORCiD

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This is the authors' accepted manuscript of an article that has been published in its final definitive form by Emerald Publishing Limited, 2017.

For re-use rights please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions.


Abstract

Purpose- To examine the determinants of the volume of environmental disclosures and their quality, with particular focus on the role of audit committees and the effects of the Smith Report recommendations for the UK Corporate Governance Code. Design/methodology/approach – Quantitative large sample analysis of UK FTSE350 companies for the period 2007-2011. Findings – Firms with higher quality audit committees make higher quality disclosures. Larger firms with block shareholders have greater volume of disclosures, whilst audit committee quality does not increase disclosure volume. Research limitations/implications – Findings are based on evidence from single country and imply further international comparative research. Practical implications - Audit committees mitigate the requirement for prescriptive legislation on narrative accounting disclosures relating to environmental issues. Originality/value – Contributes to research that has examined the relationship between corporate governance mechanisms, specifically audit committees, and the quality of financial reporting by considering voluntary narrative disclosures on environmental matters. Keywords: Audit Committees, Financial Reporting Social and Environmental Disclosure, Voluntary disclosure narrative.


Publication metadata

Author(s): Al-Shaer H, Salama A, Toms S

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Journal of Applied Accounting Research

Year: 2017

Volume: 18

Issue: 1

Pages: 2-21

Print publication date: 13/02/2017

Acceptance date: 02/08/2015

Date deposited: 24/01/2017

ISSN (print): 0967-5426

ISSN (electronic): 1758-8855

Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JAAR-10-2014-0114

DOI: 10.1108/JAAR-10-2014-0114


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